There are some exciting ventures taking place in the world of cryptocurrency right now. We have seen a few different teams raise money to introduce Bitcoin to chat solutions such as Telegram. There is also the Kin ICO, which was quite successful in its own right. E-Chat aims to achieve similar success, although it will not be limited to support for just one cryptocurrency.
E-Chat Combines Decentralized Messaging With Cryptocurrencies
Whenever projects like this arise, the obvious question is often the most difficult to answer. Why in the world would anyone move away from existing messaging solutions just because it supports cryptocurrencies? The answer to this question is not straightforward, as it is very likely that E-Chat will only appeal to cryptocurrency users. It doesn’t necessarily benefit the rest of the world whatsoever, which will result in a lot of missed opportunities along the way.
That being said, one always has to keep an open mind whenever a new project comes around. Under the hood, there are a few reasons to get excited about E-Chat, assuming its developers can actually pull off the effort. First of all, the team aims to present a messaging solution which is completely decentralized. That’s an ambitious goal, albeit one that is certainly attainable given enough time. After all, most messaging solutions in use today are still pretty centralized, despite some companies’ choosing not to store chat logs.
To achieve their goal, the E-Chat team will use various technologies including a peer-to-peer communication protocol and blockchain technology. There is also mention of using IPFS in the future, although it remains to be seen how that will be pulled off exactly. Perhaps the biggest selling point of E-Chat is how its team plans to support multiple cryptocurrencies moving forward.
A lot of teams focus on supporting either Bitcoin or their own native cryptocurrency or token. In the case of E-Chat, the goal will be to support multiple major cryptocurrencies, although no specific details have been announced just yet. Its website references Bitcoin and Ethereum support, but it is possible other coins will be integrated as well. All supported currencies will be capable of being sent between platform users, but they will also be useful for contactless, NFC, and QR payments as well.
Additionally, E-Chat will have all the features one would expect from a regular messaging app. Text, voice, and video chat are all supported, as are private chats and channels. Everything will come with end-to-end-encryption, fingerprint input, and facial recognition tools. That is what the team claims to provide in the future, at least, and it remains to be seen how successful this venture will be when it actually launches. These ambitious goals may not be feasible in the long run.
While all these features are appealing, there is a lot of competition in the messaging sector right now, especially with the Kik team recently having completed their Kin ICO. Established platforms have a leg up over any new project trying to enter this space, for obvious reasons. More competition will eventually benefit users and consumers, though. Getting people to ditch existing apps in favor of new solutions will not be easy by any means, regardless of cryptocurrency support.
