I'm not convinced Nostr is dying. It feels more like it's in a lull, not a decline. Hopefully it's the kind of quiet stretch that gives space for better UX, stronger moderation tools, and more resilient infrastructure to emerge.

One of Nostr's weaknesses has been marketing itself primarily as censorship-resistant. Truth is, most users don't care about that until they really need it. And ironically, it still relies on DNS for relays and clients, so it's never been fully censorship proof anyway.

But that's also where its real strength lies: interoperability. Using DNS makes it incredibly accessible. Websites, apps, and services can plug into Nostr with minimal friction. There's no wallet requirement, no token gatekeeping. Just keys, events, and relays. That low barrier is a feature, not a flaw.

That said, I agree development has hit a ceiling by insisting on being Bitcoin only. It doesn't need to gate integration. It could have bridged to other protocols, apps, or ecosystems and absorbed them through network effect alone. That maximalism is creating unnecessary friction.

I'm watching Pubky closely. It's elegant, and PKARR solves a real problem, but by dropping DNS and requiring DHT based discovery, it creates a higher barrier for web developers. It might solve more in theory but appeal to fewer in practice. Unless it abstracts away that complexity really well, I see it as complementing Nostr, not replacing it.

Nostr still has reach, Pubky has structure. They would both be stronger if they bridged.