Jack Dorsey's Decentralization Journey: From Bitcoin Lightning Network to Bitchat

As a staunch advocate of the cypherpunk movement, Jack Dorsey's involvement with Bitcoin has lasted for over a decade, persisting even when his investments outweigh his profits. He has not only launched the LDK development kit to support the Bitcoin Lighting Network but also plans to support the Nostr network functionality in the future, providing physical support for freedom of speech.

Three Rebirths, Rethinking Bitcoin

As one of the co-founders of a well-known social platform, Dorsey has achieved greater success in financial products in subsequent ventures, but he has never forgotten to explore more free social and decentralized networking methods. Although the decentralized social platform he participated in developing did not gain significant attention, it is clearly a deep exploration of the next generation of social product forms for humanity.

The birth of Bitchat marks Dorsey's another attempt in this field. Interestingly, the name Bitchat had been used by two on-chain social products before:

1. In 2019, a free on-chain social tool developed based on the Bitcoin OP_RETURN opcode.
2. In 2022, a paid on-chain social product was launched based on a public chain with low transaction fees.
3. In 2025, Dorsey will draw on the ideas of the previous two and launch Bitchat based on a local Bluetooth Mesh network, achieving complete offline operation and total Decentralization.

The new version of Bitchat draws on the ideas of Bitcoin but breaks away from the constraints of having to operate on-chain, shifting towards scenarios that are more suitable for ordinary users. This is in line with Satoshi Nakamoto's original intention when creating Bitcoin, which is that with technological advancements, everyone can participate in the operation of the network.

Offline Group Chat and Future Online Possibilities

Bitchat is an offline, anonymous, free IRC-like social tool. It is completely based on local Bluetooth Mesh networks to store and propagate messages, and can operate in environments without network signals. Due to the lack of a permanent account system and data persistence, Bitchat is mainly used as a chat room and currently does not support emojis or audio-video functions.

In terms of architecture, Bitchat is divided into three main parts: information transmission, privacy protection, and networking functions. Information transmission mainly supports peer-to-peer and group modes, privacy protection uses cryptography to ensure security, and networking functions leave room for future expansion.

Although Bitchat is still in the experimental stage, its retro style may not align with contemporary user habits, but it is full of creativity. Dorsey believes that in extreme scenarios in the future, such as during disaster relief, relying on ultrasound, LoRa, or even WIFI networking, Bitchat could become an effective backup communication tool.

Conclusion

For cryptocurrency enthusiasts, the most anticipated aspect of Bitchat may be its potential integration with Nostr. In Dorsey's vision, combining Mesh local networking with Nostr's global connectivity is expected to create a truly hardware-based social tool capable of resisting censorship.

Although this vision may seem incredible, someone always needs to try and explore. Dorsey's effort undoubtedly provides a new possibility for the future of Decentralization communication.