Oddbean new post about | logout
 Services on NOSTR I pay for:

nostr.wine - 120,000 Sats for 2 years relay
relay.tools - My own relay - 12,000 Sats a month
nostr.build - Media storage - 69,000 Sats for 1 year


Total: 22,750 Sats per month
Approx $15 per month
 
 Why not host uploads yourself ? 
 Depends what you mean by that?

I could port forward to a server in my home and host for free, but that adds complexity and raises security issues, also reliability is a factor.

I could host on any public service, you can do that in a small way for free, but high usage requires fiat.

I could setup my own server in the cloud, but that requires fiat.

Mostly, if I'm going to pay for a public service, I'd rather do this on a NOSTR focused server and support the developer. 
 Install minio or blossombat home. 

Problem solved

You can even offer a upload service

But you rather participate in centralization on nostr

 
 I have 3 nodes at home which run various NOSTR services, I didn't list them here as I am only discussing my spending choices.

I am not trying to reduce my spend, I am trying to increase my support for developers. 
 I’d pay dollars to buy SATS akin to something like LocalBitcoins on nostr. Then I will spend bitcoin like a mad man.
My on ramps are all shutdown and non existent for the past few years 
 I buy BTC monthly at twice the amount I spend, so I always end up with more Sats than I've spent.

In the UK that's getting harder. I use SwissBorg, CoinCorner and Revolut, currently.
 
 I’ve just started using @strike. Much easier deposits from uk bank. 
 Yes, I tried Strike the day it launched. Can't remember why I didn't go with it. I have literally gone through every single option in my 8 years of buying Bitcoin.

SwissBorg is my favourite, it's not an exchange, it's a broker, sourcing the best price across the markets in real time.

They got shut down by the FCA for a while, but they are back, however they changed their nominee account, so while I still deposit fiat to them into an account in my name, all my banks are flagging it as a Wyse trading account (incorrectly) and blocking it constantly, hence why I'm buying small amount from CoinCorner & Revolut.

I'm only buying tiny amounts these days, so I'm less bothered about achieving the best rate. 
 I’ve not come across Swissborg, I’m amazed after 10 years of buying I still hear of sites new to me. I’ve been through bittylicious, blockchain, Binance etc but have used Bitstamp almost exclusively for the last 5 years. Better rates but I have more and more trouble simply depositing these days so a relief to find strike so easy, and rates aren’t too bad. 
 Noble but still super expensive. I would pay for all of this, maybe 3 to 5$ per month, not 10-15$. For this price I rend another VPS to host everything myself. 
 I have VPS's for non NOSTR / BTC services, I prefer to support the community if I can.