So I would have to host or rent a relay?
Discussion
or just use a public one? AUTH works on relays today.
client handles auth, whether relays support it is a separate matter, and for what reason
it can be added to strfry with a plugin, my relay replicatr handles it natively, uses it to auth users for a DM based CLI, and has a fallback in chat that asks the user to paste a challenge string (which includes a timestamp)
yes, the future of decentralized nostr is endless subscriptions and custodial crypto management. It's going to be an expensive metadata leaking hell hole, difficult to manage and use, with all the same old downsides of centralized gate keepers and none of the benefits of decentralization. Capitalism is incompatible with decentralization and anonymity. Period.