Jack Dorsey is getting back to his cypherpunk roots. The X founder and Block CEO released a test version of a decentralized messaging app called Bitchat on Sunday, designed to facilitate private conversations using end-to-end encryption. Bitchat “provides ephemeral, encrypted communication without relying on internet infrastructure, making it resilient to network outages and censorship,” Dorsey said in the Bitchat whitepaper, a technical document explaining how the app works.
Despite its similar name, Bitchat has no direct connection to Bitcoin. But the name is likely meant as a nod to the top cryptocy, as both technologies are decentralized and peer-to-peer, aiming to remove unnecessary middlemen and return power back to users. Dorsey is a well-known cypherpunk, a loose group that advocates for the use of cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies to bring about social and political change, often with a focus on resisting surveillance and promoting individual freedom.
Many self-proclaimed cypherpunks helped develop Bitcoin during its early years, and still do to this day. While Dorsey wasn’t involved in Bitcoin’s early development — at least not publicly — he has been a vocal advocate for Bitcoin, and has taken steps to promote its adoption and development through Block, his payments firm. Dorsey’s ongoing support for Bitcoin, coupled with a raft of circumstantial evidence, has led some to theorise he could be the cryptocy’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto. He has denied being Satoshi.
Messaging services with end-to-end encryption have become a controversial topic in recent years. They keep messages verifiably private, providing a lifeline to whistleblowers or those persecuted by authoritarian governments. But at the same time, encrypted messaging hinders law enforcement agencies from preventing and detecting criminal activities, such as terrorism, cybercrime and child exploitation. Contrary to most messaging apps, Bitchat won’t use internet access to facilitate communication, but will instead utilise radio airwaves, specifically Bluetooth.
This means that users can only initially communicate via Bitchat within Bluetooth’s range of about 300 metres, limiting its uses compared to internet-based messaging.However, because it operates through a decentralized network made up of users’ phones, it can facilitate communication even when the internet is down, making it resilient to censorship and internet outages, according to Dorsey.
The app doesn’t rely on users’ phone numbers, emails, or any other permanent identifiers. Users instead identify themselves through handles which they set themselves. Users automatically see other people in their area using the app, and can connect with them through chatrooms. Those experimenting with the app have compared it to citizens band radio but with privacy features. Others have suggested the app could find use in areas without internet access such as at concerts, or on airplanes, or to facilitate communication during disaster responses when internet infrastructure isn’t working.
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