Bluesky, the decentralized social platform, has gained significant attention this year for its vibrant community and user-customized experience.

However, the question of how it will eventually generate revenue remains unanswered, especially as it steers clear of the common advertising model.

CEO Jay Graber revealed to TechCrunch that Bluesky has raised $15 million and is exploring several potential revenue streams.

While Graber has committed to avoiding traditional ads, she’s not ruling out future advertising altogether.

Bluesky may experiment with user-intent-driven ads that align with the platform’s core values of user control, unlike other platforms that rely heavily on algorithmic feeds.

One potential method is running ads in search results, a less intrusive model that could maintain the user experience. Graber emphasized that Bluesky’s open protocol, which allows users to create ad-free feeds, prevents a business model based entirely on ads.

Graber, a digital rights advocate, also dismissed AI licensing deals as a revenue stream. Bluesky will not profit from AI companies scraping its posts, and Graber hopes to implement a “robots.txt” protocol to prevent such practices.

Despite these challenges, Bluesky’s rapid growth from 3 million to 24 million users demonstrates its potential.

While monetization remains a distant goal, the company is focused on expanding its ecosystem, which could eventually support revenue generation through services related to its open protocol.