Zug, Switzerland – Streamr, a decentralized network for real-time data, recently launched the beta version of thechat.app, a new decentralized and serverless group and private chat instant messaging application. It offers a unique Web3 communication architecture. Chat rooms are actually streams on the Streamr Network with each connected participant forming part of a peer-to-peer mesh network for messages to flow through, without a centralised instance in between. This is unlike other chat apps that rely on a central server.
Henri Pihkala, Streamr Co-Founder and CEO
“The Streamr Network offers an ideal opportunity to build decentralized communication and social media applications. For the Web3 community to migrate from using Web2 messaging platforms, they need a protocol that’s fast and serverless. We hope thechat.app provides a tangible inspiration for builders to explore the possibilities of truly permissionless real-time communications with Streamr.”
Chat rooms come in three types—public, private and token gated. Token gated rooms allow users to configure an access control policy to check users hold a chosen token, or a certain amount of tokens in their wallet, before granting them access. Private rooms restrict access to chosen users. Public rooms are viewable by anyone. Messages in all room types are secured by end to end encryption and allow users to communicate without any intermediaries. Over 6,000 registered beta testers are currently exploring these various types of chats.
The Beta version of thechat.app is built to work best as a desktop browser application with users connecting via their wallets, including MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, or WalletConnect. Creating rooms and invites are on-chain transactions, while messages in chats are cryptographically signed and delivered over the Streamr Network. To avoid a UX pain point of individually signing actions, “hot wallets” are generated and linked to the user’s main wallet with on-chain mapping between the hot wallet and the main wallet. This allows for automatic signing and provides a barrier against the main wallet being compromised.
Core features of thechat.app
- Decentralized and serverless group chat instant messaging
- Verifiable and tamper proof communication
- Delegated ‘hot wallet’ message signing
- ENS identities & avatars
- Offline key exchange via the Lit protocol
- ERC20 & NFT 721 token gated rooms (experimental feature)
- Stake gated chat rooms (experimental feature) Try app beta today!
About Streamr
Streamr is building the real-time data protocol of the decentralized web. This includes a scalable, low-latency and secure P2P Network for data delivery and exchange. As part of the vision, Streamr is working on a decentralized chat application, data marketplace, and other dApps. The project was started by real-time data veterans with backgrounds in algorithmic trading and finance markets. Streamr is being built by contributors from around the world and was crowdfunded via ICO with $30M in October 2017. To learn more, visit streamr.network.
Media contacts
Contact person: Mark Little, Chief Marketing Officer of Streamr
Email: media@streamr.network
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