It seems to me that some messaging app that has the functionality of WeChat is where a lot of this web3 and cryptocurrency is going. The functionality of WeChat is described by Wikipedia as: messaging, public accounts (for famous people or people with an audience), channels for friend groups, digital payments, video, etc.
Right now, messaging is dominated by Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram and Discord. I suppose Apple’s Messages is another, but I don’t know the Apple ecosystem.
The main piece will be the incorporation of digital payments. The above aren’t really positioned to deliver on digital payments, and they also have privacy problems.
- Signal: good option, people object that it requires ID verification through phone number registration. But, it already has digital payments incorporated through a build-it MobileCoin wallet in the app.
- Keybase: It has an Stellar cryptocurrency wallet. It’s more like groupware designed to verify users social media accounts, but it is in this space.
- Element: open source with paid tier option, no ID required. Less commonly used than Signal. No digital payments
- Threema: one-time payment for a license to use. Bills itself as maximum security. New to me. I don’t think payments are available.
cafebedouin.org 