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@ Alejandro
2023-09-30 19:01:29"I believe that Nostr is Bitcoin’s first layer three technology. Bitcoin solves money, Lightning solves payments and Nostr solves identity and coordination."
— Bob, nostr:npub1cd0l3s6qgj0s6690rtkys39mgj5upwxpm4856nhmce0pyqu6xj9qh7xlvx
Welcome to the latest issue of the Bitcoin For Families newsletter. This issue explains the concept of Lightning Prisms and how they are being used for zapvertising at Nostr.
On Wednesday, nostr:npub1cd0l3s6qgj0s6690rtkys39mgj5upwxpm4856nhmce0pyqu6xj9qh7xlvx announced the availability of nostr:npub1arcweuxy0zkdcg08sljh058qp02ytrgnpzh4csa3ar42szyfgrpsw6ggtw, a new Nostr app that automates the creation of Lightning Prisms using Nostr identities as the glue that connects lightning addresses to the prism.
This is another example of the limitless possibilities that arise from programmable money with instantaneous transactions. Let's dig deeper into what it does and what it means for the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Prisms and paying to multiple people at once
The concept of prisms was suggested by nostr:npub1y24gz5gwucl79vtv4ctwpysl0r5m4xyzu2rgulnr44ks3t5mt92q4nz2ad and popularized by nostr:npub1dergggklka99wwrs92yz8wdjs952h2ux2ha2ed598ngwu9w7a6fsh9xzpc in this article back in March.
Here is a highlight from Gigi's article explaining what Prisms are:
nostr:note1v6letx506xxe378jh2wxrfwpjtv2a20767w6e5l06nepkqknw3nqnmmr6r
And a graphical representation extracted from his article.
Prisms programmatically split lightning payments. Want to reward the developers of your website? Want to reward the contributors to your latest article? Create a lightning address with a prism attached to it.
$prism
Prisms are an interesting concept that can be used in so many ways. But besides so quick tests triggered by Gigi's article, nothing serious was done.
Until nostr:npub1arcweuxy0zkdcg08sljh058qp02ytrgnpzh4csa3ar42szyfgrpsw6ggtw came around.
nostr:npub1arcweuxy0zkdcg08sljh058qp02ytrgnpzh4csa3ar42szyfgrpsw6ggtw is a Nostr bot that creates a prism with the first 10 people that repost a Nostr note. To get the bot's attention you just need to include the word $boost in your note.
Once 10 people repost your note (or 12 hours go by), nostr:npub1arcweuxy0zkdcg08sljh058qp02ytrgnpzh4csa3ar42szyfgrpsw6ggtw creates a new note representing the prism. Any zap (a micropayment using sats and the Lightning Network) done on that note will be split equally across the 10 recipients. The only requirement is that zaps need to be done with a Nostr client that supports zap splitting. Options today are: - Snort.social - Amethyst - zapper.nostroapps.org
Here are some screenshots of a test a did myself.
nostr:nevent1qqsz5s6xpvfcsq56hqgk8fuu0ufdg4wnppkd6c0m27hmq5u7cu4xs6qpvemhxue69uhkv6tvw3jhytnwdaehgu3wwa5kuef0dec82c33v4erq6e5xeuhscm4vakhqdnjxekh26nyx4chvuphx4uhqdejd5unsennxeuhwcmnxf4nx6m3vuekvwr8wfckgwts0yek60mzwfhkzerrv9ehg0t5wf6k2q3qer0k46yxcugmp6r6mujd5qvp75yp72m98fs6ywcs2k3kqg3f8grqxpqqqqqqzyezraa
nostr:nevent1qqs9cqrkeuer4p0s0tz75lj8akm256yapdw8vcl636k89j0qn54mq7gpzdmhxue69uhk7enxvd5xz6tw9ec82c30qgs9w0rypwmzcje07sc5euk86vmzdx6e4hp6l3c8cmyfe5kjeed4kpcrqsqqqqqpnedhmv
nostr:nevent1qqs95p8akau2a66xnqchycg7vplua45fng3vnyz9d6etlrmpml5eezspzdmhxue69uhk7enxvd5xz6tw9ec82c30qgs9w0rypwmzcje07sc5euk86vmzdx6e4hp6l3c8cmyfe5kjeed4kpcrqsqqqqqpwtyxat
And here is how the split is shown when zapping the prims with Snort.social:
What can you do with prisms in Nostr?
There is a big debate on Nostr about what to do with prisms. It's important to note that you can limit the potential recipients of the prism with a list. You could, for example, limit the prism to only your followers.
I believe that the main application for prisms in Nostr is going to be marketing. I can post a note and promise any amount of sats to the first 10 people who repost it. This would expand the reach of my note significantly.
I could also restrict the prism to my followers and encourage people to follow me if they don't already and repost to be included in the prism.
But there is an opportunity for abuse as well. Someone could create a bot that looks for prism notes and automatically reposts them to farm the zap splits.
We are still early and the team behind prism plans to expand its capabilities in the near future but what's undeniable is that these are exciting times for social media and Nostr.
Twitter is sharing revenue with the blue checks but there is no way for Twitter users to share revenue or reward financially their followers. You can only do that with Nostr.
The combination of censorship resistant and universally available money and social media is creating a completely new world.
Notable notes
nostr:nevent1qqsw7lcpjzpy0mdtpjq3hvhxmn0k9jqfgncpv0yx6auzepapdvg244czyrp4l7xrgpzf7rtg4udwcjzyhdz2ns9cc8w57n2wl0r9uysrng6g5qcyqqqqqqgtl35m6
Recommendations
Bob, gudnuf, and bitcoinplebdeb
The creators of nostr:npub1arcweuxy0zkdcg08sljh058qp02ytrgnpzh4csa3ar42szyfgrpsw6ggtw.
You can follow them at nostr:npub1cd0l3s6qgj0s6690rtkys39mgj5upwxpm4856nhmce0pyqu6xj9qh7xlvx, nostr:npub1ce7d8cdg8k49dnl3da34mvhah8kevxfsq2vdguq6trngapqfsdzsnv3d7m and nostr:npub1s9etjgzjglwlaxdhsveq0qksxyh6xpdpn8ajh69ruetrug957r3qpklxzl
croxroadnews
Finances and Bitcoin only newsletter that, just like me, started using Beehiiv and now is using Nostr.
Check it out on the web or your favorite nostr client: nostr:npub15qfdeq3me7qdt6klfdngxq6kxj7ypuds554etqnck6aujezc5uxsjfhz8m.
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See you again next week! — Alejandro
This newsletter is for educational purposes. It does not represent financial advice. Do your own research before buying Bitcoin.