Discussion · BT Free Social

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

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

leberschnitzel

@leberschnitzel@existiert.ch · last month

@_elena I mean, I run a mastodon, I'd surely not forget to disclose that!

Elena Rossini ⁂

@_elena@mastodon.social · last month

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.

a screenshot showing Mike Masnick's post on Bluesky about the one year wait to disclose the 100 million dollar series B funding. He wrote: "Nope. Team was just crazy busy and overwhelmed and timing of announcement just kept slipping."

Bain Capital Crypto

Portfolio

TC Won't Give In To Lies

@TCatInReality@mastodon.social · last month

@_elena

It's a Jack Dorsey creation. I'll never trust him and therefore never will trust #Bluesky

Anthony Bosio

@abosio@fosstodon.org · last month

@_elena They had previously announced other crypto investment, so I would not think it was that aspect.

https://bsky.social/about/blog/10-24-2024-series-a

Bluesky

Bluesky Announces Series A to Grow Network of 13M+ Users - Bluesky

Bluesky now exceeds 13 million users, the AT Protocol developer ecosystem continues to grow, and we’ve shipped highly requested features like direct messages and video.

Nazo

@nazokiyoubinbou@urusai.social · last month

@_elena "Oops, we were just too busy. Tee hee!"

They had a freaking YEAR...

cognitively accessible math

@geonz@mathstodon.xyz · last month

@_elena The whole 'gosh golly' thing ...

ozoned

@ozoned · last month

@geonz@mathstodon.xyz @_elena@mastodon.social those silly businesses would forget about the law if they weren't reminded! It happens to us ALL!

Lee from Colorado

@colo_lee@mstdn.social · last month

@_elena Masnick has certainly revealed a previously hidden side of himself in all the BS BS ...

ozoned

@ozoned · last month

@colo_lee@mstdn.social @_elena@mastodon.social

I was at Red Hat when they were sold to IBM.

The CEO, Jim Whitehurst, that for some reason people saw as a god and didn't understand he didn't INVENT Linux or anything, was standing up there selling us the idea of the sale to IBM.

CEO's are only there to keep the business running. They're not there for the people, they're not there for the customers, they're there to make sure it just keeps humming along.

Even if they disagreed, they're not going to say it publicly. You know how much money that CEO job is making them? Say whatever, world be damned.

THIS is why they can't have this power.

They will ALWAYS convince themselves and anyone they can that this is BEST FOR ALL.

Caio C. G. Oliveira

@caiocgo@social.vivaldi.net · last month

@_elena well... This is really disappointing. I have never trusted BlueSky but I have trusted Mike Masnick. His response is really not convincing at all.

crazyeddie

@crazyeddie@mastodon.social · last month

@_elena He makes it sound like it's me trying to file my taxes on time or something. Anxiety disorder creating artificial roadblocks and "forgetting". I'm also the "CEO" of a software company but mine isn't going anywhere at all, like EVER.

I wonder if he's on SSI. I've been considering it...

And the whole team has it!!?? I'm sorry. That must be a real mess to manage. Does everyone panic at the same time or y'all take turns?

We take turns.

Mike Fraser

@mike@thecanadian.social · last month

@_elena I'm not going to mince words here, that's either total bullshit from Mike or incompetence from the team, or both. You've just received 100 mil in the bank and you can't get a staffer to spend an hour writing a press release. The real hold up was figuring out how they were going to explain it which they still haven't done.

Mastodon Migration

@mastodonmigration@mastodon.online · last month

@_elena

This is an absurd and transparent lie, that reflects very badly on Mike Masnick.

We are talking about a $100M investment, and he is asking people to believe they were just "too busy." Hogwash.

ozoned

@ozoned · last month

@mastodonmigration@mastodon.online @_elena@mastodon.social

And you know who can never be used to make that money back?

US!

We're FREE.

Folks like BSKY, idk why. But they'll either stay or they'll leave. If they leave, they're not going back to Twitter. If they stay, maybe they don't know or maybe they don't know how good we are. Or maybe they have something we need.

How can we turn this into a strength to HELP people move over?

Bonfire is AMAZING imo. It's not Mastodon. We have so many options, we just need to convince folks that this way is better and we can suit them however they need.

katzenberger

@katzenberger@tldr.nettime.org · last month

@_elena

Does not add up.

Did they secure a $100 million funding en passant, while being otherwise "crazy busy and overwhelmed" by their development work?

And if they were instead crazy busy and overwhelmed precisely because of trying to secure that funding, what kept them from taking the final step of a press release?

That's not even fishy.

Craig Michael Patrick

@craig_patrick@mastodon.social · last month

@_elena @Jerry Curious if there’s a plan to monetize #Bluesky you are aware of? Two points to accent your post:

- criticism on #Mastodon initially feels like smearing a rival platform first, investigative reporting second. (Feel free to push back on that, it’s just the vibe I get when I read these articles)

- bureaucracy is an issue with brand communication. This MAY be what Bluesky is encountering because the United States needs to have a serious conversation about the illusion of brand

Jerry on Mastodon

@Jerry@hear-me.social · last month

@craig_patrick @_elena
They aren't forthcoming about financing. So, as would be expected, they are not forthcoming about their monetization plans. These are 2 bad signs.

Then add in the gaslighting about why major funding went unmentioned by both Bluesky and the VCs: "Everyone at Bluesky is just so gosh dang busy nobody had time to mention it." This is the gaslighting we see daily in the news. "I'll give you an obvious, nonsensical excuse, but still expect you to believe it because you all are gullible and emotion-driven."

Amoshias

@Amoshias@esq.social · last month

@_elena oh, Mike. oh, oh, oh, Mike.

I like the guy and appreciate what he does but just...

this isn't a thing.

does he think all the other companies are just sitting around eating bonbons, and this one specific company is busy?

Aubrey De Los Destinos

@AubreyDeLosDestinos@101010.pl · last month

@_elena @benroyce Mike was a surprise with his siding with Bluesky.

samiamsam

@samiamsam@mastodon.social · last month

@_elena

sure that amount of VC cash slipped their minds

sure

Jan Wildeboer 😷:krulorange:

@jwildeboer@social.wildeboer.net · last month

@_elena Maybe the deal is in cryptocurrency, not actual dollars?

Ted Mielczarek

@tedmielczarek@mastodon.social · last month

@_elena all the startups I've worked for have blasted out press releases the moment their funding rounds closed. Part of being a startup means constantly vying for attention. This explanation does not hold up.

Anthony

@abucci@buc.ci · last month

@tedmielczarek@mastodon.social @_elena@mastodon.social I have had the same experience. I co-founded a startup in 2016 that managed to secure a funding round, and the VCs themselves were giddy about announcing it as widely as possible. I've consulted for startups both before and after that, and as far as I'm aware every one of them that secured funding rapidly announced it. This explanation from Bluesky does not pass a basic smell test.

william.maggos

@wjmaggos@liberal.city · last month

@tedmielczarek @_elena

Is there any requirement to make it public within 1 year? otherwise I wonder why they're announcing it at all.

Mr.Mark "The Sharpie King"

@markmetz@sfba.social · last month

@_elena
Thanks for highlighting this.
Bsky smells of narrative capture to me, much like Substack, (who are now teaming up with prediction markets)

ikuturso

@ikuturso@mastodon.social · last month

@_elena it's insane to think people would believe this "explanation"...

707Kat

@707Kat@mastodon.art · last month

@_elena And this is how I find out that he's on their board. 😅

Even if Bsky themselves and some of their staff actions didn't raise alarms from the get go for me. The fact that they are located in the US under current administration and the lack of autonomy does.

I'm happy I finally took the plunge and made them my back up social media and Mastodon my primary. I like some of the utility over there, but it's already doing the spiral I watched Twitter doing before leaving there.

Michael Santaly

@wonkothesane@mstdn.social · last month

@_elena Yea. I’m hopefully that projects like Blacksky can completely break free of Bluesky, but being ignorant of how the tech works I worry there’s some kind of rug pull to come

WTL

@WTL@mastodon.social · last month

@_elena Very sketchy behaviour, for certain.

mat :mastodon:

@mat@zelk.space · last month

@_elena are you aware that any record is public on atproto and checkable on pds.ls? there's nothing new .....