Bluesky

Jack Dorsey, then CEO of Twitter, tweeted that Twitter intended to fund the development of an open protocol for decentralized social media, the plan that marked the beginning of the Bluesky project.⁠[1]

In mid-2020 Jay Graber proposed writing an “ecosystem overview” of existing decentralized social networks, a document that became a shared knowledge base for the project’s community.⁠[1]

In 2021, after interviewing candidates, Twitter nominated Jay Graber as the Bluesky lead. She then set up an independent organization to receive funding for the project, and Bluesky PBLLC was formed at the end of 2021.⁠[1][2]

Jay Graber publicly announced the formation of Bluesky PBLLC, with herself as chief executive. The company operates as an independent organization, received its initial funding from Twitter, and is set up as a public benefit corporation.⁠[2]

Bluesky released the AT Protocol, a federated social protocol in which servers communicate with each other much like email, users can move their accounts between providers while keeping their data and connections, and users can choose feed algorithms. The companion Bluesky app was then in private beta with a waitlist.⁠[3]

The Bluesky app beta was released in January 2023, after which the team began inviting people from the waitlist to test it, keeping the app invite-only until critical pieces were finished.⁠[4][5]

Bluesky announced an $8 million seed round led by Neo, with participation from Automattic, Protocol Labs and others, and said it would pursue a services-led business model, with custom domains offered through a partnership with NamecheapNamecheapNamecheap is a US domain registrar and web services company founded by Richard Kirkendall in 2000. Its products include domains, hosting, email, and security services.Open the full entry as its first paid service.⁠[6]

Bluesky passed one million users, and the team said it was preparing for a wider public launch.⁠[4]

Bluesky removed the invite-code requirement so that anyone could sign up, at a time when the network had more than three million users.⁠[7]

The Bluesky network began federating, allowing people to host their own data and connect to the main network.⁠[8]

Bluesky launched direct messages in May 2024, introduced “starter packs” to help communities onboard new users in June, and added video in September.⁠[9]

Bluesky said it had gained more than 2.6 million users in a few days, over 85% of them from Brazil.⁠[10]

Bluesky announced a $15 million Series A led by Blockchain Capital, with more than 13 million users; the company said it would develop a subscription model with perks such as higher-quality video uploads and profile customization, while the service remains free to use.⁠[11]

In its year-end review, Bluesky said users grew during 2024 from about three million to more than 25.9 million, including more than 13 million added in the previous month and a half.⁠[9]

In April 2025 Bluesky raised a $100 million Series B led by Bain Capital Crypto, with participation from Alumni Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, the Knight Foundation, True Ventures and others; the round was publicly disclosed in March 2026.⁠[12]

Bluesky added a blue verification badge that it proactively grants to accounts it considers authentic and notable; selected independent organizations can act as “trusted verifiers” and verify accounts directly, with their own accounts showing a scalloped badge.⁠[13]

Bluesky’s 2025 transparency report said users grew from 25 million to 41 million during 2025, with about 1.41 billion posts created during the year.⁠[14]

Jay Graber announced she was stepping back as CEO to become chief innovation officer, focusing on new products and the protocol’s long-term architecture. Toni Schneider, former CEO of Automattic and a partner at True Ventures, became interim CEO. The company said its app had more than 40 million users.⁠[15][16]

In the post disclosing its Series B, Bluesky said it had more than 43 million users worldwide, that over 1,000 apps built on the AT Protocol were used weekly, and that its SDK downloads exceeded 400,000 per month.⁠[12]

From the night of April 15, Bluesky was hit by a distributed denial-of-service attack that caused intermittent outages of feeds, notifications, search and other functions; the company said service had been mostly stable since the evening of April 16 and that it had seen no evidence of unauthorized access to private user data.⁠[17][18]

Bluesky announced that Toni Schneider’s interim role as CEO had been made permanent, with Jay Graber serving as chief innovation officer and board chair. The company said more than two million people had joined over the previous four months.⁠[19]

Daring FireballDaring FireballDaring Fireball is a technology blog founded in 2002 and written independently by John Gruber, known for commentary on Apple and related technology topics; it is funded by weekly exclusive sponsorships and produces the podcast The Talk Show.Open the full entry author John GruberJohn GruberJohn Gruber is an American writer, the founder and author of the technology blog Daring Fireball, the creator of the lightweight markup language Markdown, and the host of the podcast The Talk Show.Open the full entry wrote that on X one can discuss new AI tools and use cases, whereas on Bluesky and Mastodon such discussions are difficult because some users believe all use of AI is unethical and push that view in replies. This is his personal opinion.⁠[20]

Bluesky introduced profile links, which let users highlight links such as a personal site, newsletter or other social accounts at the top of their profile, with links to payment platforms such as Patreon and Ko-fi shown as colored buttons.⁠[21]

Bluesky: Official website: https://bsky.app/ (opens in a new window)⁠[22]

Bluesky Social, PBC: Official website: https://bsky.social/ (opens in a new window)⁠[23]

Bluesky: Official account: https://bsky.app/profile/bsky.app (opens in a new window)⁠[24]

X: Official account: https://x.com/bluesky (opens in a new window)⁠[24]

GitHub: Official account: https://github.com/bluesky-social (opens in a new window)⁠[24]