Open apps, open protocol
If chat on BSV is going to compete with Telegram, people have to be able to trust it, and other developers have to be able to build on it. Both are easier when the code is open. This is how we are doing it, and what stays closed for now.
Why open matters for chat
Chat is where people say things they would not post publicly. You should be able to check what the app does with your messages and your keys, or ask someone you trust to check. And a chat network only gets big if more than one company can write apps for it. A protocol nobody else can read is a walled garden with extra steps.
The model
Three parts: open-source apps, an open protocol, and a server that stays closed for now.
Open-source apps
bWalletX is already open source under the MIT licence. bChat desktop and the bChatX web app will follow under the same licence. MIT means you can read the code, change it, and ship your own version.
The names and logos are trademarks. You can fork the code, but your fork needs its own name.
An open protocol
The bChat Protocol is public on GitHub at github.com/bitcoin-corp/bchat-protocol. It describes how messages, rooms and payments are written to the chain, so another app can read and write the same things.
Alongside it is the bChatX Protocol proposal, for threads that work across apps: a reply in Twetch, Treechat or peck.to showing up under the post it replies to, wherever that post was made. It is a proposal, not a finished standard. peck.to already threads bChat replies.
Why the server stays closed for now
The server does moderation, anti-spam and the paid features. Publishing the anti-spam rules mostly helps spammers, and the moderation tools are still changing week to week. So the server is closed for now.
What matters is what the server can’t do. Your keys never leave your wallet. The server can’t spend your money. Every payment is signed in your wallet, by you.
More on what is open and where to find it is on the open source page.