Elena Rossini ⁂2d ago

Can you imagine Mastodon raising 100 MILLION dollars from a crypto VC fund and failing to disclose it... for a full year? No I can't either.

And from their actual press release: "The Atmosphere currently contains about 20 billion public records—the posts, likes, comments and other interactions that bring the ecosystem to life. It's an astonishing collection of what open social infrastructure makes possible."

https://bsky.social/about/blog/03-19-2026-series-b

How I read it: data harvesting at its finest 💁‍♀️

#Bluesky

Bluesky's 2025 $100M Series B Lays Foundation for Open Social Web - Bluesky

In April 2025, Bluesky raised $100 million in Series B funding led by Bain Capital Crypto. Since our Series A, we've grown from 13 million to over 43 million global users.

Bluesky
Show threadElena Rossini ⁂2d ago

Mike Masnick, who sits on the board of #Bluesky, claims the team was too busy to announce the series B funding (see screenshot).

But something is fishy.

Even the VC firm - Bain Capital Crypto - isn't listing Bluesky anywhere on their website: https://baincapitalcrypto.com/portfolio/

Why the mystery? Was Bluesky afraid of a public backlash & asked to keep the information under wraps?

Sorry if I keep repeating myself but I will forever be skeptical of Bluesky and think of the tale of the scorpion and the frog.

Show threadMr.Mark "The Sharpie King"2d ago
@_elena
Thanks for highlighting this.
Bsky smells of narrative capture to me, much like Substack, (who are now teaming up with prediction markets)
Show threadElena Rossini ⁂2d ago
@markmetz 🎯 you nailed it (at least, that's my interpretation, too)
Show threadMr.Mark "The Sharpie King"
@_elena
I’m glad to see the work you’re doing, your article was excellent. I shared it far and wide. Verification is another huge issue that Mastodon solves. I also did an interview with some grad students from Denmark, who are working on the Fediverse, and I sent them your article too.
Mar 20 at 9:18pmWeb
Show threadElena Rossini ⁂4h ago
@markmetz thank you so much for the kind words... and for that article by Dave Troy (absolutely illuminating)
Show threadMr.Mark "The Sharpie King"1h ago
@_elena
You’re welcome! And yes, Dave’s work is essential.