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Interpreting Nostr, two keys open a new paradigm for decentralized social interaction

23-02-06 12:49

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After Nostr goes Viral, Decentralized Social Is Just Beginning

EvieEvieXia, encryption researcher

BinaryDAO

Nostr protocol is a minimalist social protocol, which does not rely on any centralized server. The information publishing and transmission of the client side is completed by the relay side that does not communicate with each other. The information publishing and transmission is censorship resistant. Any user can create public and private keys without having to rely on a specific social account or domain name, making it easier for users to log in without the restrictions of third-party servers.

Since Twitter founder Jack Dorsey announced the launch of the Nostr-based app Damus on February 1, 2023, the number of protocol users has exploded. As of February 5, 2023, the number of public keys has reached 500,000 +. Nostr's ecosystem is also expanding. In addition to Damus, which is touted as a decentralized Twitter, there are messaging tool Anigma, text sharing tool Sendtr, and online chess mini-game Jeste.

Compared to other social protocols, Nostr without blockchain-based is at its core minimalist and highly interoperable, which makes it possible to build applications at scale. Developers can quickly reach a consensus on open standards and quickly develop iterations on client programs, putting all the complexity on the client side. As long as the foundation is good, not afraid of no application.

Nostr's developer fiatjaf is also the creator of Bitcoin and Lightning Network, so Nostr natively supports Lightning Network (Internet app + payment system). Lightning networks are very fast, very powerful, and can handle highly concurrent applications, and this combination provides a strong support for applications on Nostr.

It is a dilemma whether to introduce incentive layer in the construction of Nostr relay network. If the infrastructure is built on the weak voluntarism foundation, it is difficult to grow into a strong social network. However, if there are incentives, they will be faced with the dilemma that most incentives will gradually be in the hands of a few people, unable to form effective incentives and vulnerable to attack.

The trunk is not motivated enough to store user data, so it is possible for the trunk to delete data actively or passively. In the future, Nostr may provide incentives for storage capabilities to make data more available while ensuring decentralization and ease of use.

The Nostr protocol provides the Lego building blocks for decentralized socialization. Perhaps what we need at this point is not a Nostr-based copy of Web2 apps, but a carefully designed infrastructure, and then a crypto-super-developer building a bitcoin kernel beyond imagination. Decentralized social, it's just getting started.

I. Ideas for creating Nostr protocol

1. Basic Information

Nostr, which stands for Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays, is an open-source protocol for decentralized social networking launched in 2020. Project founder fiatjaf is also the developer of Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. There is currently no public funding for the project, and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has donated 14 BTCS to the project.

2. Operation Principle

Nostr consists of two parts, one is Client, the other is Relay. The client is used to sign and verify information and is run by the user. A relay can grab, store, and forward information from any linked client to other clients. Anyone can run the relay, but the relay does not communicate with each other, which is fundamentally different from the blockchain node. In addition, clients allow users to connect to as many relays as they want, and users can choose whether they want to read, write, and so on from the relays they are connected to. This means that we can connect to a relay to retrieve content, but we can choose not to publish events there, or vice versa.

Photo credit: @coderjourney1

3. Features of the agreement

a) Simple and easy to register: Any user can create a pair of public and private keys without having to register through a domain name or social account. Nostr's signature and check algorithm is not ECDSA, but schnorr signature, which means that if a user already has the private key to Bitcoin Ethereum, it can be used on the Nostr network, but because of the encoding form, The private key may be displayed differently on different networks, which requires a conversion.

Photo credit: @coderjourney1

b) Decentralization of information transfer storage: it does not depend on any trusted centralized server, and the client can choose to store the information released by multiple relays, so it relies less on a single relays and has more rapid recovery.

c) Reduce trust risks: All messages are identified by public keys, and the authentication of messages is completed by the client. The relay is only responsible for storage and transmission, and users do not need to trust the relay. This further reduces the trust risks caused by signing through the Web3 wallet.

d) Dealing with spam: If you can't delete numbers and block people in the Nostr network, how can you combat those bad messages? Nostr relays can require users to pay for publishing or other forms of authentication, and associate these internally with public keys to combat spam. If a relay is used as a spam carrier, it is easily discarded by users and clients can continue to get updates from other relays.

e) Combination with Lightning Network: Nostr's developer fiatjaf is also the creator of Bitcoin and Lightning Network, so Nostr supports Lightning network natively. Lightning networks are very fast, very powerful, and can handle highly concurrent applications on Nostr. Nostr-based client Damus has built-in Bitcoin Lightning network function, which can directly call third-party lightning network wallet payment. On February 3, 2023, Damus said it would randomly distribute small bitcoins to users via the Bitcoin Lightning network.

Lightning Network vs Solana et al tps (image credit: Blockstream)

Ii. Performance of Nostr protocol

1. Data performance: According to the data of Nostr. io, as of February 5, 2023, Nostr has 500,463 public keys, 289 relays and more than 1.21 million events. Nostr defines three different event types in NIP 01. 0: sends metadata about users, such as user name, picture, and brief introduction. 1: Send short messages and basic content. 2: The relay server is recommended for people interested in the event creator to connect to.

Number of public keys of nostr (source: nostr.io)

2. Ecological applications: Decentralized Twitter is Nostr's biggest use case right now, but its applications go far beyond social products. Nostr now builds Anigma.io like Telegram, novote, an alternative to Reddit, Sendtr, an end-to-end encrypted text sharing tool, Jeste, an online chess game, and more.

Nostr Ecological Application Function Comparison (Data source: https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr)

3. Nostr is different from other decentralized social protocols

At present, there are some representative social protocols, including ActivityPub, Matrix; Peer-to-peer social networking protocols such as Secure Scuttlebutt and Lens Protocol. There are arguments that Nostr is more like Bitcoin and Farcaster is more like Ethereum. Both aim to create decentralized social interactions, but differ in their paths to achieving them. Here's a comparison:

Comparison of Nostr and Farcaster

In contrast, Nostr is a very lightweight open protocol with a simple, neutral style that seems to be in the spirit of cypherpunk and Bitcoin, while Farcaster follows a more traditional tech startup model. For developers, the simplicity of the protocol allows them to quickly reach consensus on open standards and put all the complexity on the client side, so developers can quickly develop iterations on the client program and be compatible with any available repeater. Currently, Nostr's telegram community has attracted more than 6,000 members to engage in heated discussions.

4. The performance and possibility of Damus in Nostr ecology

In December 2022, Twitter founder Jack donates 14.17 BTCS ($245,000) to Nostr to further fund its development. On February 1, 2023, Jack announced that Damus would be available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Immediately after the announcement, Damus gained nearly 100,000 users within half an hour. In my opinion, apart from Jack's celebrity effect, the reason why Damus is out of the circle is that there are new projects in both the decentralized protocol layer and the application layer. However, since the protocol layer is far away from users at the C end, it is not easy to understand, and there are not many scale effects in the application layer, most people are concerned about how to implement decentralized social networking. It is always in a state of expectation and confusion. Therefore, the emergence of Damus, a decentralized product on mobile terminal, is to embody everyone's expectation.

1. Product summary

Damus is an application based on The decentralized social protocol Nostr. It is positioned as "The social network you control", meaning that users can control their own social networks, which reflects the spiritual core emphasized by Web3.0. In terms of product functions, users can publish content in the square, send messages for private chat, lightning network payment.

2. Product features

a) No registration: users only need to fill in the nickname to generate a pair of public and private keys without using email and other registration login. Then the user can search for followers based on the public key.

b) User-owned: with anti-censorship features, users can control their own data.

c) Encrypted conversation: end-to-end private message transmission.

d) No server: Messages are distributed through distributed relays, no infrastructure is required to run, and there is no single point of failure. Each post has a unique Note ID, which can also be copied and entered on the search page.

e) Programmable: allows easy integration of robots.

f) Revenue: Users can use the Bitcoin Lightning network function to make payments and tips. Currently supported Lightning consumer payment platforms include Strike, Cash App, Muun, Blue Wallet, Wallet of Satoshi, Zebedee, Zeus LN, LNLink, Phoenix, Breez, Bitcoin Beach, Blixt Wallet, River.

3. Product experience

In terms of function, Damus has not much broken through the imagination of users, and is still a primary version that needs to be optimized at present. Many functions are still imperfect, such as the content editing page can not be typeset, can not be canceled after the "like", and can not be deleted after the release of content, but its entry barrier is low, and has a mobile terminal, users can easily download and use. Damus features concepts such as user-owned, encrypted conversations, and lightning payments that inspire discussion among users and the crypto community.

4. Development possibilities

No matter the Lens Protocol developed by the founder of Aave before or the Damus supported by Jack now, it seems that the popularity of social products cannot be separated from the "order" of influential people in the industry. However, because users' habits of using social products are more rigid and user data is difficult to be transferred, Making most new social products a flash in the pan, retaining users is still a very difficult problem. Even though decentralized social is a tough thing to do, Damus got off to a relatively smooth cold start and got a lot of attention. As far as the current Posting content is concerned, Chinese users are very active and they have spontaneously organized various communication communities.

V. Problems in Nostr protocol

1. The trunk excitation problem

Although anyone can set up a trunk, there are only 200+ open trunks in the world at present. Because there is a threshold for setting up, which requires better processing performance and network, as well as certain technology and operation and maintenance ability, the trunk lacks benefits, so how to attract more trunks to join is a problem. If infrastructure is built on a fragile voluntarism foundation, it will not grow into a strong social network. However, if there are incentives, they will be faced with the dilemma that most incentives will gradually be in the hands of a few people, unable to form effective incentives and vulnerable to attack. In view of the problem of running repeater incentives, the developers believe that, first of all, it should not assume that the repeater operators will serve for free, even if there is no so-called "incentives", DHT nodes in p2p networks will continue to operate.

Nostr developer's answer to the Repeater Operational Incentives question

Source: https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr

2. The data storage is faulty

At present, data is mainly stored on the relay terminal, but this is not permanent storage. Once the user changes the client, the information will be cleared. The trunk is not motivated enough to store user data, so it is possible for the trunk to delete data actively or passively. In the future, Nostr may provide incentives for storage capabilities to make data more available while ensuring decentralization and ease of use.

Vi. Development prospects of Nostr

Overall, Nostr is a very simple and highly interoperable protocol that presents the possibility of emerging from the intersection of decentralized social protocols and free value delivery. The combination of client and relay makes the release and transmission of information more censor-resistant, which is consistent with the spirit of Bitcoin. In addition, Nostr's closer integration with the Lightning Network opens up the possibility of native integration between social applications and Bitcoin. Perhaps what we need at this point is not a copy of Nostr's Web2 app, but a finely designed infrastructure that solves the Lego problem and allows secretive super-developers to build something beyond the imagination that is Bitcoin-centric. Nostr has opened a new window for decentralized social networking, and since then, we believe there will be breakthroughs in large-scale protocols and applications. Decentralized social, it's just the beginning. Decentralized social will move forward.

Reference material

Nostr Github

What Is Nostr and How Do I Use It?

Talk about NOSTR and censorship

What is the Nostr-supported Bitcoin Lightning network tipping and how can it be used to make small payments?

Damus: is handing out small bitcoins to random users via the Bitcoin Lightning network

Nostr's ambitions go beyond replacing Twitter

The New Year of Social Media: Nostr Principles and Key Management Issues

Try Nostr's first client, Damus, a new social network for Web3 endorsed by Twitter's founders

Decentralized social protocols: Nostr left, Farcaster right

Here we compare the decentralized social protocols Nostr and Farcaster

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