Will Bluesky, Nostr or Mastodon replace Crypto Twitter?

[ad_1]

In recent months, Twitter has become a dumpster fire shrouded in a train wreck, and its situation is getting worse. On Tuesday, NPR reported that the site’s new owner, Elon Musk, sent an email warning that he was going to give his account to someone else in an apparent act of retaliation because the news service had called Twitter unreliable and had stopped tweeting. It came shortly after Twitter’s decision to remove verification marks from official accounts led to a flood of imposters impersonating everyone from the LAPD to the New York City Transportation Authority.

All of this chaos combined with regularly breaking technical features suggests the end of Twitter may be near. Users have had enough, and major advertisers, understandably, don’t want to approach Musks’ version of the service with a 10-foot pole. Twitter isn’t going away tomorrow or next week, but it’s on a worrying downward spiral that’s only going to get worse.

For many, the disappearance of the sites would not be serious, and would even be a relief since, as they say, Twitter is not real life. It’s a fair criticism, but it also overlooks the fact that, for a decade, Twitter was the most important medium in the world. And for the crypto world in particular, it has long been an indispensable source of news, ideas, memes and trash talk, the scene even has its own name, CT, for Crypto Twitter.

The question now is where Crypto Twitter could go instead. For now, there are three precursors, all of which look like Twitter but aspire to be decentralized. The first of these, Mastodon, seemed like an early favorite, but, according to TechDirts Mike Masnick, it has clunky user design that puts off new users, a fatal flaw if you’re trying to be the next big thing.

Another top contender to replace Twitter is Nostr, which is a simple service that lets developers create incredibly simple features. For Crypto Twitter, this would seem like the obvious choice given that it already offers crypto payments and is where Twitter co-founder and bitcoin champion Jack Dorsey spends his days. But Masnick notes that since Nostr is currently little more than a protocol, it will also struggle to attract the mainstream users that are essential for a platform explosion.

This brings us to the third competitor: Bluesky. It’s apparently the easiest to use and the most Twitter-like, although users don’t send tweets but rather an awkward development since the word apparently has another meaning which I was too cool to know until until veteran tech writer Sarah Jeong explains it to The Verge (it also gives me a new perspective on the Drakes rap hit The Motto). Jeong, who knows his stuff, is sure that Bluesky is already the next big thing, even though he’s strictly limiting signups at the moment as he builds the back-end.

Are you testing any of these new platforms? If so, let me know what you think and if I should join you.

Jeff John [email protected]@jeffjohnroberts

DECENTRALIZED NEWS

Hamas’ military wing said it was ending its crypto donation program, citing successful efforts by governments to identify and prosecute donors. (Chain analysis)

The Securities and Exchange Commission had defined “digital assets” in a 2022 draft rule, but the final version may have pushed it back because recognizing them as a separate product would have undermined the agency’s litigation strategy. (Coindesk)

A fusion of zero-knowledge proofs, which are all the rage in crypto circles, and machine learning has given rise to a new tool called zkML that could help control AI abuse. (Fortune)

FTX is seeking to recover $3.9 billion in cash and crypto from bankrupt Genesis, including collateral posted by FTX and funds that Genesis withdrew just before the exchange collapsed. (Bloomberg)

In the first such case, a jury convicted a former OpenSea executive for providing inside information about NFTs before they were listed on the market’s homepage. (Reuters)

EVEN OF THE MOMENT

Crypto skeptic Molly White’s take on Coinbase’s regulatory issues:

This is the web version of Fortune Crypto, a daily newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox for free.

[ad_2]