Seems like it’s for velocity and monetization. ActivityPub is already a published standard) and going to be more resistant to features that involve monetization given its origins. BlueSky could just start from scratch with AT and build what they in wanted and could iterate through updates without as much or any debate. That’s just my impression though, I’m not an expert into the state of either proto.

I agree that the bridge has too much friction to truly reach mass adoption. I’d be really happy if the two protocols could just interoperate transparently.