Nostr

These articles introduce Nostr to non-technical readers. Nostr is an open protocol that separates your identity from any platform, making censorship structurally impossible. No company owns your account, your audience, or your reach. With Bitcoin natively built in, it is the communication equivalent of sound money: permissionless, self-sovereign, and controlled by no one. The articles here explain how it works, why it matters, and what it means to communicate on infrastructure that cannot be taken from you.

Nostr Onboarding: Keys, Signers, Clients, Relays, and Zaps

Published on: June 2, 2026

This guide covers Nostr onboarding from scratch, following security and privacy best practices throughout. It explains the difference between npub and nsec, why keys should be generated inside a dedicated signer app rather than a client, and walks through the full setup on both desktop and Android, including VPN configuration, APK verification via App Verifier or apksigner, and key backup. Recommended signers are nos2x for desktop and Amber for Android; recommended clients are Primal for beginners and Amethyst for Android users who want Tor support and a local relay.

Nostr’s Retention Problem: A Structural Diagnosis

Last Updated on: June 2, 2026

Nostr retains 1-2% of new users by week one, dropping below 1% by week three. Independent analysis of five public relays shows zap value highly concentrated, with the top 1% of recipients capturing over 60% of all value and the median recipient receiving around 100 sats. Default follow lists appear to play a role: A small number of accounts are followed by a large proportion of new users, creating an engagement gap between listed and unlisted accounts. The article proposes onboarding flows that prioritise user agency, letting new users build their own feed, as a structural way to distribute attention more broadly over time.

How to Verify APK Authenticity: Complete Guide for GrapheneOS and Google Android Users

Last Updated on: June 2, 2026

GrapheneOS users can verify APKs entirely on-device through Accrescent and AppVerifier; Google Android users need a computer running apksigner before the APK ever touches the phone. Both paths arrive at the same cryptographic guarantee: the app came from the real developer and has not been altered. For anyone sideloading from decentralized sources like Zap Store, this verification step is the difference between trusting the software you run and hoping for the best.

Nostr Attack Vectors Every User Should Know About & How to Mitigate Them

Published on: May 29, 2026

Many Nostr users assume that because it’s decentralized and uses cryptographic keys instead of passwords, it’s inherently secure and private. That assumption is incorrect in several important ways, but that doesn’t mean we cannot engage with Nostr in a secure and private manner. This article covers attack vectors and how to mitigate them. I cover each point in plain language for regular users who aren’t reading the GitHub threads where developers are discussing these questions.

What Are Nostr Event Kinds? A Non-Technical Guide to Those That Matter

Last Updated on: May 21, 2026

Every piece of content on Nostr is considered an "event." Every post, like, zap, and profile update is called an event. The "kind" number associated with each event is the single field that tells every app what type of content it is and how to handle it. Kind 1 is a short text note. Kind 7 is a reaction. Kind 9735 is a zap receipt. This guide explains what this system means for non-technical users why it matters when interacting with signers.

What Is a NOSTR NIP? A Plain-English Guide to NIPs

Last Updated on: May 20, 2026

NIP is short for Nostr Implementation Possibilities and are the agreed standards that make Nostr work across every app. Understanding even a handful of them can be incredibly useful in knowing how the protocol functions, especially as a non-developer. This article explores the most important NIPs you need to know as a non-technical individual.

NOSTR: What It Is & Why It Matters

Last Updated on: June 2, 2026

Nostr is an open protocol that separates identity from platform so no single company owns our account, audience, or reach. A person creates a cryptographic key pair, chooses which relay servers store the posts, and picks whichever app displays them, and that identity then works across every application built on the protocol, and nobody can revoke it. This is the communication equivalent of what sound money does for stored value: It removes the central authority that can suppress, throttle, or delete.

Value For Value

The New Economy

I’ve never had sponsors and I don’t run ads. My content is fully self-funded and supported by readers like you.

This is value for value in practice; the peer-to-peer, no-middleman principle I write about in my book.

If you find value in the Bitcoin education I share, consider helping me scale my work by zapping me some sats ⚡️

⚡ Support this work via Lightning: daniella@coinos.io