Nostr notes by tree 木

The question is not whether the future changes, but which ...

2026-10-20T09:50:43Z

The question is not whether the future changes, but which direction it takes.

Maybe waiting for the general population to wake up is part of ...

2026-10-19T13:06:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…ng2w
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Maybe waiting for the general population to wake up is part of the trap. People are conditioned to see the current system as inevitable, and even their rebellions often reproduce the same hierarchies.

We need to build alternatives where people can experience something different. Understanding follows experience, not the other way around.

btw, in the Czech lands, we were throwing bad actors out of ...

2026-10-19T13:02:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…hvfr
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btw, in the Czech lands, we were throwing bad actors out of windows as early as the 17th century :) So, this can be done for many more centuries..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestration

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weev

2026-10-18T12:08:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…nq9z
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weev

The fact that you see cannabis only as a drug, and blame the ...

2026-10-18T11:34:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…2wcg
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The fact that you see cannabis only as a drug, and blame the plant for people's misuse of it, says a lot about your worldview.
Try educating yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwInbPZwcqk

Not much, I only know about SporkDAO, which is somehow behind ...

2026-01-10T18:43:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…ytm2
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Not much, I only know about SporkDAO, which is somehow behind ETHDenver, but I don't think their experiments can help in any fundamental way, it's very commercial.

The retroactive funding was more for future years, when it is ...

2026-01-10T18:36:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…zes2
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The retroactive funding was more for future years, when it is established. For a start, it is necessary to count on donations, especially from organizations - and they need a bigger and more comprehensive vision to give money.

So making some tiers with the number of participants and different venue sizes doesn't make much sense to me, it will only complicate everything

Fuck institutions :D

2026-01-08T05:23:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…llkx
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Fuck institutions :D

"locked" usually means "provided to some ...

2026-01-08T01:53:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…cnxl
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"locked" usually means "provided to some protocol", not not locked in the sense that you couldn't operate with them

Total Value Locked, value locked in various protocols

2026-01-08T01:50:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…8y4p
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Total Value Locked, value locked in various protocols

We need both: cryptography to protect individuals AND ...

2026-01-07T16:34:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…2rp6
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We need both: cryptography to protect individuals AND transparency to check those who build and control the systems

Well, every software needs a fundamental change from time to time ...

2026-01-07T04:31:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…43fv
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Well, every software needs a fundamental change from time to time to stay relevant or functional.

Yes, it's been almost 3.5 years since the transition to PoS (the merge) and no major problems, I think it's proving to be a good alternative to bitcoin mining, which has its own problems.

The idea of unified "community values" breaks down when communities reach the scale of Bitcoin or Ethereum. Both have people with very different worldviews and opinions on how the network should develop. Being a btc or eth (maximalist) doesn't really say much about your values nowadays.

Ad Bitcoin design - When you want to do something complex (like a ...

2026-01-06T23:46:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…j64y
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Ad Bitcoin design - When you want to do something complex (like a decentralized financial system), it makes sense to start with a limited minimal design and then iterate to what you want to achieve. Bitcoin could have become turning-complete, or a turing-complete L2 could have emerged instead of Lightning. In my opinion, the bitcoin community gave up on this path too early and radically, and that opened the way for Ethereum.

But yeah, you are of course right, the fact that anyone can deploy any smart contract (or create a new market) is the basis of the deviance, these things are very difficult on Bitcoin.

btw, big things can be done at the protocol level too, the switch from PoW to PoS was one of the most fascinating things I have experienced in crypto :)

Yeah. Fair. I know that for many bitcoiners it is ...

2026-01-06T22:43:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…sxsn
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Yeah. Fair. I know that for many bitcoiners it is incomprehensible that people can have different needs.

The future is multi-chain whether you like it or not.

It depends what. Electronics is not a problem at all - the ...

2026-01-06T22:30:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…nt0f
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It depends what. Electronics is not a problem at all - the largest Czech seller Alza (local "Amazon") accepts crypto, as does my favorite growing store. Alternatively, there is Amazon.de, where you can buy almost everything with a bitrefill coupon.

Groceries are probably the biggest problem, but even that can be solved through bitrefill, where you can buy a Kaufland coupon. And in restaurants there is sometimes Qerko Pay with Bitcoin support.

It is difficult to avoid a fiat, but in the Czechia it is relatively possible without much discomfort. At worst there is veksl (p2p cash-crypto) and cash :)

I'm not far from living fiatless. I don't need bank ...

2026-01-06T21:58:49Z

I'm not far from living fiatless.

I don't need bank accounts or centralized exchanges.

99.9% of my money is in cryptocurrencies.

All thanks to Ethereum

congrats on 400 days uptime ...

2026-01-05T19:06:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…5jsy
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congrats on 400 days uptime

“Ethereum was not created to make finance efficient or apps ...

2026-01-05T16:12:30Z

“Ethereum was not created to make finance efficient or apps convenient. It was created to set people free”
https://trustlessness.eth.limo

https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2008174642066845778

You're thinking inside the institutional frame. Logical ...

2026-01-04T22:10:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…esay
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You're thinking inside the institutional frame. Logical frameworks don't need zealots - they work because ordinary people can understand and apply them without expert interpreters. Emotional systems need true believers precisely because their contradictions require constant apologetics.

I think that's a false dilemma because you're assuming ...

2026-01-04T19:43:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…hs7q
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I think that's a false dilemma because you're assuming only two options exist: either centralized state authority decides what's acceptable, or there are no meaningful consequences and power determines everything.

This is the same flawed reasoning used to justify state power in general: "Without us, it would be chaos". It assumes people can't cooperate, develop shared ethics, or hold each other accountable without a centralized authority threatening punishment.

The "paradox of tolerance" versus anarcho-capitalism is ...

2026-01-04T18:05:25Z

The "paradox of tolerance" versus anarcho-capitalism is an interesting tension.

When I wasn't an anarchist, it made sense to me. But now I see the problem: it inherently requires some authority to determine what counts as tolerant or intolerant. It presupposes the state, or something functionally equivalent.

Beyond that, if someone builds their own website, I don't see how anyone has the right to violently intrude into it based on ideology. And since everyone believes they're fighting intolerance, this framework just legitimizes whoever currently has the technical and social power to enforce their definition.

What's your view on that?

I really don't want to distort your arguments — I'm ...

2026-01-04T17:23:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…9qc5
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I really don't want to distort your arguments — I'm genuinely trying to understand your position.

For me, if someone makes their own website, I don't have any "freedom" or "right" to violently intrude into it, even if I find their ideology abhorrent or dangerous.

You've pointed to the paradox of tolerance, but that still doesn't answer the question: what gives anyone the authority to decide whose website deserves to exist? If we accept that intolerant ideologies forfeit their right to infrastructure, who decides what counts as "intolerant"?

Because from where I'm standing, everyone believes they're fighting intolerance. This framework just gives technical power the authority to enforce their definition.

Nostr event nevent1qqsdtfupgsjjq83uq7qkkmt7en2c5e6kdkfy6qxxply9le6423cm3uczyze2x03dyw2awpa9287qg0kzmw9k2klmuj2kat06m0tptgg00cd8yqsk05t

2026-01-04T16:26:24Z

> the freedom of taking direct action against something you ...

2026-01-04T16:23:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…hz54
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> the freedom of taking direct action against something you dont believe in

If direct action means pointing it out, explaining it, cursing it, removing these people from your property... then I totally agree. Having a stupid opinion is also freedom. But this goes much further. This was an aggressive attack on someone else's infrastructure, a violation of the non-aggression principle. Basically, the exact behavior we want to fight against.

So I don't see the difference between this and what the NSDAP did in Weimar. If racists were banning Jews from going to their own shops, publicly criticizing them, then ok... But the problem started when they started aggressively using violence to impose this on others.

My post wasn't much about Nostr, more about broader ...

2026-01-04T13:54:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…j34r
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My post wasn't much about Nostr, more about broader authoritarian trend I'm seeing across "hacker" communities like CCC or tech ones, like ActivityPub or AT Protocol, and in US/European culture generally.

Nostr may not be super intellectual, but from that perspective, it seems relatively okay compared to the others (that may be because its just small, and very monocultural).

I'm deeply concerned about what I saw from CCC this year, ...

2026-01-04T13:11:17Z

I'm deeply concerned about what I saw from CCC this year, though CCC is just one example of a broader pattern. A journalist hacked a white supremacy dating site, extracted all data, and destroyed their infrastructure live on stage. The crowd celebrated. This seems to be the direction society is choosing, and I'm not sure it's leading anywhere good.

I need to say this clearly: I despise white supremacy. But I'm not writing about them. I'm writing about what's happened to hacker culture, and what this approach actually accomplishes.

The hacking ethos used to be about resisting power itself, not about wielding power against the right targets. We opposed surveillance, censorship, and centralized control as structural problems, not as things that were bad only when used by the wrong people. The principle was simple: concentrate power anywhere and it will be abused, so build systems that distribute it.

Somewhere along the way, that changed. "hacker culture" has become increasingly collectivist, increasingly comfortable with using force and control as long as it serves the correct ideology. The logic is seductive: we're the good guys, we're targeting bad people, therefore our use of power is justified. But that's exactly how every authoritarian movement justifies itself.

Here's what nobody seems willing to ask: what did this actually accomplish? I'd never heard of this white supremacy dating site before. It was probably a handful of people in their own corner of the internet, doing nothing of consequence. Now they're martyrs. Now they have a story about persecution by the powerful tech elite. Now they have proof that "the system" is out to destroy them, which is exactly the narrative that radicalizes people further.

This is basic human psychology. When you attack people's identity and destroy their spaces, you don't make them reconsider their beliefs. You confirm their worldview. You give them grievance. You push them deeper into their ideology and make them more willing to fight back. Every authoritarian regime understands this: if you want to eliminate an ideology, persecution is the worst possible approach. But it feels satisfying, and that's what matters to the crowd.

What we're doing is pouring gasoline on cultural and racial tensions. We're creating cycles of retaliation where each side sees the other as an existential threat that must be destroyed. The white supremacists see this hack as proof they're under attack. They'll radicalize further, recruit more effectively, and be more willing to use violence because they have a persecution narrative that's actually true. And when they retaliate, the other side will use that as justification for more aggressive action. This is how tribal conflicts escalate into wars.

Hacker culture used to understand that the tools we normalize using will eventually be used against us. When we cheer for infrastructure destruction targeting racists today, we're establishing that infrastructure destruction based on ideology is legitimate. What happens when the political winds shift? What happens when the people with power decide that anarchists, or activists, or minority communities are the "dangerous ideology" that needs to be hacked and destroyed? There is no principle left to appeal to, because we've already agreed that power is fine as long as we like the target.

The shift toward collectivist thinking, toward "solidarity" as the highest value, toward celebrating power when it's used against acceptable targets, this creates exactly the tribal dynamics that lead to conflict. When your identity is bound up in your collective, and the collective has decided who the enemy is, questioning the tactics becomes betrayal. Dissent becomes treason. And anyone pointing out that you're creating the very cycles of violence you claim to oppose gets treated as an enemy themselves.

Hackers used to be about building systems assuming those systems would be used against us, so we made them resilient and distributed. That required uncomfortable consistency: defending infrastructure neutrality even for people we despised, because the alternative was endless cycles of retaliation. We understood that you can't build a free society by normalizing the destruction of spaces you disagree with, because eventually someone will disagree with you.

The question isn't whether white supremacists are bad. Obviously they are. The question is whether we've become so focused on winning the current battle that we can't see we're creating the conditions for endless war. And whether we've forgotten that the point of hacker culture was to build systems that made such wars unnecessary, not to become better warriors in them.

quoting
nevent1q…es5c
The journalist Martha Root infiltrated a white supremacy dating site with an LLM, extracted all data, and deleted all accounts and databases live on stage at CCC.

More of this please 🩷

Yeah we're early, starting with financial stuff. But ...

2026-01-03T14:30:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…ssra
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Yeah we're early, starting with financial stuff. But operationally: Uniswap does billions in trustless exchange. Aave billions in permissionless lending. Prediction markets work despite governments fighting them for decades. Tornado Cash was so unstoppable they arrested the dev because they couldn't kill the protocol.

Thanks to Ethereum we have what Hayek and cypherpunks dreamed about, markets and tools that work regardless of regulatory approval.

Decentralization is not only where messages and identity are ...

2026-01-03T01:05:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…7kr6
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Decentralization is not only where messages and identity are stored, but also the number of clients you can use and generally ecosystem availability

Why is there no alternative client to Warpcast? Nostr, AT Protocol, each protocol has tons of clients.. but I've never seen a usable Farcaster client other than Warpcast

It's not 15 years, but it seems like :) I think Matěj ...

2026-01-02T23:55:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…ztqy
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It's not 15 years, but it seems like :) I think Matěj started this whole thing sometime around 2020, it was a very young team

Yeah, the only interesting thing about Tweetoshi were the zaps, otherwise it was pretty stupid - building a client on a proprietary Twitter API 🤦‍♂

From the beginning, it was, from my point of view, quite clear inexperience and naivety. Now they are probably focusing on AT Protocol/Mastodon, that could bring them finally the growth they are probably expecting, but I don't know.

You're missing the most likely option (c) do nothing :)

2026-01-02T20:56:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…pjk6
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You're missing the most likely option (c) do nothing :)

> @Melvin Carvalho has been working on DID support for Nostr, ...

2026-01-02T20:15:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…3a96
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> @Melvin Carvalho has been working on DID support for Nostr, which would make any Nostr key pair pluggable into the DID/VC ecosystem.

Do you have any details about that? The fact that Nostr identity will have a DID variant is useless in itself if other protocol (such as the AT Protocol) does not implement it.

Moreover, the idea that you can create a DID variant of Nostr identity and it will be "pluggable" is very naive, ignoring all dependencies, identity is just the tip of the iceberg. Identity (actually the public key) is tied to human-readable identifiers, to profile information, content... and each protocol works completely differently in this.

Bridgy Fed on AT Protocol is a typical bridge, connecting ...

2026-01-02T19:56:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…9fdr
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Bridgy Fed on AT Protocol is a typical bridge, connecting Activity Pub and Bluesky. Sure, it's probably a bit useful.... but I also see the danger - that there's one enthusiast who runs it and who now has the power to manipulate all those thousands bridged profiles. Or turn it off, in short, it's all dependent on one intermediary. The complexity of bridging clearly points towards centralization.

> posts, likes, comments, reacts, boosts, quotes It sounds ...

2026-01-02T19:49:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…8ewy
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> posts, likes, comments, reacts, boosts, quotes

It sounds simple, but when you think about the details, it's a very complex problem full of problems that you have to solve... for example, when a bridged user quotes a post of a user who is not bridged, and there is dozens or hundreds similar problems.

And whats worst - It usually leads to centralization, that someone has to run those bridges and have the private keys to all those "pseudo" identities. For me, it's just not worth it.

My comment was specifically about bridges and multi-platform ...

2026-01-02T19:40:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…3a96
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My comment was specifically about bridges and multi-platform clients. That's what I think doesn't work and is a waste of time. One-time migration tools make sense, but that's a little different story for me.

For example, Matrix protocol has a lot of bridges, but that hasn't helped with adoption much. Similarly, on Bluesky, there is Bridgy Fed to connect to Activity Pub, but I don't think that has had any major impact on growth either.

I feel like bridges like this are helping more the larger network become even more dominant, instead of helping smaller networks grow... so maybe it's counterproductive in some way.

Migration is definitely needed and it makes sense. I don't ...

2026-01-02T19:29:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…fgwa
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Migration is definitely needed and it makes sense. I don't know anything about myspace-facebook, that sounds more like a one way migration. But thats very different from bridges and interop.

I've never been a fan of Network State precisely because of ...

2026-01-02T02:15:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…zq4w
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I've never been a fan of Network State precisely because of what you write - it's an interesting book and a good food for thought, but I don't feel like it fundamentally changes something. Very tied to the whole "right-accelerationist" (e/acc) and technocratic, market-oriented view that lacks more human depth.

One of my favorite Ethereum projects is https://trueblocks.io/, ...

2026-01-01T23:30:24Z

One of my favorite Ethereum projects is https://trueblocks.io/, which provides a user-friendly and private way to access transactions and data, especially useful if you have your own node.

It's a big disappointment to me how almost no one in the eth ecosystem cares about the dependency on etherscan.io and other centralized data providers.

That metaphor doesn't really work. crypto is literally the ...

2025-12-31T18:29:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…sx90
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That metaphor doesn't really work. crypto is literally the most immutable, permanent record in history.

Nostr's lack of data integrity isn't a "mindset shift" required for sovereignty. it's just a specific architectural choice to prioritize relay simplicity over consistency. You can have decentralized self-custody and reliable history (like Git, SSB, AT Protocol etc.) - Nostr just chose not to.

Ok, but that redefines what microblogging is - all platforms or ...

2025-12-31T17:46:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…4j3t
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Ok, but that redefines what microblogging is - all platforms or protocols (including Mastodon, SSB, etc.) work in such a way that posts are permanent.

Perhaps this is the biggest difference between Nostr and all the others. This means that it is not enough for people to just migrate from X to Nostr, but they must fundamentally change their expectations of what micro-blogging is.

To make sure that your posts don't disappear from relays, ...

2025-12-31T16:31:41Z

To make sure that your posts don't disappear from relays, your images don't disappear from blossom servers, etc. you need to run your own instances of these (something like haven) - which is basically AT Protocol PDS or Pubky Homeserver

I like the protocol. I'd want to build on it and push it ...

2025-12-30T11:15:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…xm6t
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I like the protocol. I'd want to build on it and push it forward... but right now it feels like forcing myself to be naive again. I'd spend months building something that might not grow, or worse - watch it grow into something centralized. I don't see how I can be useful to Nostr right now.

Yes, there are other social networks... so I'll be everywhere and stop endorsing any specific one

2.5 years ago I left X and swapped it for Bluesky, and the urge ...

2025-12-30T10:18:50Z

2.5 years ago I left X and swapped it for Bluesky, and the urge to go back to X completely disappeared, total ignorance... but since I switched to Nostr I have a constant urge to lurk on X or Bluesky again, because Nostr offers almost no interesting content regarding my interests and hobbies - except for digital gold, market-anarchism and conspiracy theories

I think I'll pack up in a few weeks and move on again... :/

Leaving X or Bluesky to join Nostr is like quitting ...

2025-12-30T10:08:36Z

Leaving X or Bluesky to join Nostr is like quitting McDonald's to eat at a vegan co-op that only serves one dish and everyone agrees it's the best dish ever invented.

this is a very bluesky vibe, making lists of ...

2025-12-28T23:55:17Z

In reply to nevent1q…eatc
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this is a very bluesky vibe, making lists of "uncomfortable" people. be careful with this

When Živel was created in 1995, I was still very young - I ...

2025-12-28T23:18:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…2jm7
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When Živel was created in 1995, I was still very young - I wouldn't discover it for a few more years. But I often find myself imagining what those early '90s must have felt like for adults.

People were discovering new freedoms after the fall of communism, beginning to explore the world beyond what they'd known. Somehow, all that energy found its way into Živel. It became a gathering point, concentrating everyone in our small country who was hungry for this kind of discovery.

You're right! :) It was a direct reaction to Mondo 2000 (with ...

2025-12-28T23:01:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…ftn8
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You're right! :) It was a direct reaction to Mondo 2000 (with Ray Gun graphics), a mixup of the best form and content of the 90s

Choosing a VPS is a complex question, it depends on many factors, ...

2025-12-28T21:50:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…d3q7
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Choosing a VPS is a complex question, it depends on many factors, especially the desired location, price, connectivity, configuration, whether KYC is a problem, etc.

Vultr, DigitalOcean, Linode are global and easy, but more expensive.. More local hosting like european Hetzner or Netcup can be much cheaper, but often require KYC.

For non-KYC https://kycnot.me/?categories=hosting

I've never used Umbrel, but it looks like a normal OS... so ...

2025-12-28T17:53:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…urky
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I've never used Umbrel, but it looks like a normal OS... so it shouldn't be a problem to install it on any VPS with KVM via ISO image...?
https://github.com/getumbrel/umbrel/wiki/Install-umbrelOS-on-a-Linux-VM

If you want something like Umbrel, why not run UmbrelOS on a VPS?

2025-12-28T17:49:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…2clw
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If you want something like Umbrel, why not run UmbrelOS on a VPS?

Nice! It's great to see Ethereum/Web3 related technology used ...

2025-12-28T14:35:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…wj0m
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Nice! It's great to see Ethereum/Web3 related technology used by Nostr 💪

I've been hosting an IPFS node (kubo) for 5 years+, if you have any questions, hit me up

Nostr event nevent1qqs2lmgrzdr3sp406ven9mpq9n9rfrm6jl0j7u3ddyukvl53h0fqzzczyze2x03dyw2awpa9287qg0kzmw9k2klmuj2kat06m0tptgg00cd8yjgv2lz

2025-12-28T14:25:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…3cu9
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DCUtR
https://docs.ipfs.tech/how-to/nat-configuration/#configuration-options

Ok, I think I understand, I follow 264 people and it wants to ...

2025-12-28T14:09:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…hrpm
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Ok, I think I understand, I follow 264 people and it wants to connect to 284 relays because those are the relays that have the people I follow set up (not global). So if I follow 2k+ people, it can easily connect to 2k+ relays.

Satoshi wrote: "I'm sure that in 20 years (2030) there ...

2025-12-27T07:26:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…lnmt
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Satoshi wrote: "I'm sure that in 20 years (2030) there will either be very large transaction volume or no volume."

We're 15 years in. Fees cover 0.5-1% of security budget. That's "no volume" territory. 5 years left. How exactly do we get from "no volume" to "very large transaction volume" on Bitcoin L1?

Because Lightning Network, Cashu (npub17fz…9yxv) , and every off-chain solution is actively reducing on-chain volume - the exact opposite of what Satoshi said we need.

Please explain it to me 🤔

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=48.msg329#msg329

The Security Budget issue and how the Bitcoin community ...

2025-12-27T06:26:35Z

The Security Budget issue and how the Bitcoin community approaches it is a mystery to me.

When I started with Bitcoin, whenever I didn't understand something, there was always some logical explanation. I just had to re-read the whitepaper, study the code, understand the Austrian school of economics, etc. Bitcoin taught me that "code is law" and predictability is its greatest strength.

But then I came across this Security Budget problem. Bitcoin's security costs billions annually, paid through block subsidy. The code says this subsidy goes to zero. The plan is fees will replace it. But after 15 years, fees cover only 0.5-1% of the security budget.

I went looking for the explanation. I re-read the whitepaper - nothing. I studied the economics - the math doesn't work. I asked the community - and encountered something I'd never seen before: pure cognitive dissonance and zero logical answers.

"You're spreading FUD."
"Security budget doesn't exist."
"Miners aren't CREATING coins, they're RELEASING them."
"That's not a problem at all."

This was the first really serious cognitive dissonance I encountered in the Bitcoin community. It forced me to think: do I want to stay in a community where identity matters more than truth?

Yes you can. Bans are at the PDS level or moderation - appview or ...

2025-12-26T14:02:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…rvxr
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Yes you can. Bans are at the PDS level or moderation - appview or relay does not block (for now)

If you think people will suddenly care about ...

2025-12-26T04:59:49Z

If you think people will suddenly care about censorship-resistance when they arrive on Nostr, you're delusional. They don't care now, they won't care then, and the protocol can't make them care.

Culture eats architecture for breakfast.

> I mean if this is true, we might as well pack it up and ...

2025-12-26T04:16:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…wsjs
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> I mean if this is true, we might as well pack it up and welcome the Future of Humanity: Broligarchs vs Eurocrats, forever.

Yeah... the only chance is through better culture, more understanding, forgiveness and these things.

> Nostr's a ghost town because nobody's heard of this. I mean, barely anyone knows what Mastodon even is, and they've got 1 million DAU's!

This sounds naive. Hundreds of millions of people have heard of Bitcoin, but it hasn't changed anything. For most, it's just a speculation tool to make more fiat. Instead of freeing people, Bitcoin became another instrument supporting the existing system.

Nostr will follow the same path. Either it gets absorbed and institutionalized by the system, or it remains small forever—a kind of demonstration project for the handful of people who actually care why censorship-resistance matters, serving mainly as proof to everyone else that they were right not to care.

Yeah, that's why he's interested in AT Protocol—the ...

2025-12-26T03:52:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…l9lp
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Yeah, that's why he's interested in AT Protocol—the potential for better exit is there. But exit alone isn't enough. Exit is compatible with Nostr's ethos, but it's only part of what's needed. You need exit and somewhere neutral to exit to.

Right now, most web hosting is ideology-free and neutral—you can host anywhere you want. But these people are rejecting this model because they believe neutrality doesn't exist. They want every service to carry an ideology by default.

So instead of neutral infrastructure, we'd get leftist hosting, trans hosting, right-wing hosting, etc. No shared commons—just an infinite multiplication of ideological silos. Thats basically Mastodon.

I respect Cory Doctorow, I think he's a great critic of ...

2025-12-26T03:21:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…7a0s
_________________________

I respect Cory Doctorow, I think he's a great critic of corporations and capitalism... but still a guy who thinks the world needs states and people telling us what to do. He's not fighting for decentralization, but rather for more accountable institutions. And that's exactly what I think is the universal sentiment.

I think the fact that Nostr is a ghost town and so few people ...

2025-12-26T03:17:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…j7ah
_________________________

I think the fact that Nostr is a ghost town and so few people care about cryptocurrencies' censorship-resistant properties is proof that it *is* universal.

People don't actually want neutral infrastructure, they want their side to control the moderation. Decentralization is only appealing when they're the one being censored.

Decentralization isn't binary. Yes, ActivityPub is more ...

2025-12-26T03:03:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…cadq
_________________________

Decentralization isn't binary. Yes, ActivityPub is more decentralized in practice right now—but it trends toward more control, not less.

Mastodon has no neutral infrastructure layer. Everything runs through instances with their own politics and moderation wars. If your instance blocks you or shuts down, you lose your identity, your social graph, everything. That's not decentralization of power—that's just multiplication of chokepoints.

AT Protocol is technically superior for decentralization: cryptographically signed posts, portable identity, account migration without data loss. Your identity isn't tied to whoever runs your server. The architecture separates infrastructure from moderation, so you can switch hosting without losing your network or content.

But here's the problem: AT's architecture enables decentralization, but nobody's building the neutral infrastructure to make it real. Without that work, Bluesky risks ending up like Mastodon anyway—just with better tech that nobody uses the way it was designed.

> Plenty of people on the Left (broadly defined) see the value ...

2025-12-26T02:47:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…k5rl
_________________________

> Plenty of people on the Left (broadly defined) see the value of decentralized systems that aren't controlled by large corporations...

Yes, but they also think that neutral spaces are inherently fascist.

"safe space" They want a space that is filled only with ...

2025-12-26T02:41:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…wa0f
_________________________

"safe space"

They want a space that is filled only with people they agree with.

People have moved from Twitter to Bluesky because they hate Musk ...

2025-12-26T02:29:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…qs4v
_________________________

People have moved from Twitter to Bluesky because they hate Musk and everything he represents - right-wingers, capitalism, corporations, crypto.

I don't know many people who would move into crypto finance like me, most people use BTC purely as a speculative tool because of greed - and a lot of them also because they hate leftists.

Why would they do that? 99.9% of people are not interested in the ...

2025-12-25T10:01:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…5juc
_________________________

Why would they do that? 99.9% of people are not interested in the main benefits of Nostr like decentralization or censorship-resistance, they love their federation

I don't know if what I wrote makes sense to you. But this is ...

2025-12-24T05:07:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…ferc
_________________________

I don't know if what I wrote makes sense to you. But this is my current state after 13 years around blockchains. I am definitely not a fan of large blocks, but I am also not a fan of small ones. Both the Bitcoin (small blocks) and Solana (large blocks) approaches seem too extreme to me and perhaps in a way go against what I want - which is a global decentralized financial system that eliminates the power of current institutions as much as possible. Solana explicitly opens the door to these institutions, .. and Bitcoin's small blocks and the "digital gold" narrative do essentially the same thing, only indirectly...

Thanks for mentioning Andreas. When I started with Bitcoin, he ...

2025-12-24T04:39:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…8m8y
_________________________

Thanks for mentioning Andreas. When I started with Bitcoin, he was my primary influence. I don't remember him talking about price or "digital gold"—his focus was freedom, neutrality, cross-border payments, alternative financial systems. His five pillars of an open blockchain still resonate with me. The timing of his declining relevance in the Bitcoin community coincided exactly with the tribalization around Bitcoin Cash. His vision was Bitcoin and Ethereum complementing each other, but that perspective came from a pre-tribal era. Like Satoshi, I think Andreas expected things to evolve differently.

I'm still uncertain about Bitcoin Cash. When the fork happened, I sided completely with small blocks—I was probably at my most "bitcoin maximalist" then. I approached it from technology and decentralization, but I was also more consumerist, caught up in speculation, and didn't understand the broader implications. Then I tried MakerDAO and other early Ethereum protocols, and everything shifted. I began seeing the power of smart contracts the way Andreas did, but I also witnessed the Bitcoin community's growing hostility toward them. To me, smart contracts were an obvious continuation of Satoshi's vision—another form of totally open, unregulated markets. I didn't view ICOs and the surrounding chaos as proof of failure; quite the opposite. Every open market begins in chaos, then gradually develops understanding and self-regulating mechanisms as participants learn. I still don't understand Bitcoin maximalists who actively fight open markets. The contradiction wasn't obvious initially, but it compounded over time.

Even as an early Ethereum enthusiast, I supported small blocks and championed Layer 2s when they emerged. My skepticism only developed these past 2-3 years, watching L2s proliferate. A friend who was skeptical of L2s warned me they would invite greater institutional and VC influence trying to capture the space—reality has largely vindicated that warning. We achieved a highly secure, decentralized base layer, but everything built on top exists in fragmented chaos. Nobody can definitively assess how decentralized it actually is (I see strong parallels with Lightning Network). We traded decentralization for opacity. I realized this isn't a binary problem—it requires understanding context. The most technically pragmatic solution isn't always best for long-term ecosystem health. L2s and small blocks offer immediate comfort and scalability, but they defer chaos to later stages and other layers. Ethereum committed to a rollup-centric roadmap, and most people stopped caring about L1 scaling like sharding. I'm no longer certain this was the right choice.

Which brings me back to Bitcoin Cash. Through my Ethereum experience, I'm revisiting old decisions and questioning whether the solution was ever as binary as the community framed it. Perhaps a middle path would have served us better in the long run.

I'm not saying Bitcoin Cash had the right answer either. The ...

2025-12-23T07:27:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…uvdq
_________________________

I'm not saying Bitcoin Cash had the right answer either. The right path was probably somewhere in the middle—preserving Bitcoin's utility as peer-to-peer cash while maintaining decentralization and building toward programmable money. But that required coordination, nuance, and willingness to experiment.

Instead, we got an enormous coordination failure. The community fractured into tribal camps, each claiming the one true vision. Bitcoin maximalists rejected all innovation. Bitcoin Cash pursued its own rigid orthodoxy. The middle ground—where Bitcoin could have evolved as a platform for economic freedom while remaining true to its cypherpunk roots—never materialized.

Everything that followed stems from this failure. The tribalism, the narrative capture, the rejection of tools people actually need, the "price them out" mentality—all of it traces back to that moment when Bitcoin culture chose ideology over pragmatism, purity over utility, and walls over bridges.

I think Bitcoin didn't resist institutional capture during ...

2025-12-23T07:14:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…0ccg
_________________________

I think Bitcoin didn't resist institutional capture during 2015-2020—they embraced it through narrative control.

The shift to "digital gold" wasn't about principles—it was about abandoning Bitcoin's original purpose. Peer-to-peer cash became "store of value". Scaling became unnecessary. Smart contracts and DeFi became threats instead of natural extensions.

The Bitcoin Cash fork was messy, but it revealed the choice: preserve Bitcoin as a tool for economic freedom and innovation, or constrain it into a narrative institutions could control. Bitcoin chose the latter. They built walls around what Bitcoin could be. DeFi? Bad. Smart contracts? Unnecessary. Stablecoins? Scams. Anything that gave people actual financial tools got branded as betrayal.

Later, when VCs moved to other chains, Bitcoiners claimed they'd been fighting institutional capture all along. But they'd already been captured—just by narrative instead of investment rounds. They'd let institutions define what Bitcoin was allowed to become.

//Bitcoin Culture is Dead: How Institutional Capture Killed the ...

2025-12-23T06:00:04Z

//Bitcoin Culture is Dead: How Institutional Capture Killed the Revolution

I discovered Bitcoin in 2013, and it felt like witnessing the birth of something genuinely revolutionary. Here was a tool that could enable truly free markets, permissionless exchange, and economic sovereignty outside state control. The promise wasn't just digital gold—it was the foundation for an entire ecosystem of voluntary exchange.

By the time I registered with BitShares and later MakerDAO in 2017, I saw the natural evolution: programmable money, decentralized stablecoins, synthetic assets—all the financial instruments people actually need to participate in global markets. These weren't betrayals of Bitcoin's vision; they were its fulfillment. They offered people practical tools for economic freedom, not just a store of value to HODL.

//The Betrayal

But Bitcoin culture chose a different path. Instead of celebrating these innovations as expansions of unregulated markets, the community turned hostile. Those who once championed permissionless innovation began gatekeeping what counted as "real" cryptocurrency. They built walls where there should have been bridges.

I watched this transformation personally within the Czech crypto community between 2020-22. The pretense of caring about broader crypto culture evaporated. What emerged was pure tribalism—Bitcoin good, everything else scam. The community finally stopped pretending they cared about freedom and went full orthodoxy.

//The Philosophical Failure

Bitcoiners had the opportunity to be moral and cultural guides—to help people navigate new financial tools while maintaining principles of sovereignty and decentralization. They could have been amplifiers of unregulated markets, celebrating every innovation that gave people more tools for economic freedom.

Instead, they chose the path of the ostrich. Heads buried in sand, fingers in ears, chanting "Bitcoin fixes this" at every challenge. When DeFi offered people access to financial instruments previously gatekept by traditional finance, Bitcoiners called it a scam. When stablecoins gave people in unstable economies a practical tool for daily use, Bitcoiners dismissed them as shitcoins.

They stopped asking what people actually need. They stopped caring whether their solutions addressed real problems. The only question became: "Does it serve Bitcoin?" Everything else—utility, adoption, solving actual use cases—became secondary to narrative maintenance and price performance.

The irony cuts deep: a community that once embodied cypherpunk principles of individual sovereignty now demands ideological conformity. A movement built on questioning authority now has its own orthodoxy, complete with heresy trials for anyone who builds on other protocols.

//What Remains

Bitcoin the technology may continue. Bitcoin the cultural movement—the one that inspired me in 2013, that promised liberation through technology—that's dead. It died when curiosity became heresy, when innovation became competition, and when serving people became less important than serving the protocol's price.

Yes, philosophical depth still exists in Bitcoin—there are still cypherpunks in the margins asking hard questions and building for freedom rather than number-go-up. But here's the tragedy: when those people need visibility, funding, conference stages, or development resources, they have to interface with the institutions that actually control Bitcoin's trajectory.

And those institutions—the conferences, the media platforms, the development funding—are completely captured by the commercial/institutional layer. Money and power concentrate around figures who explicitly represent institutional capture, people like Saylor who literally advocate for Bitcoin's integration into the existing power structure.

So you get this bifurcation: rich philosophical discourse happening in the margins while the money and power concentrate around institutional capture. What remains is a cargo cult, worshipping the form while abandoning the substance. Then when it's time to "represent Bitcoin" to the world, which layer gets amplified? The Longreads philosophers or the BTC Prague conference keynotes?

The answer reveals everything. The revolution didn't fail—it was captured. The cypherpunks are still there, but they're not the ones with the megaphone. And most Bitcoiners can't tell the difference.

Format something between CCC (chaos communication congress) and ...

2025-12-22T03:38:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…eqv8
_________________________

Format something between CCC (chaos communication congress) and sovereignengineering.io. 2-3 days, central europe

I have organized a few conferences, I think it is practically feasible. Speakers would definitely join and I wouldn't worry about attendance... also money might not be a problem either. The main struggle I see is put together organization team

Exactly! The breadth creates unexpected intersections - someone ...

2025-12-22T03:33:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…lkz0
_________________________

Exactly! The breadth creates unexpected intersections - someone might come for the Bitcoin talks but leave inspired to start a local hackspace, or vice versa. That's how movements grow beyond their initial niches.

Yes. I think state resistance emerges naturally from building ...

2025-12-22T02:49:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…l7lw
_________________________

Yes. I think state resistance emerges naturally from building good tools for human flourishing - I'd rather lead with creation than opposition. But yeah... Freedom tech, state resistance, decentralization... they're all valid lenses on the same thing.

To paraphrase this from @npub147f…aq44 - "agnostic ...

2025-12-22T01:53:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…9qmk
_________________________

To paraphrase this from Globe99 (npub147f…aq44) - "agnostic conference about decentralization..." rather than "btc/eth/xmr/etc conference ... with decentralization" :)

quoting
nevent1q…zxyy
Oh OK I think I see your point... Nostr hitches itself to Bitcoin, and thus inherits the current toxicity of the latter community...

So we need to make this more about "decentralized social networking... with a Bitcoin layer", rather than "the Bitcoin social network ... with decentralization"

Well I think you know my proposal for how to achieve that so I won't harp on it 😅

That philosophical depth is definitely there - it's just the ...

2025-12-21T23:34:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…cayg
_________________________

That philosophical depth is definitely there - it's just the extremely smart minority.

The question is what happens when those same people need visibility, funding, conference stages, or development resources. They have to interface with the institutions that actually control Bitcoin's trajectory. And those institutions - the conferences, the media platforms, the development funding - are completely captured by the commercial/institutional layer.

So you get this bifurcation: rich philosophical discourse happening in the margins while the money and power concentrate around figures like Saylor who explicitly represent institutional capture. Then when it's time to "represent Bitcoin" to the world, which layer gets amplified? The Longreads philosophers or the BTC Prague conference keynotes?

Yeah, I appreciate this effort, but I'm honestly not sure if ...

2025-12-21T22:54:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…uq3m
_________________________

Yeah, I appreciate this effort, but I'm honestly not sure if something like this can really change something. The space is already colonized by bitcoiners. Think about it materially - who funds relay infrastructure? Who sponsors development? Who has capital to dedicate time to protocol work? The economic base shapes the cultural superstructure. Communities spec doesn't change that bitcoiners have the resources to maintain dominance, or that non-bitcoiners often can't afford to build alternatives.

I honestly don't know. I canceled my X account 2.5 years ago, ...

2025-12-21T22:34:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…d68z
_________________________

I honestly don't know. I canceled my X account 2.5 years ago, this is a no-go for me.

I'd prefer to stay here and help build... I'm often an early-adopter, so I'm used to starting in a small community and growing with it. The current number of people and little diversity wouldn't be a problem if there is some path. But it seems very hopeless.

I think that the hopelessness I perceive also stems from my historical experience with bitcoiners, who abandoned culture-building around decentralization and freedom in favor of Number Go Up cult. I see it as reason why Nostr struggles - it requires people who actually value those principles, but bitcoiners spent a generation creating the opposite culture.

TBH I don't know how much longer I can stay on Nostr... i ...

2025-12-21T20:58:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…ucv6
_________________________

TBH I don't know how much longer I can stay on Nostr... i feel like completely disconnected from everything here. there are even less people and diversity than I pessimistically imagined

I think its brilliant... ending punishes you for wanting ...

2025-12-21T02:19:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…6d58
_________________________

I think its brilliant... ending punishes you for wanting cleverness :) Very consistent and structurally honest

yeah, there is no graph... I meant as a rough estimate of DAU web ...

2025-12-21T01:14:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…s67q
_________________________

yeah, there is no graph... I meant as a rough estimate of DAU

web archive have numbers from august https://web.archive.org/web/20250805111449/http://profilestr.com/reports :)

Pretty much. I was bullied en masse by the black and trans ...

2025-12-19T21:26:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…epvs
_________________________

Pretty much. I was bullied en masse by the black and trans community and called "racist" just because I discussed decentralization of AT Protocol or inverted colors of my avatar.

But you think the solution is to flip sides and embrace white supremacy? That's just the same institutional logic with inverted colors. Today's victims becoming tomorrow's oppressors doesn't break the cycle - it perpetuates it.

These people aren't evil - they're institutionalized. They're doing what captured institutions train people to do: use identity as a weapon to enforce conformity. But the answer isn't to build the opposite institution with the same weapons.

I'm an anarchist. I don't want to win the game of institutional power - I want to abolish the game. No hierarchies. No sides. No gatekeepers of any color telling anyone else how to live.

quoting
nevent1q…m7z5
"The AT Protocol is doomed because the community that adopted it hates everything it was designed to enable. And no amount of elegant architecture can overcome a culture committed to its own subjugation."

My article: "Why I Left AT Protocol"
https://gist.github.com/burningtree/d4aa172470293bdf2939c993cf48bbd4

Pořád nad tímhle přemýšlím a nechápu co jsi tím chtěl ...

2025-12-19T18:51:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…jfyt
_________________________

Pořád nad tímhle přemýšlím a nechápu co jsi tím chtěl říct.... ty nemáš rodinu nebo "normíky" u příbuzných? Tvoje kniha "Hackni sa!" není pro normíky?

Ano, to je konkurence pro nás, já používám Amazon pořád, - ...

2025-12-18T22:10:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…xypv
_________________________

Ano, to je konkurence pro nás, já používám Amazon pořád, - ale nemyslím si že je to opravdová konkurence pro klasickýho českýho pepíka, kterej je navyklej na to že všechno dostane v češtině a může si zajít na prodejnu když se mu to rozbije. "Specifickej trh" lol :)

Tak jasný, občas tam nějakej dobrej deal najdeš, zvláště u ...

2025-12-18T21:33:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…e22t
_________________________

Tak jasný, občas tam nějakej dobrej deal najdeš, zvláště u dražších věcí, páč si to naúčtujou u příslušenství :) Trošku dominujou místnímu trhu ... je škoda že neexistuje pořádná konkurence, která by držela na zemi, po tom co padlo czc

jj, to je super - pokud by to byl čistě krypto obchod, tak by ...

2025-12-18T21:07:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…u9k7
_________________________

jj, to je super - pokud by to byl čistě krypto obchod, tak by se dalo pochopit že chtějí větší marži aby to uživili, ale tak to není. Tohle je jen využívání státních regulací a hranic a toho že v EU nemáme opravdu otevřený trh, aby našince pořádně podojili...

существование есть шумителной ...

2025-12-18T10:13:49Z

существование есть шумителной путешествие к смерти//бессмертию

Agnostic Nostr Initiative (idea) Mission: Break Nostr out of ...

2025-12-18T08:53:01Z

Agnostic Nostr Initiative (idea)

Mission: Break Nostr out of marginalization by building tools normal people actually need, with zero ideology required. Make Nostr the sufficient alternative to centralized platforms people already use.

Core Principles

* Utility Over Ideology - Build what people need. Twitter alternative, yes. But also Git forges, event platforms, newsletters, music tracking - anything where centralization is the problem.
* Zero Barriers - Custodial onboarding. One-click signup. Abstract everything. Make it feel exactly like signing up for any other app. Users shouldn't need documentation to start.
* Normie-First - If non-technical people won't use it, we've failed. No relay management, no key backup anxiety visible to end users.
* No Purity Tests - We don't care about protocol purity or ideological alignment. We care about tools that work for everyone.

Core: Social Communication

Dead-simple X/Bluesky/ActivityPub alternative with great UX:
* Features normies expect (quote posts, bookmarks, easy media, working search)
* Algorithms that surface interesting content (yes, algorithms)

Essential Alternatives

* Git forge (GitHub/Tangled alternative)
* Event coordination (Meetup.com alternative)
* Music tracking/social (Last.fm alternative)
* Long-form blogging (Medium alternative)
* Newsletter platform (Substack alternative)
....

I'd love to try it!

2025-12-18T07:09:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…h8jk
_________________________

I'd love to try it!

I think this conversation stopped being productive, because your ...

2025-12-18T00:03:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…9hkj
_________________________

I think this conversation stopped being productive, because your answer will always be "that already exists somewhere." You're solving for technical completeness. I'm talking about why growth isn't happening even despite that completeness.

Primal, Jumble/Fevela, Coracle the most

2025-12-17T23:50:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…xn59
_________________________

Primal, Jumble/Fevela, Coracle the most

Very cool. But still thats just lists of profiles (starter packs) ...

2025-12-17T23:48:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…7fhn
_________________________

Very cool. But still thats just lists of profiles (starter packs) that you can follow, not feeds that contain only specific thematic posts - that was my main point. Most people today are multi-disciplinary (i think?), interested / writing about many topics, so this will only help partially.

Thanks Rabble! I kicked that nest little on purpose. I was on ...

2025-12-14T17:04:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…6jyq
_________________________

Thanks Rabble!

I kicked that nest little on purpose. I was on atproto very early, among the first 40k people - and I chose atproto over Nostr because I thought it was a technology with greater scaling potential (not perfect, but which can bring freedom to more people). I saw atproto as the opposite approach to nostr, but converging to a very similar destination point.

But the mood of the last few months clearly anticipated how wrong I was, that it had become just a decentralization theater. My assumption that the community would move towards decentralization was completely wrong and naive.

The rage that has now finally confirmed my suspicions and given me the strength to leave and build something more meaningful. So i'm here :)

"The AT Protocol is doomed because the community that adopted ...

2025-12-11T13:48:08Z

"The AT Protocol is doomed because the community that adopted it hates everything it was designed to enable. And no amount of elegant architecture can overcome a culture committed to its own subjugation."

My article: "Why I Left AT Protocol"
https://gist.github.com/burningtree/d4aa172470293bdf2939c993cf48bbd4