Author: flowie, ChainCatcher
Under the heavy hand of regulation, Telegram's privacy promises have crumbled.
Telegram has become the fastest-growing communication platform globally, boasting 900 million monthly active users and attracting the favor of the crypto community, largely due to its strong stance on privacy protection, freedom of speech, and anti-censorship.
However, following the arrest of founder Pavel Durov in France, Telegram's privacy policy underwent a significant change.
Telegram first quietly updated its FAQ, removing the statement, "All Telegram chats and group chats are private conversations between participants. We do not process any requests related to them."
Shortly thereafter, Pavel Durov announced on Telegram that user IP addresses and phone numbers would be shared with relevant regulatory authorities. Recently, the Wallet application on Telegram also began supporting law enforcement evidence collection.
Telegram's compromise has once again raised user concerns about privacy security. Especially for crypto users, whose transactions involve a large amount of personal information and financial data, the sharing of user data with regulatory authorities by Telegram inevitably increases the risk of transactions.
This move by Telegram may force a large number of privacy-conscious users to "flee," seeking instant messaging platforms that do not rely on the founder's promises and achieve anti-censorship and communication freedom from the ground up.
How can users achieve communication freedom after Telegram loses privacy security?
Telegram's abandonment of its foundational "privacy protection" due to the founder's arrest can be seen as inevitable.
Compared to older communication platforms like Facebook, Telegram claims to use end-to-end encryption and cloud storage to protect user data. However, many users are unaware that most Telegram group chats and default private chats do not directly use end-to-end encryption; users must manually enable encryption to enjoy it.
Telegram's data is essentially exposed on centralized servers. When all user data must be transmitted through centralized servers, it not only poses a single point of failure risk but also makes user data vulnerable to manipulation and government censorship.
Currently, other mainstream Web2 communication platforms rely on various centralized architectures at both the physical and network layers, leading to even more severe exposure of user information.
Various mobile devices monitor users' every move, and user content is always at risk of being banned. Additionally, personal information is often leaked, leading users to frequently receive various scam calls and face intrusive app advertisements and arbitrary fee increases.
To free users from these unfriendly experiences in communication, the key lies in transforming the "old ailments" of the centralized internet architecture, systematically addressing issues of centralization and privacy security in communication.
Recently, following Telegram's trust crisis due to changes in its privacy policy, platforms like SendingNetwork, which aim to systematically address the centralization, security, and privacy issues in communication, have garnered significant user attention.
SendingNetwork has developed a decentralized communication application called SendingMe on its decentralized communication network, which has attracted over 400,000 users.
Crypto KOL NingNing once stated, "SendingNetwork is not just another messaging app; it is the prelude to a communication revolution. By reconstructing the underlying TCP/IP protocol of the internet, SendingNetwork is paving a decentralized information highway for the Web3 era."
Why is SendingNetwork's decentralized communication network gaining attention?
In addition to Telegram's trust crisis drawing many users to the decentralized communication network SendingNetwork, the SendingNetwork solution also aligns with this year's popular narratives in the Web3 space: DePIN and Social. These two narratives represent a rare consensus track between the East and West.
From the Social perspective, SendingNetwork differs from other decentralized social projects in that most current decentralized social projects focus solely on the network layer, rarely addressing the more critical physical layer to solve communication freedom issues.
From the DePIN perspective, among the three foundational layers of computing, storage, and communication, there are many DePIN projects focusing on computing and storage, while almost only SendingNetwork focuses on the communication layer.
Specifically, there are four major highlights of SendingNetwork's decentralized communication network in protecting user privacy and security.
First, the network layer reconstructs the TCP/IP protocol. The TCP/IP protocol is one of the most widely used protocols on the internet, designed to make the network as flexible and configurable as possible, but it also has structural issues such as privacy leaks, data tampering, and centralized control.
SendingNetwork is committed to rebuilding a decentralized programmable TCP/IP protocol, ensuring network stability and efficiency through a three-layer architecture: client access layer, relay layer, and consensus layer. This architecture avoids the vulnerabilities of centralized networks, allowing information to be transmitted directly between nodes without relying on a central server.
SendingNetwork also addresses the most challenging IP address allocation issue in the TCP/IP protocol, allowing users to access the network directly through wallet addresses with ID attributes. It supports converting wallet IDs into user IDs via Ethereum ENS, creating a decentralized DID identity system that avoids common attacks through IP vulnerabilities.
Second, the physical layer implements decentralized routing. In SendingNetwork, routers are no longer simple data transmission devices but become active nodes in the network. A large number of distributed nodes participate in data transmission and verification, solving the single-point risk faced by traditional centralized routers.
At the same time, users can earn token rewards by contributing idle bandwidth, further promoting the decentralization of the network.
Third, all communication data is encrypted end-to-end by default. Unlike Telegram, which requires manual selection, any data transmitted between decentralized nodes in the SendingNetwork is encrypted end-to-end by default, meaning nodes cannot see the content of the communication. For example, in SendingMe, private chats and group chats are end-to-end encrypted by default.
Fourth, data ownership and usage rights belong to users rather than the project party, allowing for anti-censorship. Even if node operators and project parties need to cooperate with regulatory authorities for audits, these data are protected by technology, and can only be accessed if users willingly provide their account keys; otherwise, project parties, node operators, or regulatory authorities cannot decrypt the data.
Decentralized routing, decentralized network architecture, end-to-end encryption technology, and anti-censorship measures enable SendingNetwork to effectively protect users' communication privacy and security.
In building a decentralized communication network infrastructure, the official application SendingMe launched by SendingNetwork also boasts high privacy security while providing a user experience similar to mainstream Web2 communication platforms. Users can chat, make payments, conduct transactions, and transfer funds on SendingMe.
Currently, in addition to fulfilling privacy-secure communication needs on SendingMe, users can also participate in the SendingNetwork decentralized routing network to earn mining rewards.
During this year's Token2049, SendingNetwork launched a new product, the SendingNetwork Edge Router A1. This device integrates decentralized mining functionality, allowing users to earn rewards by utilizing idle bandwidth.
Former Microsoft serial entrepreneur dedicated to building the next-generation communication infrastructure
Addressing the centralization issue in communication from the ground up is no easy task for SendingNetwork. The reason SendingNetwork dares to take bold steps is due to its founding team's nearly 20 years of experience in Web1, Web2, and Web3 development and their history of continuous entrepreneurship.
The SendingNetwork team originated from the early Microsoft Windows development team. Founder Mason Yang and his core team previously worked at Microsoft in key positions, focusing on early internet operating systems.
After leaving Microsoft, in the wave of mobile internet, the SendingNetwork team launched their first startup, the Dolphin Browser, which reached 200 million active users and was later successfully acquired for $90 million. Following that, the SendingNetwork team embarked on a second startup, with their AI product receiving $100 million in funding support.
As the core team's third entrepreneurial project, SendingNetwork once again focuses on the foundational technologies of computing and the internet, addressing issues of information flow, distribution, and presentation, and utilizing Web3 technology to achieve communication freedom from the ground up.
The team's comprehensive background in technology, product, and operations, along with their focus on the high-ceiling communication sector, has made SendingNetwork a consensus project among capital from both the East and West.
In April of this year, SendingNetwork announced the completion of a $7.5 million seed round extension, bringing its total seed round funding to $20 million. Notable institutions and angel investors from both the East and West, including Nomad Capital, Symbolic Capital, Web3.com Ventures, Galxe, SWC Global, Coinbase Ex-CTO Balaji Srinivasan, and Yield Guild Games co-founder Gabby Dizon, participated in the funding.
After completing the financing, SendingNetwork continues to expand its ecosystem, having attracted over 100 development partners, including AI & DePIN project Network3 and Web3 asset data platform RootData.
With the compromise on privacy protection following the arrest of Telegram's founder, SendingNetwork, as a more privacy-secure decentralized communication platform, is expected to enter a period of growth, leveraging its team's mature development and operational experience.
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