Worldwide instability drives surge in decentralized messaging and social platforms
Increasing global instability combined with heightened privacy concerns are driving users toward decentralized messaging platforms, as individuals seek methods to maintain communication while excluding Big Tech from their personal conversations.
Blockchain-powered messaging and social media applications built on decentralized architecture experienced increased adoption throughout the past year as civil unrest and communication shutdowns swept across regions in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Data from Exploding Topics reveals that search interest in decentralized social media platforms has increased by 145% throughout the past five years, while Bitchat, a peer-to-peer decentralized messaging platform, registered significant download spikes during recent protest movements in Iran, Indonesia, Nepal, Uganda and Madagascar.
"I think people are starting to trust open protocols more than they trust closed companies," Shane Mac, the CEO of XMTP Labs, told Cointelegraph in a recent interview.
As a startup dedicated to developing decentralized communication technology, XMTP Labs is led by Mac, who noted that worldwide unrest is driving individuals to investigate decentralized messaging alternatives and consider privacy more seriously.
In February, WhatsApp, the messaging application owned by social media giant Meta, announced that Russia had proceeded with blocking the app, rendering it inaccessible without using a VPN or similar workaround.
"The last 15 years have been centralized, and the next 15 are going to decentralize. When you see an entire country shut down single apps, it tells you that there has to be a new foundation that we need to go build on," added Mac.
"Open-source is having a moment. Open protocols, open financial systems, open communication protocols, open identity standards. It's going to be a really cool next era of the internet as decentralization and open standards come back."
No single point of failure
According to Mac, decentralized networks offer a secure refuge during periods of turmoil because they're generally more difficult to disable due to the absence of a single point of failure.
Typically, decentralized platforms operate across networks that span numerous countries, with servers maintained and managed by their own participants.
By contrast, centralized alternatives operate on a unified collection of servers under the control of a single company or entity, making them more susceptible to being blocked and taken offline.
Mac further noted that the technology continues to improve as both developers and users expand its capabilities.
"Someone took the open source BitChat client and put the XMTP network inside of it, because they were getting their app shut down in their country. The connection of mesh networks and decentralized networks meant the app is no longer the single point of failure," Mac said.
Decentralized messengers won't replace the old guard
In a report published on March 2, market researcher 360 Research Reports forecasted that the blockchain messaging market will experience substantial growth in the coming years, driven primarily by worldwide demand for improved privacy and security in communications.
Nevertheless, Mac emphasized that centralized platforms will probably continue to be widely used and coexist with decentralized options, despite growing user interest. To maintain this momentum, developers must continue advancing and innovating.
Research from Exploding Topics indicates that social media users currently distribute their time across an average of 6.75 social media platforms each month.
"I don't think it will end up killing things; you built a new platform. SMS and email didn't die to build encrypted messaging; I don't know if they go away," Mac said, referring to centralized messengers.