Vim #
First a little story. I’m a Vim user, the modal text editor used by terminal geeks all over the world. There’s a book called Practical Vim by Drew Neil. It’s recommended as essential material for Vim users new and old so I thought I’d read it. Within its forward is this paragraph:
If you have to look down to find the keys on the keyboard, the benefits of learning Vim won’t come fast. Learning to touch type is imperative.
I reached that part and thought okey dokey, let’s do that then. I was a hunt and peck typist so learning to touch-type would be a good thing. I put down the book and learnt touch-typing using Colemak. I’m really glad I did.
Time passes and I forgot that I’d started to read Practical Vim until I came across it one day. I read the first few pages before reaching the touch-typing recommendation and oh yeah, I’ve come full circle.
Cool, but what has this to do with Bitcoin?
Social Media #
I was a fairly early adopter of Twitter with quite a low user ID. I hung out there until Space Karen bought the platform which resulted in a swift departure by yours truly.
A natural alternative for me seemed to be the Fediverse and Mastodon. I opened a few Mastodon accounts before self-hosting GoToSocial, my own little social media instance.
Some time later BlueSky became public and I set up an account there to match this site’s domain name.
I now had accounts on several social media platforms and I looked for an app that could support them all. I found one in OpenVibe which supported Mastodon, BlueSky, Threads and Nostr.
I knew nothing about Nostr so I went investigating and ooooooh, this looks cool.
Nostr seemed right up my street. Google’s AI describes it as:
Nostr (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays) is a simple, open, decentralized protocol for censorship-resistant communication and social networking, acting like a basic internet standard for messages, similar to email. Instead of a single company, it uses a network of distributed “relay” servers to store and deliver content, giving users control over their data via cryptographic keys, allowing for truly open platforms without central authority bans. It’s the foundation for various apps (clients) that let you post, follow, and interact, often integrating Bitcoin for payments and tipping.
I mean, what’s not to like?
Bitcoin #
I very quickly set up my own relay, installed Nostr apps and started learning about the protocol. All keyfiles, cryptography, decentralised, private and…. Bitcoin.
I’d let Bitcoin pass me by and didn’t really want anything to do with it. It’s for gangsters and scammers and crooks, right? No thanks. Yet now here I am getting involved in a social media platform that’s Bitcoin friendly at its core. And, if someone likes your content, they can zap you, meaning send you a small bitcoin payment as a sort of tip. To join in with that fun, I set up a Bitcoin Lightning wallet.
I was bitten. I wanted more Zaps which arrive in your wallet as Satoshis, the smallest denomination of Bitcoin (100,000,000 = 1 Bitcoin).
OK then, I have the bug, what next. Let’s learn about Bitcoin.
I spent 2025 learning about Bitcoin until I was confident obtaining Bitcoin, transferring it, using Bitcoin via Lightning or the Liquid network and even on-chain Bitcoin.
I’m now in a position where I understand the basics of how Bitcoin works, why it exists and how to use it, secure it and promote it.
Nostr #
So, having now adopted Bitcoin where can I interact with like-minded people? Well, that’s Nostr and much like Vim and touch-typing, I’ve ended up returning to the thing that propelled me in another direction to learn. Another full circle.
At the start of 2026 my intention is to write more on social media will play out on both the Fediverse and Nostr. I’ll talk shit on GoToSocial and then I’ll talk Bitcoin on Nostr.
And that’s how I got into Bitcoin.