ICP-based blockchain chat app launches ‘Communities’ to compete with Discord

OpenChat implemented a new feature that allows admins to create groups within groups, similar to Discord’s channels within servers.

Blockchain chat app OpenChat has enabled users to create Discord-like servers called “Communities,” according to an Aug. 2 announcement.

*Early UX prototype for OpenChat Communities. Source: OpenChat*

OpenChat is a blockchain-based chat app running on the Internet Computer (ICP) network. It facilitates mostly crypto-oriented chat groups, including some with a few thousand members. LootMoneyArmy (3,201 members), Magnetic (2,703 members) and DFinityVN (2,597 members) are some examples of OpenChat groups.

The app’s development team first announced the Communities feature in February. At the time, they observed that users were employing OpenChat for different reasons than initially anticipated. While developers originally intended Communities to be used as an instant messaging app similar to WhatsApp or Signal, end-users seemed more interested in using the app to form public groups and build communities.

While the developers welcomed this interest, they also explained that OpenChat lacked the hierarchical system used in apps like Discord or Slack. This prevented group admins from using it to create subgroups to keep conversation focused on particular topics, ultimately making groups on OpenChat less effective than they otherwise could be.

The team promised to fix this problem by implementing Communities at some point in the future, making the app more suitable for users interested in joining groups. The new feature would replace the current groups with “communities” and allow admins to create “groups” within these communities, similar to the way Discord has channels within servers. Admins would also be able to make their communities private, giving them a function similar to a Slack group, the post stated.

The Aug. 2 announcement states that Communities has now launched and is available within the app.

In a conversation with Cointelegaph, OpenChat co-founder Julian Jeffs said Communities will eventually allow crypto protocols to build communities directly from their own websites, eliminating the need for downloading external programs like Discord or Telegram.

“One other sort of notable thing on the roadmap that Communities will facilitate is providing integrations to other apps in the ecosystem as well,” Jeffs explained. “There are a lot of other apps that would like to have a chat function within but don’t necessarily want to send their users outside of their website or the app.”

Jeffs further explained that the team is experimenting with several designs for this future “Communities integration” system. One concept is to provide a “server-to-server synchronization” between OpenChat and each project, while another option is to create a set of front-end components that projects could “drop in” to their interfaces. Either way, the integration would allow users of Web3 protocols to chat with other users and get technical support from admins without needing to navigate away from the apps they are using.

The team stressed that the “integrations” feature will not be a part of Communities at launch but is planned to be implemented in a later patch.

Discord and Telegram are the two most widely used messaging apps in the crypto community, but these Web2 platforms don’t allow users to post messages using their Web3 identities. This can lead to users getting scammed by persons claiming to be holders of wallets they don’t actually control.

OpenChat is one project trying to solve this problem. Another example is Grill.chat, which runs on a Polkadot chain but allows Ethereum wallet holders to chat using their Ethereum usernames. Coinbase wallet’s new messaging feature is another example of the growing movement to allow wallet-based chat.

Collect this article as an NFT to preserve this moment in history and show your support for independent journalism in the crypto space.

Web3 usernames may see greater adoption due to recent advancements

BIT

New developments such as free usernames, cross-chain names, and chat functions may lead to more addresses being associated with a name.

Ever since the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) was launched in 2017, Web3 users have been able to replace the long strings of characters that make up a crypto address with a more easily memorized blockchain username or Web3 domain name. For example, Ethereum (ETH) users can now send crypto to the network’s founder, Vitalik Buterin, at his username of vitalik.eth without knowing that his address is 0xd8da6bf26964af9d7eed9e03e53415d37aa96045.

But despite this advancement making it much easier to identify users, hardly anyone has taken advantage of it. There are over 200 million unique addresses on Ethereum, yet only 2.2 million .eth names were registered as of January. This means that at least 97% of Ethereum addresses are not associated with an ENS username.

This lack of usernames creates user experience problems in the Web3 ecosystem. Just imagine if early email addresses had consisted of long strings of characters that looked like 0x7a16ff8270133f063aab6c9977183d9e72835428 or 0x3A7937851d67Ee2f51C959663749093Dc87D9C9a. If this had been the case, Email may not have survived as a practice.

But despite this initial lack of adoption, there is some evidence that the tide may be turning in favor of Web3 usernames. A few recent advancements in wallet and messaging apps may onboard more users than ever before.

One of these advancements is better wallet integration with free usernames.

Wallet integration and free usernames

Wallets have had the ability to understand Web3 names for a long time. According to Metamask’s changelog, it introduced the ability to send to a .eth name in October, 2017, right after ENS launched. Other wallets have followed suit with this feature, including Coinbase wallet, Trustwallet, and others. Some of these wallets have also integrated with ENS rivals Unstoppable Domains, Space ID, Bonfida and others.

However, these wallets still show a crypto address to users by default, as new users don’t typically receive names automatically.

In order for a user to receive crypto via their Web3 name, they need to first register a username with a particular name provider. This means figuring out which provider to use, navigating to the providers interface, and going through the process of registering.

To make matters worse, names can be expensive. ENS names typically cost $5 and expire after a year, while Unstoppable Domains names that do not need to be renewed typically cost from $20-$40. Compare this with how easy it is to sign up for an email address for free using Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo. etc., and it’s easy to see why most crypto users don’t have a Web3 username.

A few wallet apps have been trying to solve this problem by giving away free domain names to their users. For example, Coinbase wallet allows new users to register a single .cb.id username for free, once per year, and Kresus wallet offers its users a free .kresus username of up to 8 characters as well.

This practice of giving out free usernames has begun only recently. And some popular wallets like Trustwallet and Metamask still don’t offer the feature. But as more users onboard to the Web3 ecosystem, this may lead to greater adoption of Web3 usernames over time.

Another recent advancement is instant messaging integration.

Chat messaging with Web3 usernames

Some messaging apps have begun to implement Web3 names as usernames, increasing these names’ utility beyond the payments use-case. One example is Blockscan Chat. It allows users to send instant messages to any Ethereum address or ENS username.

Caption: Blockscan Chat interface. Source: Blockscan

When messages are sent using Blockscan chat, they produce alerts on the Etherscan block explorer. If the recipient sees the alert and logs into the app, they are able to read the message. The developer of the app claims that all of its messages are end-to-encrypted. So although anyone can see if a particular user has received a message, only the sender and recipient can read it.

Web3 usernames aren’t an absolute necessity for using Blockscan chat, as it does allow users to send messages to crypto addresses as well. But names do make it much easier for users to find each other in the app.

*Grill.chat interface showing .eth names. Source: Grill.chat*

Another example is Grill.chat, a messaging app running on the Subsocial (SUB) network. When a user first signs up for it, they are assigned a random username. But they can optionally attach an Ethereum wallet to their account. If they do this, the app automatically converts their random username into their .eth username.

Being able to find other users to chat with via their web3 usernames is arguably a more useful feature than being able to send crypto with them.

After all, the crypto community is still small. If a crypto user needs money from friends or family, they may be better off right now using traditional Web2 apps like Venmo or Apple Pay, as their friends and family may not know how to use a Web3 wallet. But if a person wants to chat specifically about crypto and Web3 apps, being able to look them up by their username could turn out to be a huge advantage. This added use-case may entice more users to adopt Web3 names in the future.

Another recent advancement in Web3 names is cross-chain names.

Cross-chain Web3 names

When Web3 names were first invented, ENS was the only protocol that could be used to create them, and it could only be used on Ethereum.

But the Web3 ecosystem has since grown to encompass many different chains. And as the number of chains has grown, so has the number of naming protocols. Users can now register Polygon (MATIC) usernames from Unstoppable Domains, Solana (SOL) ones from Bonfida, and both Arbitrum One (ARB) and BNB Chain (BNB) names from Space ID.

This fragmentation across chains can make integration difficult for wallets and block explorers and cause confusion for users. For example, suppose that a person’s Polygon username is newton.crypto. But when they go to register the same name on BNB Chain, they find that newton.bnb is already taken, so they register einstein.bnb instead. When a user looks at this person’s address on a block explorer, either name could appear, depending on which one the developer of the block explorer has chosen to display. And regardless of which one is displayed, it could cause confusion for users.

In this case for example, if a user wants to send crypto to newton.crypto via BNB Chain, they may easily send it to newton.bnb instead, which will turn out to be the wrong recipient.

A few Web3 companies are trying to fix this problem by creating a single name for each identity across multiple chains. For example, the Redefined app allows users to register for a username on Arbitrum One, but use it to receive funds on 8 other chains: Polygon, Optimism (OP), BNB Chain, Solana, Bitcoin (BTC), Fantom (FTM), Moonbeam (GLMR) and Near.

To make this feature possible, Redefined lets the user write an address or username for each network into the Arbitrum smart contract through a “manage” tab within the app. Once the addresses are listed in the contract, any person can initiate a transaction to the correct address using a “send” function within the app. In order to send funds, the sender only needs to know the recipient’s Redefined username, not the recipient’s name or address on any particular chain.

Redefined usernames begin with an @ and do not have extensions. For example, @newton and @einstein are possible redefined usernames.

Did.id, also called “.bit,” is a similar project that runs on the Nervos network. It allows users to register for a .bit username that works across 39 different networks, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Internet Computer (ICP), and many others. Registration can be done directly with a Nervos network wallet or indirectly using Polygon.

Did.id doesn’t feature a user interface with a “send” function. However, it is integrated with nine different wallet apps, including imToken, Tokenpocket, MathWallet, Huobi Wallet, Bitkeep, HyperPay, AlphaWallet, ViaWallet, and MIBAO. So it’s available to senders who use these wallets.

Cross-chain usernames are yet another new development that may spur greater adoption of Web3 usernames over time.

When will usernames catch on?

Despite these advancements, it’s still not clear how long mass adoption of Web3 usernames will take. Right now, over 90% of Web3 addresses are not associated with any username. So there is a huge hill to climb in terms of adoption. And in the meantime, users still need to cut and paste a complicated string of characters to find a person’s Web3 identity.

There is also still plenty of friction left for users, including the continuing high cost of registering a name for users of most wallet apps.

Even so, these advancements may pave the way for the mass adoption of Web3 usernames at some point in the future.

grill.chat