Author: David Z. Morris, CoinDesk; Translator: Song Xue, LianGuai
This morning I spent some time exploring my Twitter archive. I was contemplating the significance of social media platforms in the cryptocurrency world and what the possible end of “Crypto Twitter” means for the future.
Now is a time for reflection, as the Twitter we know has officially disappeared and rebranded as X.com this week. Over the past few months, the site’s vitality has noticeably declined, thanks to the high subscriptions introduced to replace dwindling ad revenue.
Now, Elon Musk seems to have lost all interest in actual social media products, announcing that Twitter will become the core of an ambiguously defined “everything app”. (Explaining the motives behind these moves is beyond my scope, but I invite you to consider a compelling argument.)
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This seems to be the first tweet I sent about Bitcoin on April 4, 2013.
LianGuai’s note: The tweet content: RT @mwidner: Detailed article about the phenomenon of Bitcoin, the number of tweets about Bitcoin is related to its value: https://medium.com/money-banking/2b5ef79482cb
(For young people, this was before “retweet” became a hardcoded feature, so you only needed to type “RT” and then copy and paste someone else’s tweet. I should also say, impressively, that Twitter – sorry, X.com – still works with its archives from nearly 20 years ago. Let’s see how long this can last.)
Looking back at these ancient scribbles, I also discovered the evolution of my own thinking about cryptocurrency. It was driven by conversations and interactions with people smarter than myself, starting with Andreas Antonopoulos.
I primarily connected with Andreas and many other important thinkers through Twitter, which continued to serve as a better version of LinkedIn and a directory of profiles for almost all the smart people I had come across in the crypto space. Within my reach were experts in various subjects, and I had confidence in their expertise because I had been communicating with them for weeks or months before seeking their help with stories.
My experience was just one small node in a series of similarly productive connections established through Twitter, including important debates, but also including recruitment, strategic alliances, and deal-making. This utility is unlikely to disappear completely, but measures such as limiting direct messaging for non-subscribers will certainly reduce this functionality.
The decline of Twitter has had cryptocurrency enthusiasts searching for alternatives for months. Once enough people leave, we may suddenly find that the true Crypto Twitter no longer resides on the website formerly known as Twitter.com.
What will happen after encrypted Twitter?
Approximately six websites have attracted refugees from Twitter/X.com. They all have some appeal, but after several months of extensive taste testing, there are some clear winners – and some that seem unlikely to succeed.
Winners
Bitcointalk.org – The most respected and important discussion in the cryptocurrency ecosystem has never disappeared. Yes, it is almost entirely focused on Bitcoin (BTC), but with the loss of Twitter users, it and other old-fashioned forums deserve a revival. Not only does it have a priceless archive of foundational discussions in history, creating today’s crypto world, its reliable reputation system helps clarify who is worth listening to. More generally, the forum format encourages rational and detailed debates rather than participating in the shouting match.
Nostr – Many Bitcoin enthusiasts seem to gather here. Nostr is a truly decentralized protocol that uses a familiar public-private key pair system for minting and a relay network that doesn’t rely on central servers to distribute content. It has received widespread praise from cryptocurrency giants like Jameson Lopp, although it also has its drawbacks. For the most serious cypherpunks in the crypto field, this seems like a necessary addition.
Bluesky – Bluesky is becoming the most attractive Twitter alternative for the smart and ordinary people. Its user experience is actually the same as Twitter but with fewer features. It has attracted key groups of coastal media and policy institutions who first made Twitter great (while Elon alienated them through his verification changes). This is where I foresee spending the most time in the worst possible future (davidzmorris.bsky.social).
Discord – Even before Twitter’s decline, the crypto world began to shift to narrower, more private Discord servers, but after Elon, this trend seems to accelerate. This may be the result of a broader transformation of internet discussions into more private and exclusive environments. I believe this is mainly a net gain for strong communities rooted in deep understanding and long-term relationships.
Reddit – Reddit is still an incredible place for serious discussions on almost anything, including cryptocurrency. Like Bitcointalk and other forums, its reputation system and format are very suitable for nuanced discussions. That being said, it is important to remember that each Reddit subreddit has its own mods and agendas, as evidenced by the intergenerational battle between r/Bitcoin and r/BTC.
Losers
Mastodon – “You think you want it, but you actually don’t,” is used to summarize the social media network. Mastodon’s “federation” model embodies some ideas that cryptocurrency types should like. But user reports generally find the experience clunky, and while interesting, the federated server model seems a bit too isolated, limiting the potential of the network.
Threads – Although Mastodon may be too quirky for many people technically, Threads seems to have flaws in another direction: it is too easy to access and too limited. Perhaps most importantly, the requirement to associate Threads accounts with Instagram accounts makes it more difficult to use pseudonyms, which is a huge negative impact for cryptocurrency users. In many ways, the quality of Threads content is also very low, and this is likely to continue due to structural reasons.
However, Threads does offer a glimmer of hope – it may be a very attractive home for influencers, bots, and scams that rely on a large number of vulnerable targets. This could mean that they separate themselves from more powerful and established cryptographic discourses, which would be a good thing.
In conclusion: no real alternatives
For outsiders of Twitter, the various attractive options strongly indicate that Twitter does not have a single, simple alternative. When you are forced to choose a new social platform, the features and infrastructure of services like Bluesky and Nostr are important. But no feature can compete with the numerous connections that have been established over the years, where followers and followings are referred to as the “social graph”.
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