I recently sat down with Vitor Pullona, ​​creator of Nostr Client Amethyst, to discuss what Nostr in 2025 is like in 2012.

NoStr, a distributed protocol for social media and other forms of communication, is only four years ago, and developers are still thinking about how to create the best possible user experience within the client they have created. These clients include apps like Primal (comparable to X) (like Instagram) (Xgagram) to Yakihonne (like Substack).

However, what’s unique about NoSTR clients is that users can send each other “zap” (a small amount of) Bitcoin to each other to show their appreciation for the content they create.

And Pronna is optimistic that more and more Nostrol clients are beginning to gain traction, just as Bitcoin began doing so 13 years ago.

“We’re beginning to see communities being formed and more money being transferred,” Pamplona told Bitcoin Magazine in an interview.

Bitcoin-powered creator economy

Pullona acknowledged that part of the purpose of social media is to enable means of monetizing what users create in ways that they cannot do in a physical environment.

“(Some social media) users want to make a living,” Pullona says. “They want to be able to achieve more on social media alone or in a city.”

Pamplona believes it will help NOSTR clients turn that hope into reality, and it is his mission to help users do this.

“That’s our ultimate goal. If we can reach the point where creators can make a living, we will win as a platform.”

As the Nostr user base expands and continues to grow as the world’s largest Bitcoin circular economy, the chances that users are making a living with Nostr will grow every day.

amethyst

In creating Amethyst, Pamplona had the vision of a Nostr client that acted as an all-in-one app inspired by a plan similar to the one Elon Musk had for X (formerly Twitter).

“Amethyst came at the same time as Elon was talking about buying Twitter,” explained Pronna. “He’s like creating a Mega app from Twitter and I did the same thing.”

Pullona realizes that Amethyst didn’t achieve this entirely, but he is excited it will come to play a different role. It serves as a lab for those developing new NOSTR clients.

“Amethyst helps everyone kickstart their applications,” he said. “Olas came from amethyst.”

Nostr as a Bitcoin Onboarding Tool

Pullona thinks Nostr is a great way to put Nostr in Bitcoin, but it doesn’t think this should be the main goal of Nostr clients.

“The main goal of the (NOSTR) app is to let people do their own thing. Be creative with people, talk to friends, chat with their families,” Pullona explained.

“There’s no app talking about Nostor or Bitcoin. They should belong to them,” he added.

Pamplona believes that after some time, app users will begin to learn about Nostr’s self-powerfulness when users have control over their data.

“(They recognize that) the platform helps them manage their own data and helps them use the best payment protocols we have today.”

And he emphasized that most new users are coming to Nostr for the freedom and resistance to censorship it offers.

“In the past two years, most of the new Nostr users have come for freedom. “And they have since learned about Bitcoin.”

Four major crypto companies are seeking various banking licenses in a strategic effort to integrate digital assets with traditional financial systems, according to a new Wall Street Journal report.

According to the WSJ report, USDC-issuer Circle and BitGo are pursuing federal bank charters that would allow them to function as conventional lending institutions, offering deposit services and loans.

The report also says that Coinbase and Paxos are exploring “similar moves.”

Currently, Anchorage Digital stands as the only crypto-native company holding a federal bank charter, highlighting the substantial compliance hurdles facing digital asset firms.

Back in 2022, Anchorage was ordered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to improve its controls around client due diligence, monitoring suspicious customer activity and other anti-money-laundering measures.

Last week, according to a report from Barron’s, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s El Dorado Task Force, which combats money laundering and other financial crimes, contacted Anchorage Digital Bank employees to inquire about the company’s practices and policies.

The report cited anonymous sources “familiar with the inquiry.” The specific reason for the probe remains unclear.

Says Anchorage CEO Nathan McCauley of complying with federal regulations,

“It has not been easy… [the] whole gamut of regulatory and compliance obligations that banks have can be intertwined with the crypto industry.”

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What you need to know

• The Garmin Vivoactive 6 is expected to arrive soon, based on information from Gadgets & Wearables and Fitness Tracker Test.
• Like the Vivoactive 5, it should have an aluminum bezel, two buttons, 1.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen, all-systems GNSS, and music storage.
• It’ll allegedly sport the same Elevate v4 sensor as most last-gen Garmin watches, precluding any ECG support.
• It’s expected to ship in four colors — black, white, green, and pink — and cost about $300 like its predecessor.

Anyone eagerly awaiting the Garmin Vivoactive 6 shouldn’t have to wait much longer. After a four-year gap between the 2019 Vivoactive 4 and 2023 Vivoactive 5, Garmin will leap ahead next month with a 6th-gen model that’s pretty similar to the last version, based on leaked renders and specs from retailers.

Gadgets & Wearables first posted renders of the Garmin Vivoactive 6 on Saturday, before Fitness Tracker Test followed up with detailed specs and a list of new features coming to Garmin’s popular all-arounder — as well as a prediction that it’ll arrive before the end of April.

According to both sites’ information, the Garmin Vivoactive 6 is likely to ship in one 42mm case size with a 1.2-inch AMOLED touch display, like the Vivoactive 5. Also like its predecessor, it’ll have an aluminum bezel on top of Garmin’s typical fiber-reinforced polymer case materials.

Reportedly, it’ll ship in Black, Bone, Jasper Green, and Pink Dawn, as shown in the renders above. Compared to the Slate, Cream Gold, Metallic Navy, and Metallic Orchid of last generation, the Vivoactive 6 has its own personality. You can also see a more elevated top-right button in these renders, which could make it easier to press.

According to FTT’s Florian, the Vivoactive 6 will be slightly skinnier than the Vivoactive 5 (10.9mm vs. 11.1mm) but weigh the same 26g without the strap; it also has the “same battery life,” which would mean 11 days per charge or 5 with AOD active.

What’s more disappointing is that both sites suggest that the Vivoactive 6 won’t have ECG support, meaning it has the same Elevate v4 sensor as most Garmin watches from the past few years, besides the Venu 3, Fenix 8, and other expensive models like the Enduro 3.

Garmin didn’t give the Instinct 3 new health sensors, either, which we took as a warning sign at the time. The Vivoactive 6 will likely cost much less, and perhaps Garmin sees the Elevate v5 sensor as too “premium” for this lineup; but it’s a shame, as ECG and skin temp readings would absolutely fit this “mainstream” lineup and match better against other fitness watches.

Nor (allegedly) will the Vivoactive 6 have a barometric altimeter, one of our biggest complaints with the last model. Both sites suggest the Vivoactive 6 will add a greater running focus with running power, running dynamics, and PacePro, plus two new satellite systems — BeiDou and QZSS — for better all-systems GNSS tracking. But this just makes the lack of elevation tracking more noticeable.

In happier news, the Vivoactive 6 should get workout animations, something that fits well with the lineup’s target audience of indoor athletes. Of course, this would pair well with the new Garmin Connect+ subscription that’s generating controversy, thanks to its Live Workouts.

FTT says the Vivoactive 6 will get doubled music storage to 8GB for your Spotify or YouTube Music playlists, as well as a mysterious “smart alarm” that we haven’t seen on any Garmin watches yet. In theory, this would be similar to Fitbit’s smart alarm, checking for a light sleep stage before triggering an alarm within a certain window.

Overall, this feels like a fairly iterative update for the Vivoactive watch, assuming that these leaked specs are correct. At the same time, we do like the Vivoactive 5, and the Vivoactive 6 should take its role as the entry-level Garmin watch that we recommend to anyone new to the platform, if and when it arrives in April.