Paul Keating joins me to discuss Nostr, a decentralized open protocol for social media and other forms of online communication, the power of owning your online identity using key pairs, how zaps are revolutionizing creator monetization, what life is like at the Bitcoin Jungle in Costa Rica, home births, and parenting as a digital nomad. Paul Keating is the head of growth at Primal and is living in the Bitcoin Jungle of Costa Rica.
Nostr: https://primal.net/paul
Instagram: @paulinthejungle
Tiktok: @paulinthejungle
Check out his Film: https://primal.net/hummingbird
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 – What is Paul Keating Working on Today?
1:49 – Problems with Social Media
3:38 – Working for Paul Saladino
7:12 – A Nostr Standard
13:14 – Becoming a Nostr-First Podcast
17:11 – Decentralized vs Centralized Social Media: Identity at the Protocol Layer
20:31 – Nostr’s Organic Adoption Via Government Overreach
26:35 – Primal Studio and Nostr.build
33:29 – The Nostr Protocol: Key Pairs
35:15 – Zaps on Nostr
38:42 – Life at Bitcoin Jungle in Costa Rica
42:55 – Home Births and Becoming a Parent
46:26 – Traveling as Young Parents
51:16 – Balancing Parenting and Work
58:09 – How to Connect with Paul
Primal, Nostr, and Building Decentralized Social Media Infrastructure:
Paul Keating, co-founder of Primal and a leading voice in the Nostr ecosystem, shares his vision for reshaping digital communication and content creation through censorship-resistant, user-owned platforms. Currently working full-time on Primal, Keating emphasizes its role as a “grass-fed social media” alternative to legacy dopamine-addicted platforms like Instagram and TikTok. He outlines Primal Studio’s tools for content scheduling, key management, Substack/Ghost/Medium import, and onboarding businesses and creators to the Nostr protocol—a decentralized identity layer akin to Bitcoin’s role in value transfer.
Drawing from his experience managing content for Paul Saladino during the COVID censorship wave, Keating explores the pitfalls of algorithmic social media: attention farming, platform risk, identity fragmentation, and digital landlessness. He advocates for a Nostr-first publishing model and highlights his own strategy of leading with native zaps, identity persistence, and metadata-rich content.
Living in Bitcoin Jungle, Costa Rica, Keating speaks on Bitcoin circular economies, sovereignty in parenting, and the trade-offs of nomadic family life. With a baby due soon, he reflects on autonomy, intentional living, and building local citadels. The conversation interweaves digital strategy, Bitcoin-native tools, algorithmic burnout, and the urgent need for decentralized communication infrastructure.
