I think the hex code thing is because of the bridge that one of the gleasons developed. I'm tempted to mute it already tbh.

I'm still not sure what the point to it is really, it's filled with crypto fanatics apparently and that's how they intend to fund the nodes. They still have jannies and moderation, just less humanized and community focused. They still have instances, they're just more often closed off from others. It does apparently costs less money to run a node than an instance. But if/when you're banned from the major nodes, you are pretty much fucked from using the site. Seems like a dumb fad to me, fixes none of the problems with the fediverse and just adds to them.