I recently sat down with Vitor Pomplona, the creator of Nostr -Client Amethyst, to discuss how Nostr in 2025 is very similar to how Bitcoin was in 2012 – a little rough around the edges, but exciting to use.
Nostr, a decentralized protocol for social media and other forms of communication, are only four years old, and developers still find out how to create the best possible user experience within the clients they have created. These clients include apps like Primal (comparable to X) with Olas (which is like Instagram) to Yakihonne (similar to Substack).
What is unique about Nostr clients, however, is that users can “zap” (send small quantities) Bitcoin to each other to show appreciation for the content their co -users have created.
And Pomplona is optimistic for more and more Nostri clients to start getting traction, just as Bitcoin began to do it 13 years ago.
“We are starting to see communities are formed and more money is transferred,” Pamplona told Bitcoin Magazine in the interview.
A Bitcoin-driven creator economy
Pomplona acknowledged that part of the purpose of social media is to enable funds for users to make money what they create in ways they cannot do in their physical environment.
“[Some social media] Users want to earn for life’s stay, ”said Pomplona.” They have hope that they can achieve more with social media than they can alone or in their cities. “
Pamplona believes that Nostr clients can help transform this hope into a reality and it is his mission to help users do this.
“That’s our final goal: If we can get creators to the point where they can earn for life’s stay, we win as a platform.”
This potential for users to serve for life’s stay with Nostrous gets bigger every day, especially when the Nostri users base is expanded, and it continues to grow as the largest Bitcoin circular economy in the world.
Amethyst
By creating Amethyst, Pamplona had a vision for a Nostr client who served as an all-in-one app inspired by a plan similar to the one Elon Musk had for X (formerly Twitter).
“Amethyst came in at the same time that Elon talked about buying Twitter,” Pomplona explained. “He was like Let’s Make A Mega app out of Twitter, and I went for the same thing.”
While Pomplona understands that Amethyst did not quite achieve this, he is excited that it has come to play a different role. It acts as a laboratory for people who develop new Nostr clients.
“Amethyst helps everyone start their own applications,” he said. “Olas came from Amethyst.”
Nostr as a bitcoin onboarding tool
Pomplona sees Nostr as a great way to board people to Bitcoin, although he doesn’t think this should be the primary goal of nostr -clients.
“The main target for [Nostr] Apps are getting people to do their things – getting people to be creative or talking to their friends or talking to their family, ”Pomplona explained.
“No app should ever talk about neither nostr or bitcoin. They should just be what they are,” he added.
Pamplona believes that the app’s users, after some time, will inevitably start learning about Nostr’s Self -Soveignty Nostr, when it comes to users being able to control their own data and about Bitcoin.
“[They’ll realize that] It just happens that the platform helps them manage their own data and use the best payment protocol we have today. “
And he emphasized that most new users come to Nostrus because of the freedom and censorship it offers.
“For the past two years, most of the new nostrous users came in because of freedom because of some censorship in their country,” said Pomplona. “And they learned about Bitcoin after that.”