Oddbean

Bitcoin is friction, Bitcoin only is more friction. The beauty of nostr is that it isn't token dependent, yet so much seems to be Bitcoin only. As much as I love Bitcoin, I think to grow nostr needs to make Bitcoin an option rather than the only choice. This would show case nostr as the open protocol. At the moment it's understandable why people think it is just a web3 token dependent platform.

I think that would be taking a few steps back. Honestly, I think adoption is a very slow burn. People will use it but it'll have to spread by word of mouth. Perhaps a company down the line will use nostr and it'll be huge. That happened with Linux gaming, Valve, and the Steam Deck. So it's possible it happens again.

Yeah, but for people who don't get Bitcoin, there isn't really any way of paying for relays. Most people associate Bitcoin with scammers and are going to stop listening as soon as it is mentioned unfortunately. These people may be interested in freedom of speech or the ability to own your own identity and following, but dismiss nostr because using it required them to also be interested in Bitcoin. The same is true for people into crypto. Nostr is a killer for most niche shitcoins because it can do what most token projects try and achieve using Bitcoin, which has better stability and network effect. Bitcoin would naturally come to be used if we allowed a free market. But by insisting on Bitcoin only, we are doing the same thing that shitcoins do, but with Bitcoin. But making clients that can use multiple crypto currencies we would undermine them by exposing to Bitcoins network effect. The former group is more important but the second is a good thing to do on principle to demonstrate that nostr doesn't care what monetary unit it uses.

This is a very good point; albeit up until saying "making clients that can use multiple crypto currencies." I don't think we should be encouraging other crypto currencies. I think your line of thinking is right but the conclusion that we should encourage or support scams for adoption is wrong. Of course, nothing's stopping anyone from making a client that does support such crypto coins. Did we forget ordinals and Bitcoin magazine's scam shill articles? I understand mentioning this isn't exactly directly related to your point but I bring it up because I think I'm seeing a pattern here. I think it's a slippery slope that's down the same avenue of thinking that made those kinds of articles happen at Bitcoin magazine. Is nostr a Bitcoin thing? Honestly, yes. But could it exist without money being attached in any way? Absolutely. But I think that hardly matters given our reality. I think it's just the nature of the beast and the unfortunate reality that people will immediately turn away if bitcoin is mentioned. In time they will learn either the hard way or the easy way. That's okay and people will find utility in nostr as much as they will in Bitcoin. Patience, we don't need to play games to try and "get people on nostr." Though I think such a thing is fun to ruminate on and speculate.

Yeah, I see your point about not wanting to promote scams. At the end of the day the user has the responsibility to decide what they determine to be a scam. It's not the responsibility of the devs. Giving choice is not necessary promoting scams. I'm thinking of something like linking an open source wallet like Cake Wallet. I disagree that nostr is a Bitcoin thing. Bitcoiners built it, but it's bigger than Bitcoin. If it is limited to Bitcoin we limit its network effect and compromise it's ability to be adopted. It will become a niche network that withers as a similar, more open protocol gets adopted more widely