I get your privacy concerns, but let me clear up some misconceptions.

Your data never leaves your phone.

We don't see your contacts.

We don't see your phone number.

We have zero record of any trades because no bitcoin actually moves through the app.

It moves between you and your trading partner via Cash or something you have agreed on.

You're asking us to build a new social network from scratch when the most robust web of trust already exists, your actual relationships.

Your university friend or someone you've known for 20 years has infinitely more trust value than some random Nostr pubkey you collected at a meetup.

No, I’m not saying that these people that you meet at meetup’s are not trustworthy. I’m just saying they don’t have nearly as much trust to someone that you actually know and if you get to know someone well overtime then you should feel comfortable actually trading real contact information with them.

Look, Nostr has promise, but right now it's a tiny echo chamber. Most people's Nostr networks are Twitter follows, not people they'd trust with their money.

You're essentially asking us to abandon the goal of making P2P trading accessible to normal people because you think our target audience is shadowy privacy minded people.

But the truth is we have to teach and make privacy default for all.

The phone number system isn't about convenience, it’s the reality…

Most of the world still uses phone numbers as their primary identifier.

You take for granted that you have access to Coinbase or Binance and can use those options if you want to. Like the “average Joe” you stated, but the truth is a lot of people don't.

They need P2P bitcoin, and they need it to work with the social connections they actually have.

They need NO KYC solutions.

We're not reinventing the wheel. We're leveraging the best web of trust that exists right now. When better ones emerge whether it's Nostr, Pubky, or something else we will adapt, but we are a long way from that point.

We can't build a circular economy on hypothetical networks with small user base.

Our code is open source. If you want to fork it and build Nostr integration, then mission accomplished. The tool you want exists, but the goal is bitcoin freedom for everyone, not just privacy purists with perfectly curated contact lists.

However, here is what really bothers me about your comment:

You are reinforcing the exact narrative that's poisoning this space.

Peer-to-peer bitcoin trading isn't sketchy. It's not just for people who "don't care about privacy."

It's the most sovereign way to get bitcoin.

When you suggest P2P is only for people buying "non-custodial IOUs on Coinbase," you're doing the establishment's work for them.

We need to make P2P normal, not niche.

If your network is small, that's a feature, not a bug. Start building real relationships.

Share your burner number with people you trust.

That's how circular economies actually grow.