The bitcoin blockchain would not work without PoW, but PoW would not work without the proper incentive structure. Satoshi Nakamoto needed a machine that would operate flawlessly as a central bank, with no authority, under conditions of the worst internal and external animosity imaginable. So, perhaps without realizing it, he emulated the conditions of a City State facing a barbarian horde.
The result was an unassailable digital castle, filled with digital gold. After 14 years Nostr is finally populating this Castle, and the great migration into digital anarchy has finally begun. Those in power have but two choices before them: Compete by offering the same freedoms, or, see their power wither away as people take their talents, their bright ideas and money, and move outside their reach.
This is the year. It's happening.