Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat wants your neighborhood to run on Bitcoin

Is Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat actually a chat app, or an experiment in how digital society may look with out central authorities in any respect?

Bitchat strikes from offline mesh to city-scale messaging

On Aug. 21, Jack Dorsey introduced that Bitchat, his experimental messenger, will add “location chat,” a characteristic that locations individuals into native chat rooms primarily based on their area.

The system makes use of geohashes, a method of turning GPS coordinates into grid squares that signify neighborhoods, cities, or bigger areas. Every grid provides customers a short lived pseudonym, so identification just isn’t tied to telephone numbers or accounts.

Messages are handed by means of Nostr relays, a decentralized protocol that Dorsey has supported for a number of years and that already permits Bitcoin funds. The replace is at present beneath App Retailer evaluate.

Bitchat itself had solely been launched a number of weeks earlier. On Jul. 6, Dorsey launched the app in beta by means of Apple’s TestFlight program together with an in depth white paper.

The primary model allowed messages to be handed over Bluetooth inside a variety of about 300 meters, creating mesh networks that labored even with out web or mobile protection.

The technical design included Curve25519 for key trade, AES-GCM for encryption, and options similar to file fragmentation, duplicate suppression, and a “panic mode” that deletes all information immediately.

On Jul. 9, Dorsey acknowledged that the code had not but undergone an impartial safety audit, making clear that the venture was nonetheless in an early stage.

With the brand new characteristic, Bitchat is shifting from short-range offline messaging to broader, location-based communication, reflecting the identical ideas that form Bitcoin (BTC), together with open participation, privateness as a baseline, and no dependence on a single firm to maintain the system working.

A system held collectively by three impartial layers

To know how Bitchat works, it helps to have a look at the three items that maintain it collectively, together with geohashes, Nostr relays, and Bitcoin fee rails. Each does a unique job, holding the system collectively.

A geohash is a straightforward thought. It takes your latitude and longitude and turns them into a brief code manufactured from numbers and letters.

As a substitute of pinpointing your precise GPS location, it locations you inside a grid. The size of the code decides how large that grid is.

A six-character geohash, for instance, covers roughly one sq. kilometer, sufficient to group individuals in the identical neighborhood whereas protecting their precise positions non-public.

In Bitchat, that grid seems to turn out to be a chat room, and everybody in it might get a brand new pseudonym that resets after they transfer some other place. As soon as customers are inside a room, their messages are carried over Nostr, an open protocol for decentralized communication.

In contrast to WhatsApp or Telegram, which rely upon firm servers, Nostr depends on impartial relays. Anybody can run one, and customers are free to decide on which relays to hook up with.

If a relay goes down, the community retains working as a result of there isn’t any central server to tug the plug. It’s a mannequin designed for resilience and open entry.

Funds are already baked into this technique. Nostr has outlined requirements referred to as NIPs, and two of them matter most right here. NIP-57 describes “zaps,” that are Lightning suggestions recorded as occasions on Nostr. NIP-47 covers “Nostr Pockets Join,” which lets apps discuss securely to a consumer’s Lightning pockets.

Which means that if Bitchat permits funds, individuals might tip, pay small charges to put up, or settle micro-transactions in actual time utilizing Bitcoin’s Lightning Community.

These layers, geohashes for location, Nostr relays for transport, and Lightning for funds, clarify the muse of Bitchat.

None of them is an untested thought. Geohashes are extensively utilized in mapping. Nostr has been stay since 2020, and Lightning processes tens of millions of small funds each month. What Bitchat is making an attempt to do appears to be combining them right into a single, on a regular basis device.

What crypto provides that plain chat can’t

Bitchat might operate as a traditional messenger, however the purpose it issues to the crypto world is that funds are already a part of its underlying protocol.

Nostr, which Bitchat is reported to make use of to relay messages, helps Bitcoin’s Lightning Community natively, opening up use instances that bizarre chat apps can not provide with out bolting on exterior providers.

One clear instance is spam management. Most messaging platforms combat spam with telephone quantity verification, identification checks, or moderation groups.

On Nostr, customers usually depend on “zaps”, Lightning suggestions as small as a single satoshi. Some communities already require a tiny fee to put up, which prices nearly nothing for real customers however discourages bots and mass spam.

In Bitchat, this might probably work on the stage of native rooms, the place a refundable micro-fee is sufficient to preserve conversations clear while not having central moderators.

One other space is native commerce. In 2024, Nostr purchasers like Damus processed tens of millions of Lightning zaps, displaying that individuals are snug sending small funds inside apps.

Utilized to location chat, that conduct might translate into tipping a avenue performer, paying a neighbor for a service, or posting a small bounty for fast assist.

Since Lightning funds settle immediately and could be as small as a fraction of a cent, they’re well-suited to informal exchanges which might be too small for conventional banking programs.

The identical mannequin additionally may prolong to resilience throughout outages. In locations the place web entry is restricted or unreliable, Bluetooth mesh might nonetheless carry messages quick distances, whereas Lightning permits customers to trade worth with out ready for banks to recuperate.

Previous crises have proven the demand for this type of device. In the course of the 2019 protests in Hong Kong, downloads of mesh apps like Bridgefy surged as a result of they labored with out cell service. A system like Bitchat might, in idea, provide the identical profit, however with cash inbuilt.

Funds on Nostr have additionally been getting extra non-public. Some wallets now use Cashu, which creates nameless Bitcoin-backed tokens. This might permit Bitchat customers to pay one another inside location rooms in a method that’s as untraceable as handing over bodily money.

The sensible exams that may determine Bitchat’s future

For Bitchat to maneuver from experiment to on a regular basis device, it might want to steer by means of a number of real-world challenges.

The primary is the platform coverage. In 2023, Apple required the Damus shopper, one other Nostr-based app, to take away Lightning “zaps” from particular person posts on iOS.

Apple solely allowed tricks to be despatched on the profile stage, arguing that funds linked on to content material might bypass its in-app buy guidelines.

If Bitchat permits pay-to-post or tipping inside location rooms, it might run into the identical restrictions. Until there’s a workaround, Apple’s coverage might stop the app from providing the very options that make it completely different.

The second subject is privateness and security round location. Geohashes are designed to cover precise GPS factors by grouping customers into broader areas. However researchers have proven that repeated exercise inside the similar grid can nonetheless reveal patterns over time.

Even when exact coordinates are hidden, constant participation might expose the place somebody lives or works. Bitchat tries to deal with this by giving customers a brand new pseudonym in every geohash, however at scale, defending anonymity will likely be tougher than it appears to be like on paper.

There may be additionally the query of Lightning’s present optics. Public channel capability has dropped from round 5,400 BTC in 2023 to about 3,800 BTC as of August 2025.

Critics argue that this alerts weakening utilization. Builders counter that capability just isn’t the very best measure, since fashionable wallets route funds extra effectively, and success charges stay above 98%.

Each realities matter. The community is working in follow, however headlines about shrinking capability might affect how outsiders understand the soundness of funds on Bitchat.

An extra problem lies in relay economics. Nostr is determined by impartial servers, or relays, to hold messages. Ephemeral occasions, like these used for geohash chat, scale back storage wants however nonetheless require bandwidth and uptime.

If solely a handful of well-funded relays find yourself dominating city-level site visitors, the system might drift again towards centralization. How these relays maintain themselves, whether or not by means of charges, donations, or integration with Lightning funds, stays unresolved.

Therefore, the app might want to discover methods to adjust to platform guidelines, shield consumer privateness, keep confidence in funds, and be certain that relay operators have incentives to maintain the system working.

Put collectively, these exams outline the experiment in clear phrases. Bitchat will present whether or not it’s attainable to merge native dialog with Bitcoin funds in a method that’s non-public, resilient, and sensible.

If utilization grows, funds work reliably, and platform hurdles are managed, the app might stand as step one towards a social layer constructed on the identical foundations as Bitcoin.

If not, it’ll stay a proof of idea, priceless for what it teaches, however not but prepared for mainstream adoption.