Nostr and ATProto (2024)
13 hours ago
- #decentralization
- #protocols
- #social-media
- Comparison of ATProto and Nostr protocols, focusing on their similarities and differences without pitting them against each other.
- Both protocols emerged as responses to issues with centralized social media like Twitter, aiming for decentralization.
- ATProto was initiated by Bluesky with the goal of creating a decentralized protocol Twitter could adopt, emphasizing moderation and scalability.
- Nostr was created by a Bitcoin enthusiast, focusing on censorship resistance and a decentralized, keypair-based identity system.
- Both protocols draw inspiration from older decentralized systems like ActivityPub and Secure Scuttlebutt but aim for global scalability.
- Identity in Nostr is purely keypair-based, offering high decentralization but poor user-friendliness and recoverability.
- ATProto uses a DID (Decentralized Identifier) system with server-managed keys, balancing decentralization with user-friendliness.
- Data in Nostr is stored as individual, self-certifying events across relays, making edits and deletes difficult.
- ATProto uses mutable records in a centralized repo, allowing edits and deletes but with trade-offs in data portability.
- Both protocols prioritize public content, making privacy features like DMs and blocks challenging to implement effectively.
- Development approaches differ: ATProto is more centralized and slow, focusing on standardization, while Nostr is more open and fast-paced.
- Applications on ATProto rely on resource-intensive AppViews, while Nostr uses client-side filtering for flexibility.
- Future convergence is likely, with Nostr adopting server-managed keys and ATProto exploring user-controlled keys and Nostr-like filtering.
- Bridging between protocols (e.g., Nostr, ATProto, ActivityPub) could enable a truly decentralized and interoperable social web.