Nostr Biweekly Review ( 1-14 Oct 2025)

GM, Nostriches! The Nostr Review is a biweekly newsletter focused on protocol updates, exciting programs, the long-form content ecosystem, and key events happening in the Nostr-verse. If you’re interested, join me in covering updates from the Nostr ecosystem!

Quick review:

In the past two weeks, daily active pubkeys reached 208,298. New user growth increased, and profiles with bios increased over 23.39%. Note events totaled 5.4 million, zap volume slightly decreased to 15.6 million sats. Additionally, 4 pull requests were submitted to the Nostr protocol, with 0 merged. A total of 88 Nostr projects were tracked, with 4 releasing product updates. During this period, 3 notable events took place, and 5 significant events are upcoming.

Nostr Statistics#

Based on user activity, the total daily active pubkeys reached 208,298, reflecting an increase of 12.11% compared to the previous period. The highest daily activity was recorded on October 10th, with 15,728 active users, representing an 1.39% increase compared to the previous record of 15,513.

The number of new users overall has increased from the last period. In particular, the number of profiles with bios reached 43,865 marking a significant increase of about 23.39% compared to the previous period. The number of new profiles with contact lists reached 41,034 and pubkeys writing events reached 192,296 within this period.

In terms of content publishing, approximately 5.4 million note events were published during this period, representing an increase of about 10.2% compared to the previous cycle. Among them, Repost reached a total of 302,866 within this period.

For zap activity, the total zap amount is about 15.6 million, showing a decrease of over 8.24% compared to the previous period. Data source: https://stats.nostr.band/

NIPs#

NIP-X: Add support for quoting addresses #2087 By staab ⁠hodlbod The proposal focuses on adding support for quoting addresses in a standardized format. This NIP is crucial for integrating advanced Bitcoin functionality, as it directly enables private payment notifications necessary for implementing non-custodial Stealth Addresses using Nostr's encryption capabilities. This further formalizes Nostr's role as a secure, high-speed signaling layer for Bitcoin financial privacy. The retired-clone tag is intended to make it easier for clients to find and display this content.

NIP-X: wikis as djot: this time is different #2082 By fiatjaf ⁠fiatjaf This proposal aims to standardize long-form content formatting by adopting djot, a modern markup alternative, for article/wiki events (Kind 30023). The main reason for this shift is improving data fidelity and long-term preservation, ensuring that the exact structure and presentation of an article are guaranteed across all clients, addressing historical issues with ambiguous formatting and interoperability.

NIP-X: link to AsciiDoc spec #2081 By bquast This submission supports efforts like #2082 by explicitly linking to the AsciiDoc specification. This technical reference provides a complementary basis for developers working on standardized, rigorous content formats necessary for professional documentation and wiki creation within the Nostr ecosystem.

NIP-X: relay tags in nip-60 on 17375 instead of 10019 #2080 By pablof7z ⁠npub1l2vyh…ajft This NIP proposes updating the tagging mechanism for event kind 17375, which is related to custom app-specific data, by modifying how relay tags are referenced in NIP-60. This effort enhances the management and interoperability of application-specific data streams across relays. This is implemented in Alby Go,Alby Hub,Damus,Rizful,CoinOS (TBC)

Notable Projects#

Flotilla 1.3.1 ⁠hodlbod

Add optional badge and sound for notifications
Improve link rendering
Remove imgproxy
Bring back blossom feature detection for spaces
Improve light theme
Add more info to signer status
Simplify navigation for adding a space
Add ability to scan QR code for invite links
Streamline wallet setup and move receive address setting
Remove indexeddb on mobile, use capacitor file storage API
Fix duplicate DMs showing up

ZEUS v0.11.6 ⁠ZEUS

Feat: enable LNURL-w redemption to Cashu wallet
Feat: LSPS: allow payments with Cashu
Fix: bug: deep link Choose Payment Method loop
Fix: 'LND is getting ready to make payments' for remote connections
Fix: Swaps: handling 'transaction.confirmed'

[Yakihonne]( https://yakihonne.com/note/nevent1qqszlpx3w02fcl2myctnv2fsdvel8yqp4vsj3nt5lknt32f52g3n90qzyqsfsmac8em4m9k33r99e803pnndvylqadl9w69q7zcjkd7d4ssmxqcyqqqqqqgg4yzkz%20 https://yakihonne.com/note/nevent1qqszlpx3w02fcl2myctnv2fsdvel8yqp4vsj3nt5lknt32f52g3n90qzyqsfsmac8em4m9k33r99e803pnndvylqadl9w69q7zcjkd7d4ssmxqcyqqqqqqgg4yzkz) ⁠YakiHonne

The full Latest updates lists are below:

Mobile:

Redesigned app bar and new themes: Black & Ivory.
Database-first architecture with offline mode.
Relay orbits for relays discoverability and management.
Nsec bunker integration.
New content box and updated video types.
Republishing & broadcasting of events integration.
Improved feed for large screens (single column).
Clickable relay URLs in notes.
Support for nostr scheme from other URLs.
Optimized performance, notifications, and mentions.
Default custom reactions added.
Optimized content sharing experience & newely added image sharing option.
Optimized fetching and searching.
Overall performance optimization.
General bug fixes and improvements.

Web:

Core migration to SSR for faster performance, improved SEO, and link previews.
YakiHonne is now a Progressive Web App (PWA), install it and browse like a native app!
New Relay Orbits page to explore content beyond your network.
Fresh redesign across the app — including the note editor, parsing, dropdowns, popups, and more.
Floating chatbox lets you keep conversations going while browsing.
Scroll and page state restoration for smooth, uninterrupted navigation.
Seamlessly manage content sources — add favorite relays and switch between them easily.
Protected event publishing (NIP-70) now supported.
Republish events to specific relays for better targeting.
Clickable relay URLs directly within content.
Instant zaps — paste your LNURL and let others zap you right from your note.
Customization upgrades — redesigned settings with long-press actions, one-tap reactions, and default reaction preferences.
New curated themes for a pleasant experience: Noir, Graphite, Neige, and Ivory.
General bug fixes and performance improvements

Primal ⁠primal

Video streaming UI polish
Feature: delete repost
Feed cosmetic fixes

Long-Form Content Eco#

In the past two weeks, more than 170+ long-form articles have been published, including over 75+ articles on Bitcoin and more than 20 related to Nostr, accounting for 55.88% of the total content.

The core discussion surrounding Nostr has shifted to focus on orbit relays, emphasizing their role in fortifying the protocol against control. Key topics now revolve around censorship resistance, the foundational principle of freedom of speech it enables, and the critical limitations inherent in centralized social protocols that Nostr seeks to overcome. This reflects a growing community emphasis on establishing a robust, untamperable digital public square.

The discussion around Bitcoin is now primarily focused on its efficacy as a defense against financial repression and its superiority over cash as a store of value and medium of exchange. The dialogue emphasizes why Bitcoin matters in the current macroeconomic climate, driven in part by the recent Bitcoin price surge. Articles explore Bitcoin's critical role as a tool for the future, touching on themes of economic liberty, inflation resistance, and a re-imagining of financial sovereignty and social structures outside of traditional systems.

Thank you, ⁠Chey ⁠Gigi ⁠Bitcoin News (News Bot) ⁠Bitcoin Magazine (News Bot) ⁠npub13uvnw…hh99 ⁠npub10akm2…qwlx ⁠No Bullshit Bitcoin (News Bot) ⁠npub12q4tq…uvuh

and others, for your work. Enriching Nostr’s long-form content ecosystem is crucial.

Nostriches Global Meet Ups#

Recently, three Notable Nostr and Bitcoin events have been hosted.

TOKEN2049 Singapore 2025 Took place on October 1–2 at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. As Asia’s largest crypto and Web3 conference, it featured keynote speeches, panel discussions, the Nexus Startup Competition, a 36-hour Origins Hackathon, and immersive on-site experiences, covering topics such as DeFi, blockchain infrastructure, token economics, and regulatory trends.
Watch Out, Bitcoin! 2025 (October 3 - 5th, Madrid, Spain): This conference focused on regulation and the institutional adoption of Bitcoin. Events focused on institutional integration require secure, verifiable, and compliance-aware communication channels. Nostr, with its emphasis on verifiable identity (NIP-05) and censorship resistance, offers an ideal communication layer for high-stakes dialogues in a regulated environment.
TABConf 2025 (Beginning October 13 - 16th, Atlanta, USA):TABConf, a major technical conference, commenced during this period, focusing heavily on blockchain development, security, and hands-on workshops. Notable workshops scheduled during the bi-week included "Workshop: Portal" and "Workshop: Building Taproot Lightning Channels from Scratch," both held on October 14th. This event was essential because it engages the core developer talent necessary to implement and test the complex technical NIPs currently under discussion, such as those related to secure payment infrastructure and improved key management.

Here are the upcoming Nostr and Bitcoin events that you might want to check out.

Canadian Bitcoin Conference 2025 Will take place from October 16–18th, Montreal, Canada. A conference with an emphasis on investment and institutional aspects of Bitcoin. Participants will explore the strategic role of the cryptocurrency in the North American economy.
BTC BalkansWill be held on October 18–19, Sofia, Bulgaria. One of the largest regional conferences in Eastern Europe, dedicated to crypto adoption in local economies, with a focus on Bitcoin use in emerging markets.
NOSTRVILLETake place on October 25, Nashville, TN, a dedicated celebration focused solely on Nostr and freedom tech.
Dakar Bitcoin Days IIIWill be held from October 29–31, Dakar, Senegal. This conference focuses on financial inclusion and the social impact of Bitcoin adoption. Special attention will be given to Bitcoin’s role as a tool for economic independence in African nations.
Bitplebs summitWill be held from October 28 - November 5, Goa, India. The BitPlebs Summit is a Bitcoin-focused conference that brings together developers, educators, and enthusiasts to promote open-source innovation and self-sovereign principles. Hosted by the grassroots group Bitshala, it aims to build India's Bitcoin ecosystem.