Whereas Nostr was based in 2020/2021, it solely actually gained preliminary traction as soon as Will Caserin launched Damus and Jack Dorsey tweeted about it. Just a few months later, the primary Nostr world convention was held in Costa Rica (Nostrica), and issues actually began to maneuver. Over the subsequent 18 months, many — myself included — have been satisfied Nostr was going to take off.
Sadly, fast-forward to late 2025, and development appears to have stalled. The info means that exercise on Nostr has not solely flatlined however could have even declined, regardless of vital enhancements within the high quality of apps and purchasers constructed on the protocol.
I say that is an commentary of the information, not a criticism, as a result of I would like this protocol to succeed and I’m excited about what’s occurred.
So… Why Has Nostr Not Lived Up To Its Potential?
I consider there are two primary causes:
- Competing for content material is tough: Content material creators wish to go the place the viewers is and content material customers wish to go the place the very best creators are. This can be a very onerous cycle to interrupt, particularly when TikTok, Instagram and X are so good at what they do. I’ve seen firsthand how a lot of a chore it’s for folks to put up on “yet one more platform,” even when it’s simply copy-pasting the identical content material. It’s too excessive friction for too little reward (therefore the huge drop-off in retention we see on the Nostr stats).
- The censorship resistance boat has sailed. The in need of it’s that not sufficient folks care. Those that do are on X, Substack and Rumble, not as a result of these platforms are extra censorship resistant, however as a result of they’ve higher advertising departments and may win the narrative conflict. Even Instagram has modified: It’s stuffed with memes and fact bombs that might have gotten you perma-banned solely 6 months in the past. The reality is that individuals’s recollections are quick and most of them simply don’t have the technical prowess to know why Nostr is superior on this division.
The circumstances for these components may change.
If, for no matter cause, the incumbent merchandise degrade and their creator bases collapse, whereas Nostr apps concurrently turn out to be 10 occasions higher than the incumbents, then it’d result in a mass migration of creators. Nevertheless, I discover this extremely inconceivable. The groups at X, Meta and ByteDance are too rattling good, their merchandise are too rattling partaking, their high creators get means too many advantages, and their audiences are means too addicted for this to realistically occur.
How concerning the censorship resistance angle? Positive, the panorama may shift once more sooner or later. There could possibly be one other wave of widespread web censorship, and people on Substack, Rumble and X may be taught the onerous means. However when may that happen? Two, 5, ten years from now, when the political local weather swings again? The place will Nostr companies and due to this fact Nostr be then — particularly if funding for the very best merchandise dries up resulting from stalled development? There was a golden window of alternative for this narrative, however for my part, it’s now closed.
As such, I consider there must be a better, extra sly, roundabout means to do that*.
*At the least for us as a enterprise — as a result of whereas Nostr is a protocol and may survive lengthy sufficient for a superb product to return alongside and revive it 10 years from now; we’re a enterprise and we function on a distinct timeline. We should discover product-market-fit in a a lot shorter timeframe, or we’re toast.
The Chilly Begin Downside
Andrew Chen is one among my favourite thinkers on community results. He was beforehand the top of Rider Development at Uber and authored “The Cold Start Problem” — among the finest books on the subject of community results and market merchandise and platforms.
I’ve learn this e-book twice, and each occasions it strengthened how difficult this downside is to resolve and the way highly effective the outcomes could be if you do.
In it, Chen discusses 4 primary methods for fixing the chilly begin downside and reaching preliminary essential mass:
- Invite-only / Waitlists (e.g., Raya, LinkedIn and Fb within the early days)
- Come for the software, keep for the community (DropBox, Yelp, IG)
- Shopping for the onerous facet (Uber, Coca-Cola)
- Flintstoning / Simulating Customers (DoorDash, Reddit)
I consider Nostr, as a community, unintentionally employed the invite-only technique by capturing the Bitcoin neighborhood, creating a robust, concentrated early community (what Chen calls an atomic community). It was area of interest sufficient that it solely attracted particular sorts of individuals (with no need an express invite-only strategy) and there have been sufficient of us there to make the connections and expertise significant. My guess is that that is additionally why it stays lively in the present day.
However, as I stated, as a result of the timing of the merchandise, the tradition and the protocol’s maturity have been barely misaligned, development has stalled out and for now it’s caught on the identical degree it was 12 months in the past — a bit just like the valence degree for electrons round a nucleus.
To increase the analogy, we now want to spice up this “valence” to unlock a brand new quantum vitality state, and I consider this requires a new strategy excessive of the present content-focused strategy (one should construct atop the opposite).
Come for the Instrument, Keep for the Community
We’re in a brand new period of tech, which is driving a renaissance in client purposes and instruments.
That is largely because of the AI revolution, however Nostr and Bitcoin can play a big function if utilized accurately as instruments within the stack.
Chen, in his e-book, highlights a few key community purposes that have been initially instruments and later turned networks, together with Instagram, DropBox and Yelp. The story of Instagram is especially attention-grabbing to me as a result of it was an inspiration for us at Satlantis. It displaced Hipstamatic, a $3.99/month picture filter app that allowed customers to use filters to, and save photographs to their telephones, which they may later put up to Fb.
Instagram not solely provided comparable performance free of charge but additionally enabled customers to share these edited photographs natively on their very own Instagram profiles whereas additionally making it straightforward to put up to different social media platforms (Twitter and Fb on the time), from the app.
It went viral as a software (photographs with cool filters shared off-platform) and remained sticky as a result of folks started constructing profiles and establishing networks on-platform.
I consider the elements for the subsequent Nostr unlock may lie on this technique (a minimum of for us and our product).
We’ve been constructing Satlantis as a form of travel-centric social community à la Nostr: primarily based on TripAdvisor, crossed with meetup.com and with an Instagram really feel.
Since releasing the beta at BTCPrague in June, we’ve obtained precious consumer suggestions, analyzed utilization patterns and deeply thought of the true worth of our product.
I have to admit, it hasn’t been a straightforward course of, because it revealed a number of uncomfortable truths.
First, we got down to construct an excessive amount of, too early. This not solely created an immense workload for ourselves (growing a number of apps with distinct performance throughout each net and desktop) but additionally made it extremely tough to articulate our product in easy phrases.
Second, I consider we made an error by prioritizing social options first, and particularly, content material creation. I spotted this late final yr, however I used to be nonetheless considerably captivated by the attract of constructing a social app — as a result of, hey, Nostr is a social protocol, proper?
However right here’s the reality, and the large breakthrough for us: Folks don’t really want one other social app, no matter whether or not it’s constructed on Nostr. Posting content material is a chore, and having yet one more place to do it provides extra friction, not much less. When you must push all however probably the most devoted customers to have interaction (versus them being pulled towards it), it’s not true product-market match.
Nevertheless, it’s not all dangerous information! In spite of everything, Nostr isn’t just about “notes,” is it? We additionally found that there was actual worth in two very distinct instruments amid the cacophony of options we’d constructed. Instruments that aren’t solely extra slim, clear and express, however which can be additionally enhanced by their relationship to a social community.
Let’s discover what these are and what I imply.
Feeds are highly effective, however they’re additionally very onerous.
That is an space the place we’ve struggled to distinguish ourselves. I didn’t wish to construct one other Nostr clone with the identical feed, full of the identical content material from the identical folks you already comply with.
So… as a substitute of replicating current fashions, we experimented. We began with media-only posts first, however discovered that missing so added again textual content, video and pictures. We then included a really light-touch algorithm that weights content material not solely by who you comply with but additionally by the pursuits you choose throughout onboarding. This supplies a mix of “for you” content material alongside content material from these you comply with, providing each discoverability and connection.
We additionally made our feed extra multifaceted — a bit like Fb. You possibly can share extra than simply textual content, photographs and video on Satlantis, together with locations and retailers, occasions and exquisite collections in a carousel kind (extra on this beneath).
We even determined to keep away from zaps as a result of they don’t seem to be a differentiator amongst Nostr apps, and we needed to create an expertise that might additionally enchantment to non-Bitcoiners, hoping to open the doorways to a brand new market. The aim was to make zaps the icing on the cake, not the draw card itself.
The outcome? Nicely, it’s nonetheless early days, and whereas some customers recognize the extra dynamic nature of our feed and the flexibility to share various content material, if I’m being sincere, it hasn’t “popped.”
Our feeds are neither compelling nor differentiated sufficient. The incumbents are just too good at what they do: Individuals are typically glad to hitch and take a look at Satlantis, however they wind up again on IG, X and TikTok as a result of that’s the place all of the motion is. Then again, if we’re all being sincere, Nostr already has a transparent winner within the feed division with Primal, and two robust runners-up in Damus and Amethyst. So regardless that the Satlantis feed feels a bit completely different, it’s nonetheless simply too shut to each different Nostr-client feed — so why ought to anybody swap? Living proof:
As such, the feed sport, a minimum of for us, is at the moment not value taking part in. On one hand, it’s an uphill battle in opposition to incumbents, and on the opposite, there isn’t sufficient differentiation. Primal, Damus and Amethyst are all doing this properly and I want all of them the success of their endeavours. I hope they will slowly chip away on the legacy social networks.
So at Satlantis, the query stays: if we’re not going to do a feed, may we nonetheless use the social graph for one thing completely different and extra distinctive? After a very long time spent experimenting and iterating, it appears the reply just isn’t solely “sure” however that it was there all alongside, buried below the entire feed, social networking and content material noise.
Enter… the Social Discovery Expertise
As a substitute of simply giving folks extra content material, what if we used the social relationships amongst them to assist floor data like “which of my mates went to or really helpful Restaurant X” or “which ones bookmarked place Y” or “which ones are going to occasion Z?”
Ackshually, since an image says greater than 1,000 phrases, as a substitute of me explaining it, let me present you:
As you possibly can see, as a substitute of one other feed, this discovery strategy blends the “social graph intelligence” (I can’t consider a greater time period right here) into the precise software, making it extra helpful.
The result’s an expertise that’s much less like Instagram or X, and, curiously sufficient, extra like Spotify. The uncover tab, which is able to turn out to be our default expertise, will assist you to immediately see who out of your connections goes to which occasion, really helpful a spot, created a set, bookmarked a venue, and so on. What’s cool about that is that we are able to nonetheless have a feed, however as a substitute of a content material feed, we are able to make an “exercise feed.” Bear in mind when Fb was cool, and within the early days your wall had updates alongside content material from your mates? Issues like “Aleks simply checked in at ‘x’ place” or made ‘y’ motion.” That is consistent with the transfer away from social media and again to social networks as I’ve written about beforehand.
By shifting the social factor into the background we make the core options of the applying (the map and occasions) the main focus, however over time, extra precious and sticky as extra folks be a part of.
One other technique to say it: The instruments are helpful standalone, however made much more helpful due to the social data embedded into every of them.
And that proper there’s the unlock: The social graph is the GLUE, not the first materials.
Extra Than Simply Extra Content material
One in every of our guiding ideas is to get folks off their telephones and again into the true world. This new shift in product technique helps us try this as a result of, as a substitute of specializing in extra content material and thus incentivizing folks to spend extra time on their gadgets, we are able to drive the performance towards precise utility for curators, tastemakers and expertise or occasion hosts.
There are a number of items to this puzzle and it’ll increase, however at first, we’re going to deal with two main areas since they’re the strongest options in our app:
1. Locations and Collections
A Place is something that may be pinned on a map. In time, our map will assist each form of place — be it a café or restaurant, a lodge, a lookout, a climbing path or a monument — however at the moment, it helps the next six classes:
- Cafes and eating places
- Well being and wellness
- Co-working and occasion areas
- Sights (pure or man-made, like museums)
- Native markets and specialty meals
- Nightlife
You possibly can already uncover 20,000+ locations in any of those classes, in over 300 cities around the globe, every with wealthy profiles, evaluate summaries, imagery and, most significantly, wealthy interest-tagging (if you happen to’re a Bitcoiner for instance, you possibly can simply discover locations that settle for bitcoin, or if you happen to’re a seed oil disrespector, you will discover locations which can be seed oil free, and so on).
You can even type and filter by class, by vibe, by weight loss plan and delicacies and a lot extra. (FWIW, we even have the most important and most correct checklist of bitcoin-accepting and seed oil-free locations worldwide).
You can even add locations to the map. That is a part of why we’ve such a lot of listings. You click on the little floating button (storefront with a + image) and simply sort the title of the place you wish to add. We’re plugged into the Google API, so so long as it’s on there, it can come up and all you must do is say why you prefer it. Our AI pipelines will then go scour the net and create a wealthy profile for it, full with evaluate summaries and pictures inside 24 hours.
Then… my favourite function of all is Collections.
Collections are high-powered bookmark folders which you can create, share and save. Consider them as curated lists — much like playlists on Spotify or temper boards on Pinterest — that you need to use privately (like an itinerary of locations you wish to see) or publicly as a tastemaker or curator (i.e., high 10 co-working cafés in Bali, high 10 hikes in Boulder, and so on).
Collections are designed to be social, so, like playlists on Spotify, they are often saved and shared, with the very best ones trending on our discovery tabs. I may say a lot extra, however I already coated it in this article right here, so test that out.
Lastly, and really quickly, additionally, you will have the ability to advocate locations. This can be a bit completely different to Google critiques as a result of we’re not doing star scores however thumbs up or down and tagging.
That is very highly effective on Satlantis as a result of we are able to floor the social data (i.e., six of your mates really helpful this place) to offer you on the spot insights. We are able to additionally make the invention expertise really feel extra magical by surfacing the types of Locations and Collections which can be most really helpful by folks in your social community with whom you share tastes and preferences.
This really emulates actual life and is, for my part, a sport changer for a way we are going to all expertise maps and the world. See what I’ve circled within the photographs beneath.
Occasions and Calendars
Occasions is self-explanatory, so as a substitute of explaining it intimately, I’ll simply say that what we’re cooking goes to be as clean and polished as Lu.ma with the entire highly effective options that it has, however may even provide you with:
- Ticketing in each bitcoin and fiat (with Bitcoin being native, in-app, and intensely frictionless). This unlocks actually international ticketing in a means that’s by no means been performed earlier than.
- The power to affiliate a spot or a set to an occasion (assume: recommended locations from the occasion organiser and even, 10% off these 10 locations throughout our convention/retreat if you happen to use a selected code)
- Occasion discovery by way of our social market, which signifies that it’s not simply “what’s occurring close to me” however “what’s occurring close to me that my mates and neighborhood care about.” That is the place the magic of social discovery lies.
- Calendars are collections of occasions. Think about you’re a big convention and also you wish to have official satellite tv for pc occasions operating. You possibly can create a calendar with a singular URL (e.g., satlantis.io/wob-2025) and have everybody who desires to host a facet occasion create it by way of there. On this means, all official facet occasions are tied to the principle occasion. That is highly effective for a lot of causes — together with high quality management, ease of discovery, profile development for the organizer and related Nostr community development (each new attendee turns into a Nostr consumer and follower).
Sooner or later, we are going to tie off the product expertise with Golf equipment and Communities and full the three pillars of Satlantis: Folks, Locations and Occasions.
However since there is sufficient to do with simply Locations and Occasions, and Folks is considerably taken care of by the social factor inherent within the app (you possibly can comply with folks, have interaction, chat [soon] and so on), we are going to fear about it later.
In Closing
Nostr has the potential to turn out to be the social layer of the web and beat the incumbents at their very own sport, however that can take time.
It is going to additionally require the “lead bullets” strategy, which means that nobody strategy will probably be sufficient. Some apps will take the social angle, like Primal, Damus, and so on whereas others, like Satlantis, will take the utility-first strategy.
The great thing about Nostr is that every of those merchandise has a typical social layer and profile ID (nPub) so customers can accrue advantages throughout the entire protocol.
For Satlantis, this new strategy is about creating a completely new class of software that quietly turns into indispensable, the place the social graph enhances utility as a substitute of demanding consideration. We’re extra on the “different stuff” facet of the equation, even when we’re not but ready to suggest full-on NIPs for Occasions and Locations simply but (we are going to as soon as we’ve fleshed out the options extra).
By shifting from feeds and content material to discovery and context, we are able to create a product that enhances actual life and real-world experiences, whereas purple-pilling everyone below the hood.
That’s the sly, roundabout path ahead: constructing instruments folks really want, then letting the community emerge as a pure consequence of utilizing these superior instruments.
If you wish to see it in motion, you possibly can obtain the app here.
