Jack Dorsey's Decentralization Journey: From Bitcoin Lighting Network to Bluetooth Mesh

As a staunch advocate of the cypherpunk movement, Jack Dorsey's commitment to Bitcoin has spanned over a decade, remaining steadfast even when his investments outweighed his profits. He has not only launched the LDK development kit but also vigorously promoted payment functionalities supporting the Lighting Network. Dorsey's attention to the Bitcoin ecosystem can be described as meticulous; after reintroducing Bitchat, he also plans to support Nostr networking functionalities in the future, supporting freedom of speech from a physical layer.

Three Rebirths: Rethinking Bitcoin

Humans landed on the moon with a computer of only a few tens of KB, yet it requires hundreds of GB to host a public chain. This comparison has led Dorsey to deeply reflect on the form of decentralized social products.

The birth of Bitchat went through three stages:

1. 2019: On-chain social tool based on Bitcoin OP_RETURN opcode
2. 2022: BSV-based paid on-chain social products
3. 2025: Free, offline social tool based on local Bluetooth Mesh network

The 2025 version of Bitchat draws on the concept of Bitcoin but breaks away from the constraints of needing to operate on-chain, shifting towards scenarios more suitable for ordinary users. This aligns with the original intention of Satoshi Nakamoto when creating Bitcoin. Dorsey's innovation lies in compressing or even eliminating economic incentives to encourage participation from ordinary users, avoiding a return to centralization and capitalization.

It is worth noting that Mesh networks are not limited to Bluetooth, but can also be implemented through WIFI or even Starlink. Mesh is essentially a "method of organizing" a network, while various technologies serve as "means of transmission."

First offline group chat, may be online in the future

Bitchat is an offline, anonymous, free IRC-style social tool. It is entirely based on local Bluetooth Mesh networks to store and transmit messages, working without any network signal. Since it does not design a permanent account system or data persistence system, Bitchat is mainly used as a chat room and does not currently support emoji or audio/video functions.

The architecture of Bitchat can be divided into three main parts: information transmission, privacy protection, and networking functions. Information transmission mainly supports peer-to-peer and group modes, but efficiency significantly decreases during multi-hop transmission. In terms of privacy protection, Bitchat employs a complex encryption scheme, such as using Argon2id to resist potential side-channel attacks.

Currently, Bitchat is still in the experimental stage, and its retro style may not align well with contemporary user preferences. However, in future extreme scenarios (such as disaster relief), Bitchat relying on ultrasound, LoRa, or WIFI networking could become an important backup communication means.

Conclusion

The most anticipated aspect of Bitchat may be its potential integration with Nostr. In Dorsey's vision, Mesh's local networking combined with Nostr's global network is expected to create a truly hardware-based censorship-resistant social tool. Although this goal is full of challenges, there always needs to be someone willing to try, to promote the development of Decentralization communication.