Tesla (TSLA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk has launched a new messaging app called “XChat” that claims to use the same encryption as Bitcoin (BTC).
One of the features of XChat is that it's built on a programming language called Rust with Bitcoin-style encryption.
Musk, who also runs SpaceX and the X social media platform, did his best to promote the new messaging app on X, formerly known as Twitter, referring to it as revolutionary.
Elon Muck said that XChat includes end-to-end encryption, disappearing messages, file sharing without a phone number, and that it is as safe as Bitcoin’s blockchain.
Despite the hype on the part of Musk, messages posted to social media by members of the cryptocurrency community were skeptical of the claims.
In response to Musk’s posts, Ian Miers, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, wrote on X, “Bitcoin primarily uses signatures, not encryption. This is like saying, we decided to run our rocket on water since NASA uses Hydrogen and Oxygen.”
Encryption refers to the process of scrambling data so that only authorized users with the right permissions can unscramble and read it.
However, transactions executed on the Bitcoin blockchain aren't encrypted. Rather, all data shared between Bitcoin nodes is unencrypted, allowing strangers to interact with the network.
The price of Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is currently trading at $104,000 U.S., having gained 11% on the year.
