Oh man, so I sat down with Vitor Pomplona the other day. We’re talking about this Nostr thing he’s been working on. Have you heard of it? It’s kinda rough, like Bitcoin back in 2012. But hey, that’s what makes it fun, right? You know, raw and real!
Anyway, Nostr’s this decentralized protocol for social stuff. Means it’s like social media, but off the grid in a way. There’s apps like Primal – reminds me of X – and Olas, which is doing the Instagram thing… oh, and Yakihonne is like Substack. You get the picture.
And get this: users can “zap” each other with bitcoin just to say, “Hey, I dig your stuff!” How wild is that? Vitor thinks Nostr’s catching on just like Bitcoin did back in the day.
“We’re seeing communities pop up and, yup, more money flying around,” he said. I guess it’s like those early Bitcoin days where everyone was just figuring stuff out.
So, let’s get into this Bitcoin-fueled economy vibe. Vitor was like, “Social media should help folks make some cash, ’cause not everyone finds that in their offline world.” It’s kinda poetic, right? He sees Nostr helping creators make a living. That’s his grand vision: creators earning through this app. Sounds like a win-win to me.
Every day, this idea of making a living through Nostr seems more doable, especially as it’s growing as the biggest bitcoin economy (like, ever).
Now, Amethyst—Vitor’s pet project. He wanted a one-stop app, something Elon Musk-ish when he had that wild idea for Twitter (X, whatever it’s called now). It didn’t quite go as planned, but that’s cool. He’s thrilled it morphed into a sort of incubator for new Nostr apps. Amethyst kickstarts other apps, y’know? Like, Olas got its start here.
And then there’s the whole Bitcoin onboarding thing. Vitor sees Nostr as a sneaky way to introduce folks to Bitcoin but doesn’t think apps should scream about it. They should just—be. People doing their thing, chatting with pals, or whatever. Down the line, users just kinda stumble upon the awesomeness of controlling their own data with Nostr and Bitcoin simultaneously.
Most folks find Nostr because of the freedom it brings. Like, no one snooping on you or telling you what to say. It’s the escape from censorship that brings the crowd first. Then they discover Bitcoin. Funny how that works out, isn’t it?
So, yeah… where was I? Oh right, all of these new users coming in, looking for freedom. It’s a total shift. Who’d have thought?
