Still Using iMessage? Push Protocol Launches New Web3 Communication Layer On Polygon

Communication in Web3 has relied heavily on Web2 services such as Discord, Telegram, and Twitter — until now. Push Protocol launched its wallet communication service Push Chat at Devcon today (Oct.10).

Push Protocol aims to create the most adopted, user-friendly and useful decentralized communication protocol on the market. While decentralized protocols have the benefits of censorship resistance and permissionless usage, centralized communication layers such as Discord and Telegram don’t benefit users in the same way.

This development marks the first step in bringing true wallet-to-wallet communications to crypto. Many believe the over-reliance on centralized Web2 services for Web3 communications threatened true decentralization and Push Chat plans to change this.

What Happened: Harsh Rajat, CEO and co-founder of Push Protocol, delivered a live demonstration of Push Chat at Devcon and showed the text and image capabilities of the app. Push chat uses Polygon MATIC/USD, a scaling solution within the Ethereum ETH/USD ecosystem, as the first supported network for its DApp. 

“Push Chat is uncensorable, peer-to-peer chat that will accelerate the growth and value of Web3 applications and communities alike," said Rajat. "On the heels of two years of push notification development, we are confident that chat is a fundamental next step in the evolution of Web3 communication.” 

Rajat added that with the alpha launch, select users across the Push community can dive into the service. "Test it to its limits and explore its potential as we work towards wider rollout in the coming months,” Rajat noted.

Not everyone can access Push Chat just yet. Starting today, Push Chat alpha access is available to certain groups of Web3 users. Developers who hacked on Push Protocol during ETH Bogota 2022, those with a Push Chat POAP and users who have directly contributed to the support and development of Push Protocol have access to Push Chat alpha access.

If not part of the aforementioned group, the public launch is currently slated before the end of the year. 

Why It Matters: DeFi Dad, partner at fourthrevolution.capital and long-time Etherean, also commented on the launch of Push Chat:

“Decentralized chat is one of the many holy grails of Web3. Launching a chat app that is easy to use, free, uncensorable, truly decentralized, and isn't public has been a sticking point for the evolution of Web3 and Web3 communication in particular.

“The Push Protocol team has two years of proven success with push notifications, and it's exciting to imagine how Push Chat will evolve and what else the team is planning. Few teams execute quite like the Push team.”

How It Works: Push Chat allows users to chat with each other through their crypto wallets using one’s public address or ENS (.eth) domain. Text, GIFs and images are already supported, with more features on the way. Push Chat operates similarly to a typical messaging application but is decentralized and uncensorable. 

Some features currently being worked on by the Push Protocol team include video, group chats, payment transfers and live chat. Since the messages themselves are not on-chain, these messages can be encrypted and don’t cost blockchain network fees to send.

Push Protocol: Push Chat’s launch follows the protocol’s rebrand from Ethereum Push Notification Service (EPNS). The rebrand emphasized Push will be chain agnostic; that is, it will be integrated with various blockchains — not solely Ethereum. The launch on Polygon was just the first of many networks Push Protocol will roll out, as it aims to enable thousands of push notifications for Web3 apps, developers and users. Moreover, Push Protocol already supported integrations with leading Ethereum DApps Aave, ENS, Uniswap, MakerDAO and many more.

About Push Protocol: Push Protocol is a decentralized communication protocol for Web3. By using any DApps, smart contracts, backends or protocols can send communications (starting with on-chain/off-chain/gasless notifications) tied to user wallets in an open, gasless, multichain and platform agnostic fashion. The open communication layer allows any crypto wallet or front end to tap into the network and get the communication across.