Nostr is a protocol for building censorship-resistant decentralized applications, with social media being an early use case. It uses public/private key pairs like Bitcoin and allows users to subscribe to independently run relay servers. This avoids centralized control and censorship compared to current social platforms that sell user data and determine algorithmically what content users see. Nostr aims to reward users for valuable content and not monetize through advertising. It could provide an open alternative to platforms like Twitter and Substack that have faced censorship controversies.

1. Intro to Nostr

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Nostr is a simple protocol for creating censorship-resistant applications.
Social media networks are the first use-case that have gained a lot of traction.
Nostr stands for Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays.
Uses private/public key pairs similar to Bitcoin.
Nostr is lightweight and allows users to subscribe to relays and not be beholden to any single server
administrator.
- Other decentralized alternatives require you to run your own server (does not scale)
- The network is a collection of independently run servers which keeps it decentralized
- Public key and cryptographic signatures only
Nostr Overview

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Current social media systems are broken:
● Use attention to sell ads and fill user feeds with noise
● Powered by secret algorithms that determine what content users are shown
● Social media companies maintain complete control over participation and censorship
● Spam and bots ruin engagement with other users
On the other hand, Nostr:
● Does not monetize via advertisements
● Users can select whatever client they prefer
● Allows for free speech and curated user experiences
● Rewards users for sharing valuable content with their followers
Why Nostr?

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The Twitter Files
● Blacklisting of certain accounts and content moderation
● Close ties between Twitter executives and government officials
● Reducing the reach of accounts that violate certain rules but not
eligible for full suspension
Substack Controversy
● Twitter users suddenly unable to crosspost Substack links,
old tweets blocked
● Elon was vocal prior to acquiring Twitter about free speech and
Twitter as a ‘digital public square’
● Platforms as walled gardens - your data and followers are not your
own
“Nostr’s killer feature is the portability of your identity within a network of independent apps that
adhere to at least a minimal set of common open standards.”
Nostr Fixes This

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Decentralization
● Not controlled by any central authority
● The network is a collection of independently-run servers (relays)
Open Source
● Code is available to anyone and allows for collaborative development
● Creates a sense of ownership and investment in the protocol’s long-term success
Monetization
● Allows users to monetize content directly and receive tips (“zaps”) from followers
● Infrastructure providers can monetize their services via lightning payments
Pseudonymous
● No user data is collected and sold to advertisers
● No email address, phone numbers, or government ID requirements to participate
Nostr’s Key Attributes

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Events
The only object type on the Nostr network.
Protocol codifies the event, and then clients and relays interact with the protocol around that.
Nostr Events

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Nostr Apps
Clients allow users to engage and interact with the Nostr protocol.
Categories:
- Social media - Snort, Primal, Amethyst, Damus
- Long-form content - Habla
- Music & podcasting - TBD
“Change the note kind from 1 to 30023 and you don’t have an alternative to Twitter, but a replacement
for Medium, Substack, and all the other long-form platforms. I believe that special-purpose clients that
focus on certain content types will emerge over time, just like we have seen the emergence of special-
purpose platforms in the Web 2.0 era. This time, however, the network effects are cumulative, not
separate. A new paradigm.” - Gigi
Nostr Clients

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Relay.Exchange
Relays are servers that store, send, and receive messages from users of the network.
Only relays that a user connects to will record their events. Relays do not talk to each other.
Paid Relays:
- Free relays are available, but paid relays offer better performance and spam prevention
- Free relays = 90% of the Nostr network
- People are economically incentivised to spam when it is profitable to do so
- Free relays are spammed because it is trivial to spin up new Nostr key pairs
- Paid relays are an optional paywall. Others must pay the entry fee to have their content visible to
you
“All humans should have the right to speak, though no one is obliged to listen.” - Jameson Lopp
Using Nostr with a Paid Relay
Nostr Relays

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Your keys are your identity. You can think of your public key (npub...) as your username and your private
key (nsec...) as your password.
Do not share your private key or paste into websites
https://nostr-resources.com/#keys
https://getalby.com/
Nostr Key Management

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- Zaps are V4V lightning payments that are broadcast as nostr events, so clients can display them
on user profiles and specific notes.
- “While today’s information jungle increasingly presents itself in the form
of (short) videos and (long-form) audio, I believe that we will see a
renaissance of the written word, especially if we manage to move away
from an economy built around attention, towards an economy built
upon value and insight.” - Gigi
- Example 1 - Bitcoin cover song (174k sats earned)
- Example 2 - Social trust experiment (>39 million sats zapped)
Content Monetization

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Nostr Stats
Nostr Real Time Statistics

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Takeaways
- Early days for Nostr
- Scaling challenges with user growth
- Incentivizing relays
- Private key management
- Data availability
- Market demand for Twitter alternatives
- Nostr, BlueSky, Substack Notes, Mastodon, etc.
- Future of web application development
- Will developers opt to build on Nostr?
- Give up control of user data in return for large initial user base
- Breaking the traditional mold of walled gardens
- Nostr’s potential as the first killer Lightning app
- Emergence of value for value
- Onboarding new users who may not care about Bitcoin
- Changing the current incentives tied to social media

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Appendix

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