Nostr kind of centralized around a handful of key relays. If those ‘moles’ get whacked, the system might not fully recover, especially since most of the smaller, long-tail relays have moved on. If the long-tail had been supported, it would be a different story.  So yeah, taking out a few big relays would actually be quite effective right now.

That said, moles only get whacked when they grow large enough or start causing problems. At the moment, Nostr is still relatively small and not really causing major headaches, though I’m sure it’s on the radar of various deep states.

The big advantage Nostr offers is that if one admin cancels you, you’re not starting over from scratch. It’s more like a shadow ban than a full ban. Your identity and content persist—it’s just about finding another relay.

That said, Nostr is a solid system with a lot of potential. There’s a bit of a catch-22, though: right now, it’s heavily subsidized and not sustainable. For it to become sustainable, it would need significant growth, but growth would make it a bigger target. So for now, it’s more of an R&D niche, not really threatening anyone.