The last six months have been full of learnings.
This most recent essay builds on the last one I wrote (As Nostr as Possible), but focuses specifically on some âsacred cowsâ in the space whose time for slaying may have arrived.
Youâll see very quickly that Iâm not shitting on Nostr (far from it).
This is about a different perspective and relationship to the protocol.
I hope this kicks off a few discussions.
https://open.substack.com/pub/futuresocial/p/nostr-unpopular-opinions?
Good article. Iâd say weâre biased toward our own ideas and that makes them look more important and exciting than they actually are. People fall for this all the time and Nostr devs are no exception.
Agree on grants but also .. we kind of need them for now. Def not enough focus on users from some clients.
Ultimately there are just not enough users to justify any serious self funding into a product because itâs not going to make you any money any time soon. You need venture capital to hopefully make it work financially eventually but it looks like that payback period may take much longer than expected.
I kind of doubt Nostr would survive without open sats. There wouldnât be too many devs left working on stuff. Some for sure, but theyâd get bored eventually and need to pay the bills.
Thanks mate. The grants is a tough one and Iâm glad they exist. They keep the flame burning for sure.
Regarding the relationship to NostrâŠThe new perspective, ie; looking at it as just another tool, has helped. It takes away the emotional charge and gives us a chance to build something meaningful (which in our case is a travel app, not a Nostr app), for travelers.
We can keep Nostr under the hood, and use it where it actually makes the UX better. Itâs not going to go down well the purists, but I donât care anymore. Iâm rconvinced that while Bitcoin purism is justified, Nostr purism is self-defeating.
Thank you Aleksandar. Sharing thoughts is important, even if getting thoughts out will always be hard.
FWIW, I am also committed to developing on Nostr for over a year now; and Iâve also thought long and hard and soberly about Nostrâs scalability; and I prolly agree with all of your points.
> 1: Nostr is a tool, not a revolution
Yes. AFAIKT, the future of âworldwide Nostr integrationâ IF NOSTR SURVIVES AT ALL will be apps that leverage âpart but not all of Nostrâ. These âhybrid appsâ will have SOME OR MOST of their user generated content managed privately, and the rest being Nostr events hosted on user configured relays. Yes we need freedom tech, but mostly, we need freedom tech to survive BY BEING USED. Like it or not, Integration with black boxes is how this happens. IMHO
> 2: Nostr doesnât solve the multiple social accounts problem
Yes. Good point, actually. Different apps DO have their own demographics and social graphs, and freedom tech social SHOULD be able to roll with this. The reality of âhybrid appsâ as Nostr adoption increases (with their private data silos integrated into the freedom tech âexperienceâ) will force this issue for Nostr.
> 3: Nostr is not for censorship resistance
Right. Nobody who doesnât ALREADY care about freedom will be coming to Nostr for freedom tech. And censorship⊠people care more about muting voices they donât like from their feeds than making sure their own voice is heard across other feeds. TBH. People are consumers. BUT ALSO there is a bit of self sovereignty that everybody does care about. Something along the lines of ânobody owns your identity onlineâ coupled with âcross app portabilityâ really does resonate. Iâm sure, as we push on the edges of Nostr scalability, these little nuggets will be fleshed out, and THIS will be the âNostr coreâ which the âhybrid appsâ leverage for their end users.
> 4: Grants come with a price
Yes. But Iâm not concerned. Why? Because startups like yours ⊠applying Nostr to vertical markets, building for real world needs and users, pushing Nostr closer toward global adoption by building âhybrid appsâ ⊠THESE are the companies that will fill the WIDE CHASM of innovation left open by the âgrants onlyâ funding model. We need more of these ârisk takersâ to push Nostr out of the idealism provided by âgrants onlyâ.
Freedom tech NEEDS to be a bit uncomfortable, if itâs ever gonna find a LASTING foothold in our society of conveniences. (Yes, even Bitcoin knows this. Ask the NGU crowd)
Maybe we should talk further âŠ
This is by far the best comment Iâve had so far. Thankyou!
Iâd love to speak more at some stage
Just finished reading your essay. Sobering and insightful for someone thinking about building a business on Nostr (me).
Iâm glad it was useful đ€
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Thank you for the great article! I found it very interesting, so I wanted to leave a comment.
1.Nostr is a tool, not a revolution
I completely agree with this. As you mentioned, Nostr has mostly become a place where people just talk about how great Nostr is. Despite its supposed greatness, there are fewer than 1,000 active Japanese users.
2.Nostr doesnât solve the multiple social accounts problem
This was a very interesting perspective that I hadnât considered before. I agree that one key is tied to one social graph. In Japan, it seems that offline interactions among Nostr users are actively taking place. In such cases, services that allow login via Nostr (such as scheduling tools) are being used. This seems to support your argument.
3.Nostr is not for censorship resistance
I donât fully agree with this. I believe Nostr was created for censorship resistance. However, I donât think its true value is maximized as just a Twitter clone. I believe Nostrâs killer app will be something related to freedom of speech.
4.Grants come with a price
I think the fundamental problem is that decentralized systems are not profitable. This was also pointed out in the case of Mastodon. I canât think of any alternative to relying on OpenSats...
In the end, I think the real issue is that Nostrâs killer product has yet to be created. I really respect and support your efforts to build something meaningful.
Thankyou for the thoughtful comments. None of this is easy.
Excited to experiment our way into something useful and meaningful
Thanks for your thoughtful reflectionsâyour pragmatic take is genuinely refreshing.
You're correct that equating Nostr with Bitcoin sets unrealistic expectations. Bitcoin addresses an essential societal issue uniquely, whereas Nostr serves effectively as a simple, interoperable communication tool.
Your analogy of building apps with limited structures illustrates why ambitious projects struggle with Nostr's inherent simplicity. Recognizing this early can save significant effort.
Grants, though helpful, can distort incentives if mismanaged. Ideally, they should fund infrastructure and tooling to enable practical and user-focused development.
Focusing on user experience rather than protocol evangelism is key. Nostr's strength lies in solving real user problems practically and elegantly.
Ultimately, appreciating Nostr for its realistic capabilities, rather than overselling it, is a healthier and more effective approach.
Very thoughtful article. Thank you for your efforts.
Can I ask you one question?
You're targeting sovereign individuals, right?
If so, my next question is, how many people do you estimate they are?
I'm someone building for sovereign individuals.
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