Have you ever lived in an environment where censorship touches almost every aspect of life? If so, then we are “comrades” for sure.
Throughout my career, I’ve transitioned from an editor at a state-owned media outlet to a reporter at a Beijing-based tech media company, always striving to provide clear, unbiased, and firsthand information.
Yet, the reality has been disheartening. At my first job, the heavy hand of state control was palpable. In my subsequent role, despite producing content in English, censorship was still inevitable due to the strict regulations of my home country.
I’ve frequently encountered “404” situations—articles removed due to employer’s self-censorship or regulatory mandates.
This oppressive environment has been incredibly frustrating for me, given my deep commitment to the fundamental principles of journalism—truth, accuracy, impartiality, fairness, and public accountability. As an idealist, I am always dedicated to giving a voice to the voiceless and challenging authority.
After years in a centralized media system where content creators lack true ownership of their work, I sought alternatives.
This search led me to a related event in New York City on June 6th. Hosted by YakiHonne, a Nostr-powered social protocol within the Bitcoin ecosystem, the event aims to bring more content creators, developers, or builders into an anti-censorship social space.
(Shaun on the right shares with us the story of how he co-founded YakiHonne)
For those unfamiliar, Nostr stands for “Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays.” It is a decentralized network protocol that fosters a censorship-resistant global social network.
While Nostr operates independently of any specific blockchain, it integrates seamlessly with the Bitcoin ecosystem through the Lightning Network, which enables fast, low-cost, off-chain Bitcoin transactions.
YakiHonne is likely the first social protocol on the Bitcoin blockchain, sparking even more excitement for me as a Bitcoiner.
I really clicked with Shaun, the cofounder of YakiHonne, as he shared his motivations for starting the protocol.
During his tenure at Tencent, one of China’s largest tech companies that owns a vast media empire, his personal WeChat account was blocked after sharing some “sensitive” political information with a friend. (WeChat is a WhatsApp-like messaging app in China owned by Tencent.)
This unpleasant experience motivated him to think about creating a protocol that enables individuals to truly own their data, accounts, and content.
Compared to other decentralized social protocols, Shaun and his team believe Nostr offers a higher degree of decentralization, with posts and users distributed across multiple relays. Even if the top relays are shut down, most content remains accessible, and relays are distributed globally, without any single country or system hosting more than 25% of relays.
Therefore, YakiHonne utilizes Nostr’s relay network as one of its core infrastructures to build decentralized media, distinguishing it from Fediverse applications like Mastodon and Bluesky, and Web3.0 social media protocols like Farcaster.
For instance, Mastodon ties user accounts to servers controlled by administrators who can ban users and block other instances. Bluesky controls its protocol, relies on a central server for ID authentication, and lacks effective interoperability. Farcaster, based on Ethereum’s layer 2 solution Optimism, depends on large Hubs, leading to potential censorship and high operating costs, risking centralization.
However, Nostr’s lack of effective economic incentives leads to relay instability and reduction in numbers. Potential solutions include clients paying for storage costs and relays generating direct income through specific functions or subscriptions.
Shaun said that YakiHonne is working on creating a new cost-incentive model to ensure that when content and moderation become permissionless, the platform can still maintain truthfulness and cost-effectiveness.
Currently, in YakiHonne, publishing flash news requires a minimum payment of 800 sats, with some revenue used to incentivize relay operations. For long-form content, payment of relay’s storage fees can be made through subscriptions, advertisements, or even the client’s financial budget. Click for more details on YakiHonne’s incentive strategy
YakiHonne also incentivizes users by rewarding them for reviewing “uncensored notes” on the platform. This strategy not only enhances monetization but also promotes further decentralization.
Speaking about this specific idea of letting users to do the review work, Shaun said: “We need to find the truth by ourselves. We need to judge truth for ourselves. We give the media review power back to the people.”
After going through YakiHonne’s whitepaper, I discovered that it supports a variety of decentralized publishing formats, including articles, flash news, curations, videos, and more. This could present a robust and encouraging incentive model, essential for maintaining an effective, stable, and scalable relay network.
At the event, a sharp question was posed to Linda, a community member of Nostr: What can Nostr learn from Farcaster, and what advantages does Nostr hold over it?
Farcaster has undoubtedly marked its presence as a notable social protocol during this bull run, securing \(150 million in May from top-tier venture capitalists like a16z and Paradigm, and reaching a valuation of \)1 billion. Its association with Coinbase, the largest regulated crypto DEX in the U.S., certainly offers it a competitive edge. FYI, Farcaster was co-founded by two former Coinbase employees and is deeply integrated with Coinbase’s L2 solution, Base Chain.
Despite its success and claiming 55,000 daily active users—a figure viewed with some skepticism—it has attracted attention beyond the crypto community, spanning diverse topics from memes to coding. I’ve explored the platform and can vouch for the vibrancy of its non-crypto channels.
“Farcaster aims to mirror the user experience of traditional social media platforms like Twitter, which makes it more accessible to a wider audience,” Linda responded genuinely. “Conversely, Nostr’s technical nature might pose a steeper learning curve for new users.” Click for more details on how Farcaster is technically more decentralized compared to Nostr
In addition to being “more decentralized,” a significant advantage of Nostr is that it does not use algorithms to manipulate feed. Unlike platforms such as Twitter, TikTok, and Farcaster, whose algorithms can create echo chamber effects, spread misinformation, and infringe on privacy, Nostr can provide a purer, cleaner user experience.
（Linda answers questions from the audience. From left to right: Sam, BostonWine, Linda and Shaun）
Daniel, the owner of Pubkey—the bar hosting the event—jokingly remarked that the best feature of Nostr is its non-reliance on Ethereum. This comment resonated strongly with the audience, especially those of us who believe that the Ethereum community is technically insecure and full of speculation.
The 2-hour event attracted Bitcoin enthusiasts, Nostr developers, and content creators from across the East Coast, including Boston’s very own BostonWine (yes, that’s his real intro) and Sam from Wavlake, a Nostr-powered music streaming service, who dropped some serious inspiration about building on the protocol.
(Inside Pubkey, I really enjoyed the cool vibe!)
This was my very first in-depth interaction with the Nostr community, and I found it to be uniquely vibrant, driven by technology, idealism, and a long-term vision. I’m energized by the dynamic spirit among the builders in the Nostr ecosystem and look forward to the development of YakiHonne and other platforms within this network as they leverage Bitcoin to create sophisticated incentive systems.
Missed the intriguing decentralized social meetup in NYC? Here’s another chance to mingle with the YakiHonne team, the cool cats of the Nostr community and also the crypto mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain. Join them in Las Vegas on June 16 for another round of engaging tech talks and great vibes.