I recently sat down with Vitor Pomplona, creator of NOSTR client Amethyst, to discuss how NoStr’s way in 2025 looks like Bitcoin in 2012 – the edges are a bit rough but use exciting use.
NOSTR is a decentralized protocol for social media and other forms of communication that is only four years old, and developers are still figuring out how to create the best user experience among the customers they create. These customers include Primal (compared to X) and Olas (similar to Instagram) apps with Yakihonne (similar to alternatives).
However, what’s unique about the NOSTR client is that users can give Bitcoin “ZAP” (send a small amount) of Bitcoins to each other to express appreciation for what their peers create.
Polplona is optimistic that more and more NOSTR customers are starting to gain traction, just like Bitcoin started doing this 13 years ago.
“We started to see the community forming and shifting more money,” Pamplona told Bitcoin Magazine in an interview.
Bitcoin Fuel Creator Economy
Pomplona acknowledges that part of the purpose of social media is to enable users to monetize in ways they create in ways that they cannot do in their physical environment.
“[Some social media] Users want to make a living. “They hope they can achieve more on social media than they can do on individuals or cities,” Pollona said. ”
Pamplona believes that NOSTR customers can help turn hope into reality, which is his mission to help users do this.
“This is our ultimate goal: if we can enable creators to make a living, we will win with the platform.”
The potential for users to make a living every day has become greater, especially as the NOSTR user base expands, it continues to be the world’s largest Bitcoin circular economy.
amethyst
When creating amethyst, Pamplona acted as a vision for the NOSTR client as an all-in-one application inspired by a similar plan to Elon Musk’s (formerly Twitter).
“Amethyst is also while Elon talks about buying Twitter,” Polplona explained. “He was like let’s make a big app from Twitter and I went to the same thing.”
Although Pomplona learned that Amethyst didn’t fully achieve this, he was happy to play a different role. It is a lab for those who develop new NOSTR clients.
“Amethyst is helping everyone start their own app,” he said. “Oras comes from Amethyst.”
NOSTR as a Bitcoin onboarding tool
Pomplona believes NOSTR is a great way to get on Bitcoin, although he believes that this should not be the main target of NOSTR customers.
“Main objectives [Nostr] Apps are about letting people do their own things – letting people be creative, talking to friends or chatting with family. ”
He added: “No app should talk about NOSTR or Bitcoin. They should just be what they look like.”
Pamplona believes that after a while, users of the app will inevitably begin to understand NOSTR’s self-claim that NOSTR provides when users are able to control their own data and about Bitcoin.
“[They’ll realize that] As it happens, the platform can help them manage their data and use the best payment agreements we have today. ”
He stressed that most new users will enter NOSTR due to the freedom and censorship resistance it provides.
“In the past two years, most new NOSTR users have come in due to freedom because their country has some censorship,” Polplona said. “They learned about Bitcoin after that.”
