In brief
- Musk unveiled an upcoming X feature with encrypted messages, vanishing texts, and file transfers
- He claimed it’s built in Rust with “Bitcoin style” encryption
- Developers have pushed back, saying Bitcoin doesn’t use encryption
Elon Musk announced on Sunday that X will soon roll out a new messaging feature called XChat, touting capabilities such as encrypted conversations, vanishing messages, file transfers, and audio and video calls.
But the post caused confusion after the X CEO said the feature is “built on Rust with (Bitcoin style) encryption, whole new architecture,” prompting a flurry of skeptical replies from Bitcoin developers and cryptography experts.
“Bitcoin doesn’t even use encryption,” said Bitcoin Core developer and OCEAN CTO Luke Dashjr in response to Musk’s post.
Another high-profile figure, JAN3 and Pixelmatic CEO Samson Mow, echoed the sentiment, adding, “Bitcoin isn’t encrypted.”
Bitcoin uses cryptographic techniques such as elliptic curve cryptography and SHA-256 hashing for key generation and transaction validation, not encryption for message confidentiality.
The link with Rust was also questioned. “Bitcoin was written in cpp,” Eliza Labs founder Shaw Walters pointed out, referring to C++. “Rust clients came later.”
No further documentation has been provided by the social media platform. Attempts were made to contact X.
Musk’s announcement follows a week of renewed interest in his companies after he stepped down from his government position at the Department of Government Efficiency.
Last week, another rocket launched by SpaceX exploded, but that hasn’t stopped the CEO from laying out his vision for colonizing Mars and predicting the establishment of a colony there within the next 20 years.
X also soft-launched a new digital wallet, “X Money,” marking another step in Musk’s attempt to turn X into an all-in-one app.
His foray into encrypted messaging also comes after publicly denying a deal with Telegram.
Last week, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov claimed Telegram had entered a one-year partnership with Musk’s xAI, including a $300 million payout and app integration. Musk responded, “No deal has been signed.”
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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