Exploring Nostr

I've been exploring Nostr and want to share what I've learned with you. Nostr is a decentralized social network designed by Bitcoiners. The native currency is Satoshis, and like the Bitcoin network, there are many nodes called relays.

image created by me with Midjourney AI and Canva

Keys and Identifiers

Just like on Hive, the Nostr keys are your life. Like a Bitcoin wallet, each user on Nostr has a public/private key pair. The public key is used by other accounts to find and interact with you. The private key is used by you to write data to the network. You are hosed if you lose your private key; you cannot regain access to your accounts without it. If you leak your private key, there is no way to change it; you have to generate a new key pair, which is a new account.

Generating a new public/private key pair to make a new Nostr identity is free and instant. Beyond just a key pair, Nostr users can set a human-readable name to be displayed in apps.

Nostr accounts can also add a NIP-05 identifier, which is a form of verification. NIP-05 IDs are DNS-based identifiers, a domain name linked to your Nostr account. The verification process requires placing a static file on a web server that is reachable from DNS records for the desired domain.

Key management for web - browser extensions

To interact with Nostr web apps you want to use a browser extension, similar to Hive Keychain. The two most popular ones are Nos2x and Alby.

Nos2x is more minimalistic, providing basic functionality for signing transactions. Alby is a more full-featured wallet and more similar to Hive Keychain. Alby can be used to sign transactions as well as send/receive sats via the Lightning Network (LN).

Both of these browser add-ons request the ability to read every page you visit. I went with nos2x because I did not need all the bells and whistles of Alby. Then I over-wrote the permissions only to enable the extension on pages that I requested, sacrificing some convenience for privacy.

Web Apps - Multiple Nostr Front-ends Available

Habla.news - blogging front-end

Habla.news. This is a blogging-focused site. It has an interesting feature where other users on the network can highlight a blog post, and the highlights are visible to other users.

Blockstack.io - blogging front-end

Blogstack.io. This is another blogging-centric front-end for the nostr network. Similar to Habla in terms of functionality, but a little less pretty.

Primal.net - full-featured social front-end

Primal.net - Primal is a little confusing at first if you don't have a browser extension set up with keys. There is no login button, but it works well if you have nos2x extension set up. The explore tab is useful for discovering users to follow. Overall it looks great.

Primal recently received received $1M in VC funding. I am not sure how the VCs will find an exit, or return on their capital investment.

Coracle.social - general purpose social front-end

Coracle.social. Coracle allows logging in with a private key in the case that you don't have a browser extension set up. It functions similarly to Primal, with a different look and feel. I prefer Primal's visual theme.

Astral.ninja - a minimal social front-end

Astral.ninja. This app lacks discovery features, making it unfriendly for new users. When just starting out, you need to look elsewhere for a list of users to follow.

screenshot of Astral.ninja with a brand new account.

Mobile apps

There are many apps available. See the full list here: https://nostr.com/clients. I'm showing only a couple of popular ones below.

Damus (iOS) - Twitter-like app

Amethyst - Twitter-like app for Android

Looks beautiful!

screenshot from the Google Play Store since I don't have a device to test with

Zaps - Content Monetization

Nostr does not have a shared reward pool. Users tip each other with Zaps, which are fractions of bitcoins (satoshis) transmitted via the Lightning network.

Relays, Relays, Relays

Relays are the nodes of the Nostr network, and there are many to choose from (over 100 public relays exist as I'm writing). Nostr relays do not all store the same data. The publisher of a message needs to choose which relays to write to. And if I am reading data from a different set of relays, I may not see their message. This is generally not a problem on Hive, except for occasional node syncing issues, meaning you can switch Hive API nodes and find nearly identical content.

relays list from astral.ninja

Despite dozens of relays being available, it seems like, over time, users will gravitate toward the popular relays to maximize the chances of their content being seen.

This system is similar to the Fediverse (popularly known as Mastodon). Users of the network place trust in the operators of their relays. The relay operators provide a service and make decisions about users and content. For example, a relay may decide to plug in an anti-spam filter that blocks users or content from writing to the network.

Some Nostr relays also talk to the Fediverse to relay messages between the two networks, translating between ActivityPub and Nostr protocols. Writing to one of these relays makes the content visible to Mastodon and other fediverse apps. It could be possible to set up a similar relay to interface with the Hive network, with some creativity needed to translate data objects to and from the Hive protocol.

Screenshot of mostr.pub showing a list of supported relays

Unlike the Bitcoin miner network, Nostr relays are not incentivized. Similar to Hive and the Fediverse, there are no rewards for operating a Nostr relay. Node operators have to seek other funding sources, such as social tips or donations. On Hive, some API node operators receive funding from the DHF, while others rely on funds from validator rewards (witnessing). Electricity, bandwidth, and server hardware all cost money. Some Nostr relays have gone the route of a pay-to-play model, asking their users to pay (satoshis) to access them.

How does Nostr handle spam?

Like all internet services, spam has been a problem on Nostr. It is trivial to generate a new key pair and broadcast ads or questionable content to the network. The relays are responsible for filtering, IP blocking, etc. One relay operator created an anti-spam content filtering service for relays to plug in (https://spam.nostr.band/). Unlike Hive, Nostr does not have a system where creating accounts has a cost, and Nostr does not have a resource credit system where writing data to the network has a cost.

Nostr Hive Relationship - Can we be friends?

In summary, Nostr is alive, and it's growing. The network has some problems that have already been solved by Hive technology. Nostr devs probably have not discovered and/or learned about Hive because they tend to be pro-Bitcoin and anti-Crypto. And folks who try to tell them about Hive will quickly be dismissed as a "shitcoiner." But, Nostr shares some common ground with Hive, such as the desire for social media account ownership and censorship resistance.

Nostr will push forward building more tools, in some cases with VC funding. The Hive community can look for opportunities to tap into the Nostr network, such as blogging about Bitcoin and the lightning network on Hive while sharing links to the blog posts on the Nostr network. Or vice versa, building a Bitcoin-centric audience on Nostr and blogging about Hive (good luck getting Zaps).

Maybe it makes sense to stand up a Hive-centric community Nostr relay. To exchange messages back and forth between the Hive network and the Nostr network. This relay(s) would serve as a bridge between the two networks. Then freedom-loving individuals in both camps can directly connect and share ideas.

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