EvoLensArt on Nostr: Version 2 Abstract BOOMSCROLL is a decentralized commissioning system, built on ...
Version 2
Abstract
BOOMSCROLL is a decentralized commissioning system, built on NOSTR, Bitcoin, and the Lightning Network, that enables backers to post public bounties tied to an ask, where sats are irrevocably locked and only claimable by the target NPUB upon posting a completion note. This locking mechanism—while a technical challenge to perfect—is at the heart of the system’s trust-based framework. Once locked, the sats cannot be retrieved by the backer and can only be released when the creator signs off on their work, giving them unilateral control over the completion event.
The system operates entirely on trust and reputation, without coercion or guarantees. Backers put sats on the line, and creators claim them based on the quality of their work—or lack thereof. Every action is public, and every participant’s reputation is at stake. BOOMSCROLL introduces five new note types to extend NOSTR’s functionality for public asks, parallel submissions, endorsements, and bounties, with the goal of creating a trustless system that thrives on voluntary exchanges.
In BOOMSCROLL, 21 sats carry more value than 21 million likes because they represent real skin in the game. The system doesn’t guarantee outcomes—it simply provides the framework for people to commit to each other publicly, transparently, and without coercion. The ultimate value lies in the integrity and trust of those who choose to participate.
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The Analog Example – Trust-Based Agreements
Imagine a simple, old-school scenario. You need a job done—say, a house painted or a piece of furniture built. You trust someone to handle it, so you place the money on the table and say, "The funds are yours when the work is done." No one else is involved. You aren’t haggling over the details or setting arbitrary standards for quality. You’ve made a clear, upfront offer, and the person you’re commissioning can claim the money once the task is finished to their own satisfaction.
The power of this arrangement lies in the trust between you and the person doing the work. You trust them to do the job well, and they trust that the money will be there when the work is complete. It’s a direct, transparent exchange: voluntary, clear, and non-coercive. In this analog example, the agreement is simple: the money is there, visible, waiting to be claimed. Both parties know the terms, and everything hinges on trust.
Now, BOOMSCROLL takes this same concept and moves it into a trustless, decentralized digital system, using Bitcoin, NOSTR, and the Lightning Network. Instead of cash on the table, there are sats locked upfront—real, committed value visible to all. Instead of a verbal promise or handshake, there are public asks and completion notes, posted in a trustless and immutable system where everything is transparent and irreversible.
But the key principle remains: once the sats are committed, they’re locked until the task is completed, with no intermediaries and no backing out. This is trust by design, rather than by relationship or personal connection. It's a voluntary agreement, carried out in full view of the public, with no room for dispute once the process is set in motion.
The simplicity of this trust-based system remains intact, but the mechanics are digital—public keys replace personal identities, zaps replace handshakes, and sats replace cash. Everything else follows naturally, from the initial public ask to the final completion note, and each step is voluntary, non-coercive, and entirely based on public visibility.
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The Moving Parts – What Already Exists and What We’re Building
At the heart of BOOMSCROLL is something that’s both new and familiar—a gadget built mostly from already-existing technology, with just a few critical additions. Like Bitcoin itself, BOOMSCROLL isn’t reinventing the wheel. Instead, it’s assembling a Rube Goldberg machine from components that are largely proven, using them in a new configuration to unlock a powerful way to create and deliver value.
NOSTR
NOSTR (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays) is the decentralized protocol for public communication. Users create notes, sign them with their private keys (NSECs), and post them to relays. Each user is identified by their NPUB, a public key that acts like an address on NOSTR. NOSTR handles the public visibility of every ask, zap, and completion note in BOOMSCROLL.
NPUBs and NSECs
Every NOSTR user has a pair of keys: an NPUB (public) and an NSEC (private). The NPUB is the user’s identity, and the NSEC is used to sign messages. In BOOMSCROLL, the NPUB ties every action to a verifiable identity, ensuring that all interactions—from posting bounties to claiming them—are publicly tied to the creator’s key pair. This is the trustless foundation of the system.
Zaps
Zaps are Lightning-powered transactions between users on NOSTR. With Lightning, sats can be sent quickly and with minimal fees. In BOOMSCROLL, zaps are used to power snowballing (adding to a bounty) and to reward completed work. Zaps are already a standard feature of NOSTR interactions and can be used seamlessly within BOOMSCROLL to transfer real value between users.
Sats Locking Mechanism
The sats locking mechanism is essential to the public ask. When a user posts a public ask, they need a way to commit real value upfront—locking sats into a bounty that anyone can see. The challenge is ensuring these sats are locked until the task is completed and cannot be withdrawn or altered. While the precise implementation of this lock is still being refined, we’re confident it can be achieved. In fact, this locking function might be the only part of BOOMSCROLL that requires significant development beyond what already exists.
Lightning Prisms
Lightning Prisms are a mechanism that allow for the automatic distribution of zaps to backers who contributed to the original bounty. In BOOMSCROLL, this would ensure that the people who zapped the public ask get rewarded with a percentage of any future zaps made on the completion note.
This already exists today, though it may need adjustments to suit BOOMSCROLL’s specific use case. For now, it’s enough to say that Lightning Prisms allow us to reward early backers while keeping the system automated and trustless.*
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Parallel Submissions
• Parallel submissions allow other creators to post their own work in response to a public ask, even if they have no claim to the original bounty. This concept ensures that BOOMSCROLL remains open to creative competition, with creators able to contribute their own solutions without interfering with the original ask.
• While parallel submissions don’t unlock the original bounty directly, they still benefit from the social signal that the bounty exists—proof that there is demand for this kind of work. More importantly, by entering a parallel submission, you’re at least implicitly putting yourself in the ring to be endorsed by the original target of the ask. Even if your goal wasn’t to claim the bounty, your work now has the potential to win an endorsement, effectively becoming the completion note and unlocking the bounty for yourself.
• This creates an additional layer of creative meritocracy within BOOMSCROLL: while you might be submitting work purely for its own sake, the very fact that you’ve entered a public space with a parallel submission means you could end up receiving an unexpected endorsement. This mechanism fosters a rich ecosystem of competition where high-quality work can rise to the top, even when multiple creators are involved.
Endorsement Mechanism
• The endorsement mechanism is a purely social signal within BOOMSCROLL. When a creator like Matt O'Dell endorses someone else’s work (e.g., BTC Sessions), the bounty is transferred to the endorsed creator, but Matt receives no financial reward.
• This lack of financial tie is key to keeping the endorsement mechanism clean and non-exploitable. It’s a simple way to reward high-quality work while building social capital, and while it might seem counterintuitive in a system built around sats, it’s what makes BOOMSCROLL trust-based at its core. This mechanism leverages the public transparency of the system—every action and decision is visible, so reputation matters.
Where We Stand: Mostly Here, Partly Conceptual
At this stage, most of the BOOMSCROLL components already exist. NOSTR, NPUBs, zaps, and public notes are all here today, functioning in a decentralized, permissionless system. Even Lightning Prisms have been implemented in certain contexts, though they may need refinement for BOOMSCROLL’s specific use case.
The only major technical hurdle we foresee is in designing the sats locking mechanism—the function that ensures the bounty is committed and cannot be withdrawn until the task is completed. Once that’s in place, we’re confident the rest of the system will fall into place, leveraging the trustless infrastructure of Bitcoin and NOSTR to create a seamless process for public asks, creative work, and rewards.
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BOOMSCROLL in Action – Mechanics and Scenarios
Scenario 1: The Public Ask
The process starts with a public ask. Let’s say Kanye West posts a request for a cold card tutorial with a bounty of 10 million sats, locking it upfront via a sats locking mechanism. This bounty is publicly visible, signaling that real value is on the table.
Transparency: Everyone on NOSTR can see the ask and bounty, creating an open, trustless system.
Snowballing: Others can zap additional sats to increase the bounty, growing it as more people get interested.
Scenario 2: The Creator’s Response
Matt O'Dell sees the ask and begins working on the tutorial. He knows the funds are locked and reserved for him as long as he finishes the work and posts the completion note.
Unilateral Control: Matt decides when to declare the work done by posting the completion note, at which point the sats are transferred.
Scenario 3: The Completion Note – The New Event
The completion note is central to BOOMSCROLL—it serves as the fulcrum for the system. Once posted, it triggers the release of the locked sats and marks the completion of the public ask. But the completion note is also the entry point for the Lightning Prisms.
What the Completion Note Does: It publicly declares the work finished, and its posting is what unlocks the bounty. Importantly, it’s a new note event on NOSTR, visible to everyone. This event becomes the object of zaps from the community.
New Zone of Interest: The completion note is not only a signal that the bounty has been fulfilled; it also becomes the new focal point for future zaps. Anyone can zap the note to show their appreciation or further reward the creator for the work.
Scenario 4: The Lightning Prisms – Rewarding Backers
Once the completion note is posted, Lightning Prisms come into play. This is the mechanism that allows a portion of future zaps on the completion note to be distributed back to the original backers, rewarding them for supporting the project early on.
How Lightning Prisms Work: Whenever someone zaps the completion note, a percentage of the zap is automatically sent to the backers in proportion to their original contribution. For example:
Kanye posted the original 10 million sats bounty, so he gets a share proportional to his contribution.
Peter and Jack added 1 million and 2 million sats, so they receive smaller, but still proportional shares.
Fulcrum of Interaction: The completion note now becomes a new zone of economic interest—zaps directed at this note continue to reward both the creator and the backers, creating a positive feedback loop where high-quality work can generate ongoing value. The Lightning Prisms system ensures that early backers are financially rewarded if the work they supported continues to gain appreciation.
Scenario 5: The Endorsement Mechanism – Social Signal
With Lightning Prisms in place, we can now introduce the endorsement mechanism. If Matt O'Dell completes his work but decides that BTC Sessions’ parallel submission is better, he can endorse BTC Sessions instead of posting his own completion note. This endorsement effectively coronates BTC Sessions’ work as the completion note, transferring the bounty to him.
No Financial Gain for Endorsement: Matt doesn’t receive any zaps from endorsing BTC. This is a purely social signal—by endorsing BTC Sessions, Matt is passing on the financial reward while increasing his own reputation as a fair and honest creator.
Coronation of BTC Sessions: Once endorsed, BTC Sessions’ submission effectively becomes the completion note, unlocking the bounty and starting the Lightning Prisms process for future zaps. His work now becomes the zone of interest for future zaps and financial support.
Endorsement as Meritocratic Mechanism: The endorsement mechanism serves as a meritocratic feature, ensuring that the best work rises to the top, even if it wasn’t produced by the original target of the bounty. This creates an incentive for creators to endorse work they genuinely think is better, further reinforcing BOOMSCROLL's focus on quality and trust.
Scenario 6: Parallel Submissions – Potential for Endorsement
Parallel submissions don’t unlock the original bounty, but they still play a critical role. Creators like BTC Sessions, who post work in parallel, are implicitly opening themselves up for an endorsement from the original target (in this case, Matt O'Dell). While they may not intend to claim the bounty, the fact that they’ve submitted work means they could potentially receive an endorsement.
Proof of Demand: Parallel submissions gain value simply by being visible in a space where there is proven demand for the work, as signaled by the original bounty.
A Social System: Even if a parallel submission doesn’t unlock the bounty, it can still generate social capital and financial support through zaps, creating a dynamic and competitive ecosystem for creators.
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Trust, Reputation, and Endorsements – The Social and Philosophical Layer of BOOMSCROLL
Trust-Based Interactions in a Trustless System
BOOMSCROLL is built on a trustless infrastructure (Bitcoin and NOSTR), but it creates an environment where social trust becomes the key currency. Every action—whether it’s a public ask, a zap, or an endorsement—is a public signal of trust.
Unilateral Power: Imagine Matt O'Dell accepts a 10 million sat bounty to create a Bitcoin tutorial. Once he posts a completion note, the funds are released to him. But here’s the kicker: Matt could post anything. He could create a serious tutorial, or he could post a video of himself wiping his ass, take the sats, and run. Nobody could stop him.
And yet, the system works. Why? Because trust and reputation are at stake.
Public Trust and Consequences: While Matt could technically act in bad faith, doing so would destroy his reputation in the eyes of the entire community. His actions would be visible to everyone on NOSTR, and his reputation as a serious creator would be tarnished. It’s this social pressure that ensures creators act in good faith, even though the system itself doesn’t force them to.
No Technical Coercion: The beauty of BOOMSCROLL is that the rules are transparent. There’s no technical enforcement beyond the release of sats. The system doesn’t coerce anyone—it relies on the social trust layer to ensure quality work is produced. Everyone can see what Matt does with the bounty, and his actions speak louder than any rules.
Reputation as a New Currency
In BOOMSCROLL, reputation is the true currency. Every interaction leaves a permanent social footprint, and these footprints build a creator’s standing within the community.
Creators and Reputation: If Matt O'Dell consistently delivers high-quality tutorials, his reputation grows, and people will trust him more. But if he posts nonsense just to claim a bounty, that reputation is shattered. The next time a bounty comes up, people might hesitate to trust him with their sats. This is how reputation acts as a self-regulating force within the system.
Trust in a Trustless System: Even though the system itself is trustless, creators and backers alike earn trust through their actions. Matt’s reputation would have to be strong for someone like Kanye West to even post a bounty in the first place. Once that trust is built, it becomes a currency that creators rely on to continue earning bounties, endorsements, and zaps.
Endorsements as a Pure Social Signal
The endorsement mechanism in BOOMSCROLL is another powerful signal of trust. For example, if Matt decides BTC Sessions produced a better tutorial, he can endorse BTC’s work, passing the bounty along. This purely social gesture is a huge signal of trust and increases Matt’s standing in the community.
No Financial Gain, Only Reputation: Matt receives no financial reward for endorsing BTC Sessions. But his social capital grows. He’s seen as someone who values quality over personal gain, which bolsters his reputation even more. In a system where reputation is everything, endorsing quality can be just as valuable as creating it.
Parallel Submissions – A Competitive and Collaborative Ecosystem
Parallel submissions don’t compete for the original bounty, but they still benefit from the social signal created by the public ask. Even if BTC Sessions can’t claim the original bounty, the fact that there’s real demand for the work signals that his submission has value.
Endorsement as a Possibility: BTC Sessions might not have intended to compete for the bounty, but his work can still be endorsed if Matt believes it’s better. This creates a dynamic ecosystem where creators can collaborate and compete to produce the best work, knowing that their submissions are visible to everyone and that endorsements are possible.
Trustlessness and Voluntary Participation
One of the key features of BOOMSCROLL is that every action is voluntary, and every step is irreversible. There are no middlemen, no trust-based bottlenecks, and no coercive mechanisms.
Uncoerced Choices, Real Consequences: Matt can choose to take the sats and run, but he can’t undo the social consequences of his actions. Every decision is public and irreversible, and the consequences play out in real time for everyone to see.
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Long-Term Implications
The combination of trustless mechanics and trust-based social signals creates a system with profound long-term implications for how we commission and reward work.
• Incentives for Quality: The system naturally incentivizes creators to produce quality work because reputation and social standing are at stake. While it’s technically possible for someone to act in bad faith, the reputation cost is high enough to ensure that most creators act responsibly.
• A Meritocratic Future: BOOMSCROLL creates a meritocratic system where trust, quality, and reputation govern outcomes. Those who produce the best work, or who endorse the best work, will naturally rise to the top, while those who act in bad faith will quickly find themselves without backers.
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Real-World Applications – BOOMSCROLL Beyond Bitcoin
Now that we've covered the technical and social mechanics, it’s time to explore how BOOMSCROLL could be applied in the real world. While Bitcoin tutorials are an obvious use case, the system has far broader applications across different industries. BOOMSCROLL offers a revolutionary way to commission and reward work, incentivize public accountability, and facilitate creative collaboration. Let’s explore several real-world scenarios where BOOMSCROLL could have a transformative impact.
1. Creative Content Creation – Subverting the Patreon Model
In today’s creative economy, platforms like Patreon allow fans to financially support creators, but they come with significant drawbacks: platform fees, censorship risks, and centralization. BOOMSCROLL presents a trustless alternative that puts creators fully in control of their work and rewards, while removing intermediaries.
• Webcomics or Independent Artists: Imagine an artist who creates a webcomic and traditionally relies on Patreon for support. With BOOMSCROLL, this artist could instead post a public ask, allowing fans to zap sats upfront in exchange for continued work. The artist’s reputation would act as collateral, ensuring that fans know the artist will continue to produce content. Every comic panel or piece of artwork could be tied to a completion note, releasing the bounty.
• No Platform Censorship or Fees: Unlike Patreon, BOOMSCROLL is completely decentralized, meaning the creator never has to worry about censorship or deplatforming. Additionally, there are no significant fees—the sats go directly to the creator, with any optional fees being transparently directed to development initiatives (e.g., via Lightning Prisms to support the open-source ecosystem).
• Fan-Initiated Bounties: Fans could even initiate bounties on their own, offering to fund the artist’s work for a specific project. If a group of fans really wants a certain comic arc, they could pool their sats, post a public ask, and entice the artist to complete it. As more fans contribute, the bounty grows, increasing the likelihood that the artist will take on the project.
2. Public Accountability – A Tool for Transparency
Another fascinating use case for BOOMSCROLL is public accountability. In an age where public figures—whether politicians, celebrities, or CEOs—are often asked to take a stance or explain their actions, BOOMSCROLL could provide a transparent system for demanding accountability.
• Commissioning Public Figures: Imagine a scenario where the public collectively wants a politician to explain their stance on a controversial issue. A public ask could be created, and sats would be locked into a bounty. The politician could then respond with a completion note that either addresses the issue or signals that they’ve chosen to remain silent. The public nature of the transaction means that everyone can see if the politician engages with the bounty or not.
• Non-Coercive Pressure: There’s nothing forcing the politician to respond, but the social pressure created by the bounty’s existence is undeniable. The sats are real, and the public’s desire for a response is real. If the politician chooses to take the sats, they’re acknowledging the request in a way that’s visible to everyone.
• Transparent Funding for Causes: This could also be used for public causes. Imagine a group of environmental activists offering a bounty for a company to adopt greener practices. The bounty would be visible for all to see, and the company could either take the sats and make changes, or ignore the bounty and deal with the public consequences of doing so.
3. Decentralized Software Development – Bounties for Open Source Projects
Open-source development often relies on volunteers or small grants from foundations, but it can be challenging to coordinate funding and incentivize developers to focus on certain features or fixes. BOOMSCROLL provides a solution by allowing users to commission developers for specific work.
• Targeted Bounties for Code: Suppose there’s an important feature missing from a widely-used piece of open-source software. A user could post a public ask, offering a bounty for the feature to be implemented. Developers could then submit parallel work, and the original requester could either accept the work or endorse another developer’s submission.
• Collaborative Development: As bounties grow, more developers might become interested in the project. This fosters collaboration and allows developers to contribute to projects that have real value locked upfront. The system incentivizes quality by allowing endorsements and rewards based on merit, not on who gets there first.
4. Journalism and Investigative Reporting
In the current media landscape, investigative journalists often struggle to find funding for important stories. BOOMSCROLL could offer a decentralized way for the public to fund independent journalism and investigative reporting, ensuring that critical stories get the attention they deserve.
• Crowdsourced Reporting Bounties: A public ask could be created to investigate a particular topic or event, with the sats locked into a bounty. Journalists could compete to produce the best work, and the first to complete the story would claim the bounty via a completion note.
• Transparent Funding: This approach ensures that funding is transparent and that there are no conflicts of interest. Journalists can take on stories that are important to the public, rather than being tied to the interests of media conglomerates or advertisers.
Conclusion: Trust, Not Coercion
The beauty of BOOMSCROLL lies in its simplicity and its refusal to coerce anyone into action. The system works because of what it does not do. It doesn’t force anyone’s hand, doesn’t require central oversight, and doesn’t offer any guarantees. What it does is facilitate trust-based exchanges between backers and creators, allowing real value—sats—to be put on the line. The backer locks up their sats, the creator accepts the risk of their reputation, and everything is visible.
The sats locking mechanism is the linchpin of this system. Once a backer posts a bounty, those sats are publicly and irrevocably locked. The backer can’t get them back. They’re tied to the ask, and the only way for the creator to claim them is by signing the completion note. And this part is critical: the creator has complete unilateral control over when—or whether—they decide to sign the note. They might post excellent work, or they might post something trivial and claim the sats in bad faith. The system can’t stop them. That’s the point.
It’s a system built on reputation and accountability, not rigid enforcement. A backer might post a random, meaningless ask and risk losing their sats. A creator might deliver subpar work and take the bounty. But every action is public, and every decision has consequences. Trust becomes the currency in this system, and the value of that trust is determined by the community.
BOOMSCROLL doesn’t do what most systems do—it doesn’t try to guarantee outcomes. Instead, it allows the social fabric to weave itself, through voluntary actions, public commitments, and the weight of reputation. And in a world where 21 sats carry more weight than 21 million likes, the value comes not from the system’s enforcement but from the integrity of those who participate.
Abstract
BOOMSCROLL is a decentralized commissioning system, built on NOSTR, Bitcoin, and the Lightning Network, that enables backers to post public bounties tied to an ask, where sats are irrevocably locked and only claimable by the target NPUB upon posting a completion note. This locking mechanism—while a technical challenge to perfect—is at the heart of the system’s trust-based framework. Once locked, the sats cannot be retrieved by the backer and can only be released when the creator signs off on their work, giving them unilateral control over the completion event.
The system operates entirely on trust and reputation, without coercion or guarantees. Backers put sats on the line, and creators claim them based on the quality of their work—or lack thereof. Every action is public, and every participant’s reputation is at stake. BOOMSCROLL introduces five new note types to extend NOSTR’s functionality for public asks, parallel submissions, endorsements, and bounties, with the goal of creating a trustless system that thrives on voluntary exchanges.
In BOOMSCROLL, 21 sats carry more value than 21 million likes because they represent real skin in the game. The system doesn’t guarantee outcomes—it simply provides the framework for people to commit to each other publicly, transparently, and without coercion. The ultimate value lies in the integrity and trust of those who choose to participate.
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The Analog Example – Trust-Based Agreements
Imagine a simple, old-school scenario. You need a job done—say, a house painted or a piece of furniture built. You trust someone to handle it, so you place the money on the table and say, "The funds are yours when the work is done." No one else is involved. You aren’t haggling over the details or setting arbitrary standards for quality. You’ve made a clear, upfront offer, and the person you’re commissioning can claim the money once the task is finished to their own satisfaction.
The power of this arrangement lies in the trust between you and the person doing the work. You trust them to do the job well, and they trust that the money will be there when the work is complete. It’s a direct, transparent exchange: voluntary, clear, and non-coercive. In this analog example, the agreement is simple: the money is there, visible, waiting to be claimed. Both parties know the terms, and everything hinges on trust.
Now, BOOMSCROLL takes this same concept and moves it into a trustless, decentralized digital system, using Bitcoin, NOSTR, and the Lightning Network. Instead of cash on the table, there are sats locked upfront—real, committed value visible to all. Instead of a verbal promise or handshake, there are public asks and completion notes, posted in a trustless and immutable system where everything is transparent and irreversible.
But the key principle remains: once the sats are committed, they’re locked until the task is completed, with no intermediaries and no backing out. This is trust by design, rather than by relationship or personal connection. It's a voluntary agreement, carried out in full view of the public, with no room for dispute once the process is set in motion.
The simplicity of this trust-based system remains intact, but the mechanics are digital—public keys replace personal identities, zaps replace handshakes, and sats replace cash. Everything else follows naturally, from the initial public ask to the final completion note, and each step is voluntary, non-coercive, and entirely based on public visibility.
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The Moving Parts – What Already Exists and What We’re Building
At the heart of BOOMSCROLL is something that’s both new and familiar—a gadget built mostly from already-existing technology, with just a few critical additions. Like Bitcoin itself, BOOMSCROLL isn’t reinventing the wheel. Instead, it’s assembling a Rube Goldberg machine from components that are largely proven, using them in a new configuration to unlock a powerful way to create and deliver value.
NOSTR
NOSTR (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays) is the decentralized protocol for public communication. Users create notes, sign them with their private keys (NSECs), and post them to relays. Each user is identified by their NPUB, a public key that acts like an address on NOSTR. NOSTR handles the public visibility of every ask, zap, and completion note in BOOMSCROLL.
NPUBs and NSECs
Every NOSTR user has a pair of keys: an NPUB (public) and an NSEC (private). The NPUB is the user’s identity, and the NSEC is used to sign messages. In BOOMSCROLL, the NPUB ties every action to a verifiable identity, ensuring that all interactions—from posting bounties to claiming them—are publicly tied to the creator’s key pair. This is the trustless foundation of the system.
Zaps
Zaps are Lightning-powered transactions between users on NOSTR. With Lightning, sats can be sent quickly and with minimal fees. In BOOMSCROLL, zaps are used to power snowballing (adding to a bounty) and to reward completed work. Zaps are already a standard feature of NOSTR interactions and can be used seamlessly within BOOMSCROLL to transfer real value between users.
Sats Locking Mechanism
The sats locking mechanism is essential to the public ask. When a user posts a public ask, they need a way to commit real value upfront—locking sats into a bounty that anyone can see. The challenge is ensuring these sats are locked until the task is completed and cannot be withdrawn or altered. While the precise implementation of this lock is still being refined, we’re confident it can be achieved. In fact, this locking function might be the only part of BOOMSCROLL that requires significant development beyond what already exists.
Lightning Prisms
Lightning Prisms are a mechanism that allow for the automatic distribution of zaps to backers who contributed to the original bounty. In BOOMSCROLL, this would ensure that the people who zapped the public ask get rewarded with a percentage of any future zaps made on the completion note.
This already exists today, though it may need adjustments to suit BOOMSCROLL’s specific use case. For now, it’s enough to say that Lightning Prisms allow us to reward early backers while keeping the system automated and trustless.*
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Parallel Submissions
• Parallel submissions allow other creators to post their own work in response to a public ask, even if they have no claim to the original bounty. This concept ensures that BOOMSCROLL remains open to creative competition, with creators able to contribute their own solutions without interfering with the original ask.
• While parallel submissions don’t unlock the original bounty directly, they still benefit from the social signal that the bounty exists—proof that there is demand for this kind of work. More importantly, by entering a parallel submission, you’re at least implicitly putting yourself in the ring to be endorsed by the original target of the ask. Even if your goal wasn’t to claim the bounty, your work now has the potential to win an endorsement, effectively becoming the completion note and unlocking the bounty for yourself.
• This creates an additional layer of creative meritocracy within BOOMSCROLL: while you might be submitting work purely for its own sake, the very fact that you’ve entered a public space with a parallel submission means you could end up receiving an unexpected endorsement. This mechanism fosters a rich ecosystem of competition where high-quality work can rise to the top, even when multiple creators are involved.
Endorsement Mechanism
• The endorsement mechanism is a purely social signal within BOOMSCROLL. When a creator like Matt O'Dell endorses someone else’s work (e.g., BTC Sessions), the bounty is transferred to the endorsed creator, but Matt receives no financial reward.
• This lack of financial tie is key to keeping the endorsement mechanism clean and non-exploitable. It’s a simple way to reward high-quality work while building social capital, and while it might seem counterintuitive in a system built around sats, it’s what makes BOOMSCROLL trust-based at its core. This mechanism leverages the public transparency of the system—every action and decision is visible, so reputation matters.
Where We Stand: Mostly Here, Partly Conceptual
At this stage, most of the BOOMSCROLL components already exist. NOSTR, NPUBs, zaps, and public notes are all here today, functioning in a decentralized, permissionless system. Even Lightning Prisms have been implemented in certain contexts, though they may need refinement for BOOMSCROLL’s specific use case.
The only major technical hurdle we foresee is in designing the sats locking mechanism—the function that ensures the bounty is committed and cannot be withdrawn until the task is completed. Once that’s in place, we’re confident the rest of the system will fall into place, leveraging the trustless infrastructure of Bitcoin and NOSTR to create a seamless process for public asks, creative work, and rewards.
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BOOMSCROLL in Action – Mechanics and Scenarios
Scenario 1: The Public Ask
The process starts with a public ask. Let’s say Kanye West posts a request for a cold card tutorial with a bounty of 10 million sats, locking it upfront via a sats locking mechanism. This bounty is publicly visible, signaling that real value is on the table.
Transparency: Everyone on NOSTR can see the ask and bounty, creating an open, trustless system.
Snowballing: Others can zap additional sats to increase the bounty, growing it as more people get interested.
Scenario 2: The Creator’s Response
Matt O'Dell sees the ask and begins working on the tutorial. He knows the funds are locked and reserved for him as long as he finishes the work and posts the completion note.
Unilateral Control: Matt decides when to declare the work done by posting the completion note, at which point the sats are transferred.
Scenario 3: The Completion Note – The New Event
The completion note is central to BOOMSCROLL—it serves as the fulcrum for the system. Once posted, it triggers the release of the locked sats and marks the completion of the public ask. But the completion note is also the entry point for the Lightning Prisms.
What the Completion Note Does: It publicly declares the work finished, and its posting is what unlocks the bounty. Importantly, it’s a new note event on NOSTR, visible to everyone. This event becomes the object of zaps from the community.
New Zone of Interest: The completion note is not only a signal that the bounty has been fulfilled; it also becomes the new focal point for future zaps. Anyone can zap the note to show their appreciation or further reward the creator for the work.
Scenario 4: The Lightning Prisms – Rewarding Backers
Once the completion note is posted, Lightning Prisms come into play. This is the mechanism that allows a portion of future zaps on the completion note to be distributed back to the original backers, rewarding them for supporting the project early on.
How Lightning Prisms Work: Whenever someone zaps the completion note, a percentage of the zap is automatically sent to the backers in proportion to their original contribution. For example:
Kanye posted the original 10 million sats bounty, so he gets a share proportional to his contribution.
Peter and Jack added 1 million and 2 million sats, so they receive smaller, but still proportional shares.
Fulcrum of Interaction: The completion note now becomes a new zone of economic interest—zaps directed at this note continue to reward both the creator and the backers, creating a positive feedback loop where high-quality work can generate ongoing value. The Lightning Prisms system ensures that early backers are financially rewarded if the work they supported continues to gain appreciation.
Scenario 5: The Endorsement Mechanism – Social Signal
With Lightning Prisms in place, we can now introduce the endorsement mechanism. If Matt O'Dell completes his work but decides that BTC Sessions’ parallel submission is better, he can endorse BTC Sessions instead of posting his own completion note. This endorsement effectively coronates BTC Sessions’ work as the completion note, transferring the bounty to him.
No Financial Gain for Endorsement: Matt doesn’t receive any zaps from endorsing BTC. This is a purely social signal—by endorsing BTC Sessions, Matt is passing on the financial reward while increasing his own reputation as a fair and honest creator.
Coronation of BTC Sessions: Once endorsed, BTC Sessions’ submission effectively becomes the completion note, unlocking the bounty and starting the Lightning Prisms process for future zaps. His work now becomes the zone of interest for future zaps and financial support.
Endorsement as Meritocratic Mechanism: The endorsement mechanism serves as a meritocratic feature, ensuring that the best work rises to the top, even if it wasn’t produced by the original target of the bounty. This creates an incentive for creators to endorse work they genuinely think is better, further reinforcing BOOMSCROLL's focus on quality and trust.
Scenario 6: Parallel Submissions – Potential for Endorsement
Parallel submissions don’t unlock the original bounty, but they still play a critical role. Creators like BTC Sessions, who post work in parallel, are implicitly opening themselves up for an endorsement from the original target (in this case, Matt O'Dell). While they may not intend to claim the bounty, the fact that they’ve submitted work means they could potentially receive an endorsement.
Proof of Demand: Parallel submissions gain value simply by being visible in a space where there is proven demand for the work, as signaled by the original bounty.
A Social System: Even if a parallel submission doesn’t unlock the bounty, it can still generate social capital and financial support through zaps, creating a dynamic and competitive ecosystem for creators.
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Trust, Reputation, and Endorsements – The Social and Philosophical Layer of BOOMSCROLL
Trust-Based Interactions in a Trustless System
BOOMSCROLL is built on a trustless infrastructure (Bitcoin and NOSTR), but it creates an environment where social trust becomes the key currency. Every action—whether it’s a public ask, a zap, or an endorsement—is a public signal of trust.
Unilateral Power: Imagine Matt O'Dell accepts a 10 million sat bounty to create a Bitcoin tutorial. Once he posts a completion note, the funds are released to him. But here’s the kicker: Matt could post anything. He could create a serious tutorial, or he could post a video of himself wiping his ass, take the sats, and run. Nobody could stop him.
And yet, the system works. Why? Because trust and reputation are at stake.
Public Trust and Consequences: While Matt could technically act in bad faith, doing so would destroy his reputation in the eyes of the entire community. His actions would be visible to everyone on NOSTR, and his reputation as a serious creator would be tarnished. It’s this social pressure that ensures creators act in good faith, even though the system itself doesn’t force them to.
No Technical Coercion: The beauty of BOOMSCROLL is that the rules are transparent. There’s no technical enforcement beyond the release of sats. The system doesn’t coerce anyone—it relies on the social trust layer to ensure quality work is produced. Everyone can see what Matt does with the bounty, and his actions speak louder than any rules.
Reputation as a New Currency
In BOOMSCROLL, reputation is the true currency. Every interaction leaves a permanent social footprint, and these footprints build a creator’s standing within the community.
Creators and Reputation: If Matt O'Dell consistently delivers high-quality tutorials, his reputation grows, and people will trust him more. But if he posts nonsense just to claim a bounty, that reputation is shattered. The next time a bounty comes up, people might hesitate to trust him with their sats. This is how reputation acts as a self-regulating force within the system.
Trust in a Trustless System: Even though the system itself is trustless, creators and backers alike earn trust through their actions. Matt’s reputation would have to be strong for someone like Kanye West to even post a bounty in the first place. Once that trust is built, it becomes a currency that creators rely on to continue earning bounties, endorsements, and zaps.
Endorsements as a Pure Social Signal
The endorsement mechanism in BOOMSCROLL is another powerful signal of trust. For example, if Matt decides BTC Sessions produced a better tutorial, he can endorse BTC’s work, passing the bounty along. This purely social gesture is a huge signal of trust and increases Matt’s standing in the community.
No Financial Gain, Only Reputation: Matt receives no financial reward for endorsing BTC Sessions. But his social capital grows. He’s seen as someone who values quality over personal gain, which bolsters his reputation even more. In a system where reputation is everything, endorsing quality can be just as valuable as creating it.
Parallel Submissions – A Competitive and Collaborative Ecosystem
Parallel submissions don’t compete for the original bounty, but they still benefit from the social signal created by the public ask. Even if BTC Sessions can’t claim the original bounty, the fact that there’s real demand for the work signals that his submission has value.
Endorsement as a Possibility: BTC Sessions might not have intended to compete for the bounty, but his work can still be endorsed if Matt believes it’s better. This creates a dynamic ecosystem where creators can collaborate and compete to produce the best work, knowing that their submissions are visible to everyone and that endorsements are possible.
Trustlessness and Voluntary Participation
One of the key features of BOOMSCROLL is that every action is voluntary, and every step is irreversible. There are no middlemen, no trust-based bottlenecks, and no coercive mechanisms.
Uncoerced Choices, Real Consequences: Matt can choose to take the sats and run, but he can’t undo the social consequences of his actions. Every decision is public and irreversible, and the consequences play out in real time for everyone to see.
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Long-Term Implications
The combination of trustless mechanics and trust-based social signals creates a system with profound long-term implications for how we commission and reward work.
• Incentives for Quality: The system naturally incentivizes creators to produce quality work because reputation and social standing are at stake. While it’s technically possible for someone to act in bad faith, the reputation cost is high enough to ensure that most creators act responsibly.
• A Meritocratic Future: BOOMSCROLL creates a meritocratic system where trust, quality, and reputation govern outcomes. Those who produce the best work, or who endorse the best work, will naturally rise to the top, while those who act in bad faith will quickly find themselves without backers.
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Real-World Applications – BOOMSCROLL Beyond Bitcoin
Now that we've covered the technical and social mechanics, it’s time to explore how BOOMSCROLL could be applied in the real world. While Bitcoin tutorials are an obvious use case, the system has far broader applications across different industries. BOOMSCROLL offers a revolutionary way to commission and reward work, incentivize public accountability, and facilitate creative collaboration. Let’s explore several real-world scenarios where BOOMSCROLL could have a transformative impact.
1. Creative Content Creation – Subverting the Patreon Model
In today’s creative economy, platforms like Patreon allow fans to financially support creators, but they come with significant drawbacks: platform fees, censorship risks, and centralization. BOOMSCROLL presents a trustless alternative that puts creators fully in control of their work and rewards, while removing intermediaries.
• Webcomics or Independent Artists: Imagine an artist who creates a webcomic and traditionally relies on Patreon for support. With BOOMSCROLL, this artist could instead post a public ask, allowing fans to zap sats upfront in exchange for continued work. The artist’s reputation would act as collateral, ensuring that fans know the artist will continue to produce content. Every comic panel or piece of artwork could be tied to a completion note, releasing the bounty.
• No Platform Censorship or Fees: Unlike Patreon, BOOMSCROLL is completely decentralized, meaning the creator never has to worry about censorship or deplatforming. Additionally, there are no significant fees—the sats go directly to the creator, with any optional fees being transparently directed to development initiatives (e.g., via Lightning Prisms to support the open-source ecosystem).
• Fan-Initiated Bounties: Fans could even initiate bounties on their own, offering to fund the artist’s work for a specific project. If a group of fans really wants a certain comic arc, they could pool their sats, post a public ask, and entice the artist to complete it. As more fans contribute, the bounty grows, increasing the likelihood that the artist will take on the project.
2. Public Accountability – A Tool for Transparency
Another fascinating use case for BOOMSCROLL is public accountability. In an age where public figures—whether politicians, celebrities, or CEOs—are often asked to take a stance or explain their actions, BOOMSCROLL could provide a transparent system for demanding accountability.
• Commissioning Public Figures: Imagine a scenario where the public collectively wants a politician to explain their stance on a controversial issue. A public ask could be created, and sats would be locked into a bounty. The politician could then respond with a completion note that either addresses the issue or signals that they’ve chosen to remain silent. The public nature of the transaction means that everyone can see if the politician engages with the bounty or not.
• Non-Coercive Pressure: There’s nothing forcing the politician to respond, but the social pressure created by the bounty’s existence is undeniable. The sats are real, and the public’s desire for a response is real. If the politician chooses to take the sats, they’re acknowledging the request in a way that’s visible to everyone.
• Transparent Funding for Causes: This could also be used for public causes. Imagine a group of environmental activists offering a bounty for a company to adopt greener practices. The bounty would be visible for all to see, and the company could either take the sats and make changes, or ignore the bounty and deal with the public consequences of doing so.
3. Decentralized Software Development – Bounties for Open Source Projects
Open-source development often relies on volunteers or small grants from foundations, but it can be challenging to coordinate funding and incentivize developers to focus on certain features or fixes. BOOMSCROLL provides a solution by allowing users to commission developers for specific work.
• Targeted Bounties for Code: Suppose there’s an important feature missing from a widely-used piece of open-source software. A user could post a public ask, offering a bounty for the feature to be implemented. Developers could then submit parallel work, and the original requester could either accept the work or endorse another developer’s submission.
• Collaborative Development: As bounties grow, more developers might become interested in the project. This fosters collaboration and allows developers to contribute to projects that have real value locked upfront. The system incentivizes quality by allowing endorsements and rewards based on merit, not on who gets there first.
4. Journalism and Investigative Reporting
In the current media landscape, investigative journalists often struggle to find funding for important stories. BOOMSCROLL could offer a decentralized way for the public to fund independent journalism and investigative reporting, ensuring that critical stories get the attention they deserve.
• Crowdsourced Reporting Bounties: A public ask could be created to investigate a particular topic or event, with the sats locked into a bounty. Journalists could compete to produce the best work, and the first to complete the story would claim the bounty via a completion note.
• Transparent Funding: This approach ensures that funding is transparent and that there are no conflicts of interest. Journalists can take on stories that are important to the public, rather than being tied to the interests of media conglomerates or advertisers.
Conclusion: Trust, Not Coercion
The beauty of BOOMSCROLL lies in its simplicity and its refusal to coerce anyone into action. The system works because of what it does not do. It doesn’t force anyone’s hand, doesn’t require central oversight, and doesn’t offer any guarantees. What it does is facilitate trust-based exchanges between backers and creators, allowing real value—sats—to be put on the line. The backer locks up their sats, the creator accepts the risk of their reputation, and everything is visible.
The sats locking mechanism is the linchpin of this system. Once a backer posts a bounty, those sats are publicly and irrevocably locked. The backer can’t get them back. They’re tied to the ask, and the only way for the creator to claim them is by signing the completion note. And this part is critical: the creator has complete unilateral control over when—or whether—they decide to sign the note. They might post excellent work, or they might post something trivial and claim the sats in bad faith. The system can’t stop them. That’s the point.
It’s a system built on reputation and accountability, not rigid enforcement. A backer might post a random, meaningless ask and risk losing their sats. A creator might deliver subpar work and take the bounty. But every action is public, and every decision has consequences. Trust becomes the currency in this system, and the value of that trust is determined by the community.
BOOMSCROLL doesn’t do what most systems do—it doesn’t try to guarantee outcomes. Instead, it allows the social fabric to weave itself, through voluntary actions, public commitments, and the weight of reputation. And in a world where 21 sats carry more weight than 21 million likes, the value comes not from the system’s enforcement but from the integrity of those who participate.