Is Web3 messaging going to replace WhatsApp and iMessage? Co-founder of XMTP explains

Hashing It Out episode 24 explores Web3 messaging with Shane Mac, co-founder of XMTP — an open protocol and network for secure Web3 messaging — who explains the differences between Web2 and Web3 messaging. Mac also explains how Web3 messaging could spark major adoption for the entire industry moving forward, regardless of current user experience limitations. 

Prior to XMTP, Shane founded Assist, which built the first business messaging for Facebook Messenger, Apple Business Chat, Google Business Messaging, and SMS. In this episode of Hashing It Out, Mac explains why he made the switch from building Web2 messaging platforms to building Web3 messaging. According to him, messaging must evolve based on new identities. He explains that phone messages (SMS) were built around mobile numbers while new social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram also came with new identities. Web3 offers a new form of identity where people have wealth and personality tied to wallet addresses but could not communicate with each other. He describes this new form of identity mixed with messaging as a “huge innovation” and a “huge opportunity.”

“To verify a message with the wallet signature that is the same wallet signature that proves you own what you say you own felt like a huge innovation.”