Push Protocol Drops Wallet-to-wallet Video Chatting Feature

The protocol’s founders pitched the feature as a way to further enrich the Web3 ecosystem

article-image

Beauty Stock/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Decentralized communication network Push Protocol released a wallet-to-wallet video chatting feature on its Web3 messaging platform Thursday. 

Harsh Rajat, CEO and co-founder of the protocol, told Blockworks that adding video calling to Web3 products is similar to how groundbreaking video calling was for Web2.

“Video and audio calls are just a way to enhance the Web3 communication in a Web3 native way,” Rajat said. “It basically enables a communication rail for anything a Web3 developer wants to do.”

One way it enhances the Web3 experience is allowing celebrities or influencers to token-gate or NFT-gate exclusive video calls with their fans, Rajat said. The same thing could be done with live streams, which he suggested has implications for gaming. 

It also allows crypto-inclined individuals to not have to rely on platforms such as Gmail or Zoom, which aren’t peer-to-peer, to engage in transactions with one another. 

Push Protocol launched on the Ethereum network in January 2022 and later expanded to Polygon chain and the BNB chain. Push Chat launched in October 2022, enabling users to send messages between wallets.

The project began circulating its intention to add a video chatting feature to the service all the way back in its 2020 white paper. 

Loading Tweet..

Jake Udell, founder of Web3 platform Metalink, was generally skeptical of decentralized messaging protocols, mentioning that some of them “have been able to conceal the message but without concealing the sender’s address.”

Richa Joshi, co-founder of Push Protocol, told Blockworks that Push Chat’s messages are encrypted but the wallets are not.

“[You] can still tell if a wallet is communicating with another wallet but not the content. The way we do it is by double encryption which means [a] PGP key (like whatsapp) is generated for each user locally which is used to encrypt and decrypt the messages,” Joshi wrote in an email.

Still, Udell said he understands the utility behind video messaging being added to peer-to-peer networks.

“These types of innovations could unlock a tremendous amount of utility when it comes to sharing family photos, interacting in community chat channels and private messaging more generally,” Udell said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we are at the beginning phases of seeing something that is private and highly functional being built out at scale.”

Josh Siegel, chief product officer at Dfns, told Blockworks that encryption is essential for Web3 messaging apps; a “key feature” differentiating them from traditional messaging apps, he said.

Beyond encryption, Siegel threw out a whole suite of different use cases for wallet-to-wallet messaging, including allowing DAOs to more easily notify members about new proposals to vote on, and their outcomes.

“Think of it as a group chat with a bank account,” Siegel said. “Wallet-to-wallet messaging lets NFT buyers and sellers negotiate in the same place where they’re making their purchases. It lets dapps incorporate bot or live-chat customer service, which is hugely important for accessibility.”

Updated April 14, 2023 at 12:24 pm ET: Added comment from Richa Joshi, co-founder of Push Protocol.


Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.


Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from Blockworks Research’s Daily Debrief.


Can’t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible. Join us on Telegram and follow us on Google News.


Tags

upcoming event

MON - WED, MARCH 18 - 20, 2024

Digital Asset Summit (DAS) is returning March 2024. This year’s event will be held in our nation’s capital, where industry leaders, policymakers, and institutional experts will come together to discuss the latest developments and challenges in the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrency. […]

upcoming event

MON - WED, SEPT. 11 - 13, 2023

2022 was a meme.Skeptics danced, believers believed.Eventually, newcomers turned away, drained of liquidity and hope.Now, the tide is shifting and it’s time to rebuild. Permissionless II is the brainchild of Blockworks and Bankless. It’s not just a conference, but a call […]

recent research

The State of LSTFi

Research

There are five broad use cases for LSTs that are gaining traction alongside growth in demand: leverage farming, liquidity providing, LST baskets, stablecoin collateral, and interest rate derivatives.

/

article-image

Alexander Vinnik’s lawyers aim to swap his freedom for detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich

article-image

This latest update will introduce immutability to token metadata but ensure that its key characteristics are preserved, and it will also introduce network fees

article-image

In a blog post, partly directed at the forthcoming Eigenlayer protocol, the Ethereum co-founder cautions against overloading consensus

article-image

Hunting for victims in Ethereum’s public mempool, automated searchers prey on transactions as they are discovered in a practice called MEV

article-image

The crypto exchange that filed for bankruptcy last November would endure a long road to raise funds, clear debts and gain trust, law pros say

article-image

The broadcasters were discussing Hong Kong’s new regulations for virtual asset trading platforms set to go into effect June 1