About us
We develop Nostr standards and infrastructure products, and offer custom Nostr integration services, for social tech companies to leverage non-custody as a business model.
Nostr is the social layer for independent apps. The protocol is young and the network is small. Even so, it is the ideal place for a tech company to profit without holding custody of user accounts and data. What it still lacks is the technology that removes friction and drives adoption. Nostr4 builds that technology as new standards and infrastructure, aimed squarely at the growth of non-custodial apps. Every app that integrates with Nostr adds value for all the others. Our growth is tied to the network’s — by design.
Work toward Nostr4 began in December 2023 with an app for inviting friends in person to Nostr. Building it showed that discovery depends on the inviter’s trusted network. Nostr didn’t have a Web-of-Trust library, so Manuel developed GrapeRank with David Strayhorn. That library now runs inside TrustR. Through 2025, Mani’s work uncovered a larger fact: non-custody is real a value-add the Nostr can provide for social tech companies but the protocol and the netowrk are not quite ready for business. This became the thesis for a presentation series “Nostr for Social Apps”. Mani then joined a Web-of-Trust hackathon to jump-start a team around TrustR, and to pitch investors. In February 2026 BlockHenge agreed to back the work, and Nostr4 was born. This seed round is focused proving our non-custody thesis, with interoperable discovery and recommendation that apps actually benefit from.
