Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has revealed a donation of around $760,000 in ether to two cryptocurrency messaging apps that he sees as pushing the boundaries of digital privacy.
Encrypted messaging apps, like Signal, are “important for maintaining our digital privacy,” Buterin says He said In X’s post on Wednesday, adding the next steps for the space should be creating an account without permission and metadata privacy.
Decentralized messaging apps Session and SimpleX Chat are “pushing these trends forward,” Buterin said, adding that he “donated 128 ETH each” and encouraged users to try them out.
Session is designed to remove the usual identifiers and metadata that traditional messaging programs rely on, such as phone numbers, and has no central servers.
SimpleX Chat also does not rely on the use of a phone number and does not assign an identifying ID to users, among other features.
His net worth is expected to be at least $737 million Based on Regarding his cryptocurrency holdings, Buterin has often made donations to projects In line with Ethereum values He also donated to many charities.
The cryptocurrency community needs unity to preserve digital privacy
Privacy in messaging apps has been a hot topic of discussion amid measures like those previously proposed by the European Union Chat controlwhich would have forced platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp, and Signal to allow authorities to scan messages before they are encrypted and sent.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, Alexander Linton, president of the Session Technology Foundation, said the offer of support is appreciated as there are many ongoing challenges to protecting digital privacy.
“Unfortunately, regulatory and technical developments currently threaten the future of private messaging,” he said. “However, the challenges faced by private messaging are solvable, and I believe Vitalik clearly understands the importance of decentralization in this fight.”
“Everyone in the private messaging space is currently living under some threat at the moment, due to regulation like chat control, but this kind of support helps us stay focused on the mission.”
Perfect user experience and security need more attention
Buterin also said that both apps need to keep pushing for truly optimal user experience and security, because strong metadata privacy requires decentralization, and “decentralization is hard, and users expect multi-device support that makes everything more difficult.”
“Sybil/DoS resistance, both in the message routing network and on the user side, without enforcing phone number dependence, adds further difficulty. These issues need more attention. I wish good luck to all teams working on these important issues.”
Related to: Buterin says AI-run cryptocurrency management is a “bad idea” due to jailbreaks
Sybil attacks It is happening When an actor is bad Create multiple identities with aliases Or contract to gain control or undue advantage within a peer-to-peer network.
The global awareness needed for decentralized encrypted messaging
Chris McCabe, co-founder of Session, told Cointelegraph that it’s “amazing to know, clear as day, that Vitalik and so many people around the world understand what true privacy is, and what people need to live freely.”
However, he also said that spreading global awareness should be an important next step for decentralized and encrypted messaging.
“People are unaware of what’s going on with their data behind the scenes, and Session is a shining light to be like HEY! — you can actually have privacy you can’t trust, and it’s here now,” McCabe said.
“If there’s one message we can let the world know, it’s that you don’t need to be productive; you can be whoever you want to be and speak freely. Privacy is a right, all you have to do is know it.”
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