Ask HN: Is there a future for federated services on the Internet?

I have been wondering if there is a way for a federated service to catch up on the Internet today?

ActivityPub is out there, but are many services using them? I feel the Internet doesn't care, and it is going to be tough for federation to catch up. Centralized services tend add the competitive edge very easily.

I wonder what HN thinks? Are there any startups/corporates betting on a federated Internet?