Nostr

P2P Protocol

Open protocol for decentralized, censorship-resistant social networking using cryptographically signed messages distributed via relay servers

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Details

License Public Domain (unlicensed)
Dev Status 🟢 Active
Dev Status Detail Released / Active — widely deployed open protocol defined by NIPs; 250+ client apps and relay implementations; NIP-01 core stable; active NIP development for extensions including private DMs (NIP-17), file storage (NIP-96), and remote signing (NIP-46)
Owner fiatjaf (pseudonymous creator, identified as Giovanni Torres Parra) / Community-maintained
Country Brazil (creator location) / International
Start Year 2020
Stack Multi-language (JavaScript, Rust, Go, C#, Python implementations)
Funding Donations (Jack Dorsey $245k BTC in Dec 2022 direct to fiatjaf; $10M to OpenSats in May 2023)
Last Investigated Jan 15, 2026

Use Case Domains

Communication Identity & Trust

Affordances

End-to-end encrypted Protocol federation Consent-based audiences Sovereign identity

P2P Protocol Attributes

Origins Social networking / Microblogging
Database Relay-specific (typically SQLite, PostgreSQL)
Query Language Custom (Nostr filters/subscriptions via WebSocket)
Data Formats JSON (Nostr Events)
Collaborative Live Editing N/A (broadcast protocol, not collaborative editing)
Rich Text Editing Application-level (clients can support Markdown, etc.)
Mobile Support Yes (Damus, Amethyst, etc.)
Web Support Yes (web clients available)
Native Apps Yes (mobile and desktop clients)
Terms Self-hosting (relays) + Free relays + Paid relays
Funds $10.25M+ (cumulative: ~$245k BTC direct to fiatjaf Dec 2022 + $10M to OpenSats May 2023)
Based On N/A (original protocol)
P2P Architecture Relay-based (WebSocket relays, not pure P2P)
Overlay Network User-defined (clients choose which relays to use)
Content Addressing Event-based (events identified by hash)
Local-First N/A (relay-dependent, not local-first)
E2EE Supported via NIPs (NIP-04, NIP-44 for encrypted DMs)
CRDTs Lib N/A (append-only event log, not CRDTs)
Byzantine Fault Tolerance Event signatures (prevents tampering, not consensus)
Signature Schnorr signatures (secp256k1, same as Bitcoin)
Permissions Relay-level (relays set their own acceptance rules)
Semantic Web Compatibility N/A (custom JSON schema)
Smart Contract N/A (no smart contract capability)
Protocol Stack Position Application-layer (built on TCP/IP)
Asset / Value Embedding None — Nostr is a bare relay-and-client messaging protocol with no native token. Zaps (Lightning Network micropayments via NIP-57) are an optional application-layer convention layered on top of the protocol, not a protocol-native economic mechanism.
Protocol Maturity / Standardization De Facto Standard (NIP process — community-driven specification via Nostr Implementation Possibilities; no formal standards body; wide adoption)