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On June 1, Musk began to make efforts and announced the launch of X platform's new messaging system XChat, which features end-to-end encryption, disappearing messages, arbitrary file transfers, and cross-platform audio and video calls.

In other words, X can not only send and read tweets, but may also gradually have instant messaging functions similar to Telegram or WeChat.

This feature is currently in the testing phase and not all users can experience it.

But what is more eye-catching is that Musk claimed that XChat uses "Bitcoin-style encryption" and is developed in the Rust language, claiming to be a "brand-new architecture."

Bitcoin is too classic, so classic that many people are familiar with its name and treat it as a leading asset, but they are not very clear about what technology it uses.

What exactly is the Bitcoin-style encryption architecture that Musk mentioned? I flipped through the Bitcoin white paper again and interpreted it from the perspective of an old investor.

XChat beta version features preview

According to feedback from some Twitter users, Xchat has been pushed to their X account and marked as a "Beta" test version. The core function is that private messages will be end-to-end encrypted on all your devices, and no one can read your private messages, including X.

Then we can break down this feature based on Musk’s original post and netizens’ feedback.

End-to-end encryption: Only the two parties can see the content of messages and calls, and third parties (including X platform) cannot snoop. Self-destruction after reading: You can set the message to be automatically deleted after a certain period of time, such as 10 minutes, to protect privacy more thoroughly. Any file transfer: Supports the transmission of any type of file, including photos, videos, documents, etc., no longer limited by format or size. Cross-platform audio and video calls: No mobile phone number is required to make calls, and multiple devices such as mobile phones and computers are supported. The content of the call is also encrypted.

You know what, this is a bit like Telegram.

What does this have to do with Bitcoin?

When it comes to "Bitcoin-style encryption", many people's first reaction may be: Isn't Bitcoin used for transferring money? What does it have to do with encrypted chat?

Don’t be impatient, let’s first review Bitcoin’s encryption technology and then see how XChat may learn from it.

In fact, the title of the Bitcoin white paper more than ten years ago has already made it very clear: "Peer-to-peer cash payment system." The peer-to-peer here is the P2P that we often hear.

BTC — Want to achieve peer-to-peer (you and me) transfers without the need for a middleman;

Xchat — Want to achieve peer-to-peer (you and me) chatting without the need for a middleman.

These are different implementation directions of the same technology.

How does Bitcoin do peer-to-peer?

Putting aside the ledger technology of blockchain for now, Bitcoin uses encryption technology to achieve peer-to-peer transfers, which can be simply described as "lock" and "signature".

"Lock": Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC): Bitcoin uses something called Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). Simply put, it is like a super secure lock. Everyone has two keys: one is a public key (public, equivalent to a lock), and the other is a private key (only you know, equivalent to a key). For example, if you want to transfer Bitcoin to a friend, your wallet will use your friend's public key to "lock" the transaction, and only your friend can "unlock" and get the money with his or her private key. No one can peek or tamper with the entire process, and even the Bitcoin network cannot see the transaction details. "Signature": Digital Signature (ECDSA) In addition to the "lock", Bitcoin also uses digital signatures to prove that "you are you". When you transfer money, your wallet will use your private key to generate a signature to prove that the transaction was indeed sent by you. Others can verify this signature with your public key, but it cannot be forged. "Anti-tampering": hash algorithm (SHA-256) Bitcoin also uses a hash algorithm called SHA-256 to turn transaction information into a fixed-length "fingerprint". If a transaction is altered, even by just one letter, the fingerprint will be completely different and the network will be able to detect it immediately.

Please note that these encryption algorithms and signature algorithms were not invented by Bitcoin, but they are used together in combination.

Therefore, combined with the functions of XChat, we can speculate that it may use Bitcoin technology in this way, which is what Musk calls "Bitcoin-style encryption":

End-to-end encryption: a "safe" for messages XChat's end-to-end encryption may use a variant of ECC (such as the ECDH protocol). When you send a message to a friend, your phone will encrypt the message with your friend's public key, and only your friend's private key can decrypt it. For example: if you send "I'll be there at 7 o'clock tonight", the message will become a string of garbled characters, which can only be decrypted by your friend's device, and cannot be seen by the X platform or others. Audio and video calls may also use similar methods to protect the content of the call from being eavesdropped. Digital signature: prove that the message is sent by you XChat may use digital signature technology similar to ECDSA to ensure that the source of the message is credible. For example, if you send a contract file, XChat will sign it with your private key. After receiving it, your friend can use your public key to verify that the file was sent by you and has not been tampered with. Read and burn: encryption + timed destruction The disappearing message function may combine encryption and timed destruction mechanisms. After the message is encrypted, only the recipient can see it. The server will automatically delete it after a specified time (e.g. 10 minutes). Even if the device is hacked, the historical messages cannot be found. File transfer: tamper-proof "fingerprint" When transferring files, XChat may use SHA-256 to generate the hash value (fingerprint) of the file. After the friend receives the file, the system will automatically verify the fingerprint to ensure that the file has not been tampered with in the middle.

As for what development language to use, RUST or something else, the author is not from a technical background so I will not interpret it in detail here.

More than just chatting

The launch of XChat is more than just a chat tool.

Musk has always wanted to turn X into an "everything app" (super app), similar to the WeChat we often use.

Clues can be seen from some of his actions, such as first acquiring Twitter, then borrowing many functions from WeChat, integrating Grok AI, and so on.

With the gradual passage of the US Stablecoin Act and the formation of a crypto-friendly environment, we have reason to expect the emergence of payment-related functions, such as XPay.

WeChat's success in China is based on social relationships and strong stickiness, integrating chat, payment, taxi, shopping and other functions. If XChat can integrate payment (XPay), AI assistant (Grok 3), social (X platform's social function), and add strong privacy protection, it is entirely possible to become the "super WeChat" of the West.

Finally, is the term “Bitcoin-style encryption” really that unique? Not necessarily.

Technologies such as elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), digital signature (ECDSA), and hash algorithm (SHA-256) are no longer exclusive to Bitcoin.

Many security applications use similar technologies. For example, WhatsApp and Signal’s end-to-end encryption also relies on ECC and hash algorithms. Apple’s iMessage even adopted ECC in the 2010s. Although Bitcoin’s encryption technology is reliable, it is more like an “industry standard” and does not have much originality.

Musk's choice of the expression "Bitcoin style" is more likely due to marketing considerations. As a "synonymous" with cryptocurrency, Bitcoin comes with its own traffic and trust aura.

But the more pro-crypto statements there are, the happier we are.

In the context of attention tokenization, more features and gameplay from X and Musk are also worth looking forward to.