Bluesky - Decentralized Social Network

Decentralized Social Network B Applications & Practices

Basic Information

  • Name: Bluesky / Bluesky Social
  • Founder: Jay Graber (Current Chief Innovation Officer)
  • Country/Region: USA
  • Official Website: https://bsky.social/
  • GitHub: https://github.com/bluesky-social
  • Type: Decentralized Social Network
  • Protocol: AT Protocol (Authenticated Transfer Protocol)
  • User Count: 43M+ (as of March 2026)
  • Funding: $100M Series B (April 2025)

Product Description

Bluesky is a decentralized social network based on the AT Protocol, initially launched by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. It offers a microblogging experience similar to Twitter but is built on an open protocol, allowing users to choose different servers, algorithms, and clients. The AT Protocol is undergoing IETF standardization, aiming to become internet infrastructure like HTTP.

Core Features/Highlights

  • Custom Feed Algorithms: Users can choose different recommendation algorithms
  • Decentralized Identity: Uses domain names as identifiers (e.g., @alice.example.com)
  • Composable Moderation: Layered content moderation system
  • AT Protocol Open Ecosystem: Over 1,000 apps built on atproto weekly
  • Open Data: Approximately 20 billion public records on the network
  • Wide SDK Adoption: 400,000+ SDK downloads monthly
  • IETF Standardization: AT Protocol is undergoing internet standardization

Technical Architecture

  • Protocol: AT Protocol (Decentralized Social Protocol)
  • Data Model: User data stored in Personal Data Servers (PDS)
  • Identity: DID (Decentralized Identifier) + Domain Handle
  • Indexing: Relay nodes crawl and index network-wide data
  • App View: Application layer that aggregates and displays data

Business Model

  • Currently supported by venture capital
  • Series A + Series B funding totaling approximately $136M
  • Investors include Bain Capital Crypto, Bloomberg Beta, Knight Foundation, etc.
  • Business model under exploration (non-ad-driven)

Target Users

  • Users migrating from X/Twitter
  • Tech enthusiasts and developers
  • Creators and content producers
  • News media and journalists
  • Web3 users interested in decentralized social networks

Competitive Advantages

  • Fastest-growing decentralized social platform (13M→43M in months)
  • AT Protocol's IETF standardization process is a major differentiator
  • User experience closest to traditional social media
  • Strong financial backing ($136M funding)
  • Open ecosystem—1,000+ third-party apps

Market Performance

  • Grew from 13M users in October 2024 to 43M users
  • Completed $100M Series B funding in April 2025
  • Rapidly growing developer ecosystem
  • Jay Graber transitioned to Chief Innovation Officer, new leadership driving commercialization

Competitive Landscape

  • X/Twitter: Biggest competitor
  • Mastodon: Decentralized platform in the ActivityPub ecosystem
  • Threads: Meta's competing product
  • Nostr: More decentralized protocol
  • Farcaster: Web3-native social network

Relationship with OpenClaw

OpenClaw can integrate with Bluesky via the AT Protocol API, helping users automatically manage decentralized social accounts. Bluesky's open protocol design aligns closely with OpenClaw's open-source philosophy.

Sources