I not too long ago sat down with Vitor Pomplona, creator of Nostr consumer Amethyst, to debate how Nostr in 2025 is so much like what Bitcoin was like in 2012 — a bit tough across the edges, however thrilling to make use of.
Nostr, a decentralized protocol for social media and different types of communication, is simply 4 years outdated, and builders are nonetheless determining find out how to create the absolute best person expertise throughout the purchasers they’ve created. These purchasers embody apps like Primal (which is akin to X) to Olas (which is like Instagram) to Yakihonne (which is analogous to Substack).
What’s distinctive about Nostr purchasers, although, is that customers can “zap” (ship small quantities of) bitcoin to at least one one other to point out appreciation for the content material their fellow customers have created.
And Pomplona is optimistic that increasingly more Nostr purchasers are beginning to acquire traction, simply as Bitcoin started to take action 13 years in the past.
“We’re beginning to see communities being shaped and more cash being transferred,” Pamplona informed Bitcoin Journal within the interview.
A Bitcoin-Fueled Creator Financial system
Pomplona acknowledged that a part of the aim of social media is to allow means for customers to monetize what they create in ways in which they’ll’t do of their bodily setting.
“[Some social media] customers wish to earn a residing,” mentioned Pomplona. “They’ve hope that they’ll obtain extra with social media than they’ll alone or of their cities.”
Pamplona believes that Nostr purchasers might help remodel that hope right into a actuality, and it’s his mission to assist customers do that.
“That’s our finish objective: If we are able to get creators to the purpose the place they’ll earn a residing, we’ll win as a platform.”
This potential for customers to earn a residing with Nostr turns into higher on a regular basis, particularly because the Nostr person base expands and it continues to develop because the largest bitcoin round economic system on the earth.
Amethyst
In creating Amethyst, Pamplona had a imaginative and prescient for a Nostr consumer that served as an all-in-one app, which was impressed by a plan much like the one which Elon Musk had for X (previously Twitter).
“Amethyst got here in on the similar time that Elon was speaking about shopping for Twitter,” defined Pomplona. “He was like let’s make a mega app out of Twitter, and I went for a similar factor.”
Whereas Pomplona understands that Amethyst didn’t fairly obtain this, he’s excited that it’s come to play a unique position. It serves as a lab for people who find themselves growing new Nostr purchasers.
“Amethyst helps everyone kickstart their very own functions,” he mentioned. “Olas got here from Amethyst.”
Nostr As A Bitcoin Onboarding Device
Pomplona sees Nostr as an effective way to onboard folks to Bitcoin, although he doesn’t assume this must be the first objective of Nostr purchasers.
“The primary objective for [Nostr] apps is to get folks to do their factor — to get folks to be inventive, or to speak to their pals or to have a chat with their household,” defined Pomplona.
“No app ought to ever discuss both Nostr or Bitcoin. They need to simply be what they’re,” he added.
Pamplona believes that, after a while, the app’s customers will inevitably begin to study Nostr’s self-sovereignty Nostr offers in the case of customers having the ability to management their very own information and about Bitcoin.
“[They’ll realize that] it simply so occurs that the platform helps them to handle their very own information, and use finest cost protocol we’ve got at the moment.”
And he highlighted that the majority new customers are coming to Nostr due to the liberty and censorship resistance it affords.
“Previously two years, a lot of the new Nostr customers got here in due to freedom, due to some censorship of their nation,” mentioned Pomplona. “They usually realized about Bitcoin after that.”
