Derek Ross calls Nostr “The basis for a more open internet.” For him, Bitcoiners that do not use Nostr is missing the point. Looking at his feed, you get twitter -vibs in early 2010 – “Microblogging” was the word used back then. But what Ross sees in the future of this revolutionary communication platform goes well In addition to food pictures, travel updates and “Good Morning” messages. He is co-founder of the Grow Nostr initiative, makes developer relations for soapbox.pub and is one of the most productive posters (and Zappers!) On social media.
There is a quip about Nostr and Bitcoin – the orange pill and the purple pill – I have seen him invoke, live on stage and on Nostr, many times; “The purple pill helps the orange pill fall down. “
In the wake of the Btchel Bitcoin conference in Helsinki, Finland, we sat over breakfast, after the conferences to the maximum. Ross’ passion for Nostr shines over, the passion for purple, which perfectly complements orange. (At the same breakfast table, Ross had just convinced Samuel Kullman, MP for the Swiss Canton Bern, to return to Nostr.
“Bitcoin is freedom of money; nostrils are freedom of everything else.”
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JB: “The purple pill helps the orange pill fall down.” Tell me about this statement and why you say that so often.
Derek Ross: I think I got it from Cameri back in the days, but everyone says it now. I published it the first time on February 24, 2023 and I have repeated it many times since.
The idea is that Nostr, Purple Pill, is the ideal companion to Bitcoin, the orange pill. I asked Martii yesterday on stage, knowing that he would answer it. And that is true: you can’t even have Freedom money if you do not have freedom of communication. Just think about it – if I can’t freely communicate with you, how will I pay you? Nostr is the natural supplement to Bitcoin.
JB: If you are right, the friend -charts of nostr and bitcoin should not overlap … or at least all Bitcoiners be on nostr? Why is nostr is not bigger than it is?
Derek Ross: Well, it’s still a small buggy and difficult to manage sometimes – but the many excellent apps with a good user interface make it so much easier.
But yes, every bitcoiner should be on nostr. People will hate me to say this, but it means not everyone in Bitcoin is here for the right reasons. They don’t have the right ethos. They are here for number-go-up, for green candles, for personal vanity and wealth … and not for freedom. Because if you understand decentralized money, why wouldn’t you get decentralized communication?
One of the reasons why Twitter or other platforms keep people around is that you’ve built this massive audience and audience over there. At nostra there is not an algorithm to help you (or catch you); Now you need to learn how to get commitment from your audience. But what then? We Bitcoiners are about evidence of work; You built the audience once you can do it again.
But I get it: It’s hard for some people to just get away from it.
JB: You can also do both, but as Lightning Alden does.
Derek Ross: Lightning is a great example! She sometimes releases very different things on Twitter and Nostr, and Nostr-Lyn is much more personal and reflective. On Twitter, she shares macroeconomic things and she is all professional and so on, but at Nostr she is often personal, posts memes and shit posts. It’s a beautiful combination.
Another reason Nostr feels so slow and Zaps is stagnant, etc. – even if the technology is there now – is that Bitcoin is at a bull market. At a bull market everyone wants to be on Bitcoin Twitter. Maybe Nostr and Bitcoin are contradictions here: Nostr is in a bear market when Bitcoin is at a bull market – and the next time Bitcoin is in a bear, Nostret will be in a bull!
JB: Tell me about your background how did you get into nostr?
I’m not really a programmer … yes, to the average person I isBut I think I’m just one system administrator: I manage systems and applications-I don’t create full-blown applications. Although now, thanks to vibe-coding, I am: I have some hack-slip skills and I have always wanted to build on Bitcoin. Creating Nostr Plebs, the first Nostry business, enabled me to fulfill the dream of building with Bitcoin. Was the first to build a nostril and I can put together things.
I first learned about Nostr from Jack Dorsey’s tweet in December 2022 and call for developers for how to fix social media.
I continued to send and zapped and build, and somehow I was invited to Baltic Honey Badger in 2023; I used nostrus to crowdfund my travel expenses. Basically, If society wants me to go and talk about nostr, zap this post. I had never been to Europe, but always wanted to go, so it was exciting. (The title of that speech? You guessed it: “The purple pill helps the orange pill go down.”)
Nostr has changed my use of social media completely: Amethyst is the first app I open in the morning.
JB: Does it worry you that Jack Dorsey Bank Rolls Developers and Deliver Most of the Funding To This Room? A centralization problem?
No, Jack understands the importance of what Nostr. Over time, when it will first be big enough and there may be other ways to finance and make money, and then maybe financing dries up.
But if you think about it, it’s a good need for Jack’s money.