What is DappRadar?

DappRadar describes itself as the world’s dApp store. A dApp store is an dApp distribution service or a dApp marketplace where you can search for and download decentralized applications like the BChat private messenger.

DappRadar hosts a range of decentralized applications from wallets to DeFi platforms. It is one of the largest dApp marketplaces with nearly 13,000 dApps and supports 42 protocols.

Users can download BChat for Android devices directly from DappRadar.

BChat for desktop clients will be listed on the platform shortly.

 

Why Do We Need Decentralized Marketplaces?

Decentralized app marketplaces not only serve as alternatives to mainstream centralized app distribution services, but they’re also specific to Web3 and provide a higher degree of trust and privacy.

You don’t need to register an account on a dApp store to download a dApp. All you need to do is waltz in and click that download button.

Another key reason to use a dApp store is censorship-resistance. While centralized players try to offer their services worldwide, there are certain exceptions that prevent them from doing so. It could be their terms of policies or the laws of a region.

In such cases, an app store quite doesn’t fit the cut. That’s where dApp stores come in. Most if not all dApp stores connect to a decentralized network where information about the app is hosted. The application thus hosted will have a high security and censorship-resistance.

BChat, BelNet, and all other ecosystem dApps will be hosted on multiple dApp store platforms so that you can access them freely from anywhere, anytime.

 

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Privacy and Freedom vs Transparency and Control

Freedom means having the right to be who you are, say what you want and do what you love provided it doesn’t infringe upon the freedom of others.

But in reality, we don’t really have the online freedom to say what we want or do what we love, do we?

Think about it. Our lives have gone entirely digital with the advent of the Internet. Some of us care more about our online lives and persona than the real ones.

People meet online, study online, and even find the love of their lives online.

A report by the UN suggests that, of the almost 8 billion people around the world, 5 billion are connected to the Internet. The study further states that an average Internet user spends almost 6 hours and 53 minutes a day online. Take us for example. We mostly work online and when we’re not working, we’re still online.

But we’re not really allowed to say what we want and do what we love because the Internet of today which spurred the digital revolution almost 2 decades ago thrives on user data.

And that’s why the data economy is a humongous $274 B large.

But do you know what’s more valuable than that?

Your privacy. 

We are constantly being surveilled, directly or indirectly. Ever thought that your data could be on someone’s spreadsheet classified into a cold, warm, or hot lead?

Or you could be represented in an infographic just like the image below.

The above image is the representation of a survey by Pandasecurity in which 1000 Americans participated. A majority of them value privacy but aren’t willing to pay for applications that protect their privacy.

The survey itself is an example of people willing to share their data.

The problem here is that a lot of people can benefit from an app that doesn’t collect data, but the app’s developers will still need to pay for operational and other costs. Thus, without data, such apps would not have a viable revenue stream.

What then, can be the solution?

Well, the data economy is not your enemy. It is the centralized actors who use your data for purposes other than for which it is collected.

When you’re signing up on a social media platform, you trust the platform to not use your data for their personal gains. But once you provide them your personal information like your phone number or email address, all you can do is sit back and hope that they don’t use it for devious reasons.

Moreover, with your personal data exposed, it becomes increasingly difficult to voice out for what you believe in. Your data could be used against you.

This is especially true on centralized social networking sites which use your personal information such as your name, username, email address, geographic location, IP address, or even your KYC information to cancel you on their platform.

 

Should the Internet be Censored?

Is free speech no longer the goal of the Internet?

To answer this, let’s see how one of the largest centralized social media platforms has fared in protecting free speech so far. Here’s a statement by Twitter on defending and respecting the rights of people. But ironically, the Twitter of today isn’t what it used to be. Or maybe it never was what it originally set out to be.

Elon Musk, Twitter’s new CEO along with Journalist Bari Weiss made astounding revelations about Twitter’s alleged shadowbanning to be true.

1. A new #TwitterFiles investigation reveals that teams of Twitter employees build blacklists, prevent disfavored tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics—all in secret, without informing users.

— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022

Twitter has practiced what it calls Visibility Filtering or VF. Twitter used VF to snub voices that supposedly go against their policies. This includes preventing tweets from trending using an internal “Trends Blacklist” or a “Do Not Amplify” tag.

Twitter has also used the VF feature to prevent people from finding certain accounts, such as the popular right-wing talk show host Dan Bongingo.

Among the list of people who were blacklisted include a Stanford medical doctor Jay Bhattacharya who claimed that the Covid lockdowns would harm children.

3. Take, for example, Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) who argued that Covid lockdowns would harm children. Twitter secretly placed him on a “Trends Blacklist,” which prevented his tweets from trending. pic.twitter.com/qTW22Zh691

— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022

Clearly, Twitter hasn’t been advocating for free speech for a really long time.

Social media today is a powerful tool to express your opinions, get real-time information, show your support for a cause, and even run donation campaigns.

We believe that every opinion matters, even if we don’t agree with them. And everyone has the right to express themselves.

There are instances of a single positive opinion on social media greatly impacting a person’s life.

While the opposite is also true with undesirable content that express intolerance, xenophobia, hate speech, sexual discrimination, and the like, it is worthwhile to build applications that help people deter negativity while preserving data privacy and freedom of speech.

 

So, Lets Free the Internet

Yes. Let’s do it.

But how do we go about it?

Well, Google didn’t give any viable solutions. Because, in its current form, many people don’t seem to think that the internet is really restricted.

Why?

Because centralized platforms hold monopoly over your data. It is how they are structured, inside out. And we are so used to the Internet that runs on data fuel that we’re blindsided to the idea that maybe, we can be part of the Internet too.

Freedom is limited on the Internet built by centralized applications. You are bound by the countless terms of service and privacy policies of these apps.

But, if you can hold a stake in the Internet, shape it, drive its growth, and truly be a part of it, then you’d have a censorship-free Internet that’s fair and unbiased.

The key to achieving this is decentralization. 

Censorship-free DApps like the BChat Web3 Messenger let you own a stake in it.

 

Free and Open Source Applications

The BChat Web3 Messenger is an open source application without any censorship. Here, users’ privacy is prioritized.

It is a decentralized application free of surveillance because it doesn’t collect any user data.

Users can freely share their views while preserving their privacy.

User data (shared messages, videos, and calls) is protected by layers of encryption and onion routing. BChat also provides you with metadata protection, which popular end-to-end encrypted applications fail to do.

Anonymous sharing of information over secure channels built over decentralized nodes ensures that the BChat decentralized messenger is the best open-source solution for a number of people.

Being open-source also means that there’s a greater scope for the technology to be adopted by other developers.

BChat’s open source benefits:

• Surveillance free.
• No data user is collected or shared.
• Censorship free.
• Collaborative efforts.

 

How Decentralization Aids Free Speech and Human Rights

Decentralized cryptocurrencies and censorship-free dApps have shown us that they can be the ray of hope in one’s life. Here’s a story that depicts how a quick-witted person converted his savings into cryptocurrency and fled from a war torn region.

Can you imagine waking up to sirens and loud blasts emanating from your surroundings?

You wouldn’t know what to do. But this was the reality for Fadey, a Ukrainian, who sensibly planned the situation and fled to Poland with his girlfriend by converting 40% of his life savings to cryptocurrency.

This shows how crypto can be used in critical situations when all other trusted, centralized systems fail.

Consider a similar situation where one needs to communicate with their loved ones without the fear of being surveilled or persecuted.

Professionals like investigative editors and reporters, human rights activists, even government and law enforcement officials need secure applications to share private and confidential information, without having a target on their backs.

Decentralized messaging applications like BChat were built to serve this purpose. BChat enables the safe and secure transfer of your messages and files.

Happy International Human Rights Day! #LetsBChat

Download BChat

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As children, we’ve all felt the joy of talking through cans and taut strings. It’s amazing what two paper cups and a stretched out string can do. And there’s something special to it. When you speak through the paper cup, you hope that only the person on the other side can hear what you say.

We believe that this aspect of privacy and secrecy in conversation is necessary for everyone. Our most intimate and cherished moments aren’t broadcasted but are conversations that are shared only with the people we love.

Calls have a long history. From electricity to radio wave frequency, from wired to wireless, and now from unprotected to encrypted calls, we’ve come a long way.

Today, the most happening place for secure calls are private encrypted messengers.

Normally, messages are encrypted and onion routed over the Beldex decentralized network. This happens through a network of relay nodes (masternodes) on Beldex. There are over 1100 masternodes that help relay your messages.

 

What are Peer to Peer Calls?

Peer to peer calls are possible with the BChat Web3 messenger. Peer to peer calls directly connect you, the caller, with the recipient. This means that a bunch of intermediaries used in traditional and centralized voice calling and video conferencing are removed.

P2P calls help you remain anonymous to an extent. BChat’s P2P calling feature masks your identity. However, since calls on BChat are not yet onion routed, the recipient will still be able to see your IP address.

An advanced version of anonymous calls, which will use the BelNet onion router, is under research. This will provide voice and video calls on BChat with extensive privacy protection.

 

Why should you make P2P Calls?

If you’re using a software like Google meet or Zoom, your calls are encrypted but you wouldn’t have the full metadata protection that peer to peer calls offer.

This is because with Google, Zoom, Skype or any other closed-source, centralized video conferencing platform,

1) Your data is collected by their systems: though the calls themselves are encrypted, they still know that you (user A) called your friend (user B).

2) You might be using an email or phone number to make the call. This is visible to Google and its affiliated third parties.

3) They can collect metadata such as the time, duration, caller ID, and other sensitive information.

Metadata don’t explicitly reveal what you’re talking about but they can be used to create your digital profile that is used to map out who you are affiliated with and how frequently you contact them.

Consider that you’re using WhatsApp to make an encrypted call. Based on the recipient information, the time, frequency and duration of the call, one may be able to ascertain whether you’re calling your boss at work or placing an order for lunch.

 

End to End Encrypted Calls

Encryption on BChat P2P calls is through WebRTC, an extension of the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). All WebRTC calls, including ones made via BChat, are encrypted using SRTP-DTLS encryption. SRTP is nothing but Secure Real-time Transport Protocol and DTLS refers to Datagram Transport Layer Security.

In fact, all encrypted calls today use the SRTP-DTLS standard. BChat ensures that your calls are made P2P, free of intermediaries.

Why encrypt calls?

What you share with your friends and family should only be your business. Others shouldn’t be able to eavesdrop or overheard on your personal conversations.

Businesses especially do not want their trade deals and secrets to be shared with their competitors or third parties before they are announced.

P2P calls also prevent Governments from spying on you. On the other hand, they provide Governments with a secure channel to transmit sensitive information.

Simply put, with encryption, there’s greater security and privacy.

 

How to make private encrypted calls on BChat? 

It’s easy to make P2P calls on BChat. Here’s an example that shows a call between Louis and his friend Alice.

But before you initiate a call, you should enable the voice and video call permission.

Here, Alice calls Louis without enabling the permissions. She receives a prompt as shown in the image below.

 

You can find the option to enable voice and video calls in the ‘Settings’ menu under the ‘Privacy’ option.

 

Now go back to the individual chat screen and tap the call option at the top right.

All calls are voice calls by default. You can enable or disable video on call using the video 📹 icon. You can also mute or unmute the microphone and speaker using the 🎙️and 🔊 options respectively.

 

Decentralized BChat IDs for Calls

While applications like Signal provide you with similar grade encryption, they still rely on a centralized system.

Phone numbers are optional on Signal, but they’re necessary to find your contacts. Thus, most people consent to provide their phone numbers.

On BChat, you can make calls using a decentralized identity that’s only available on-chain and cannot be used to link back to your real-world identity.

Yes, you can make calls with just your BChat ID. There essentially is no other identity that can be associated with your calls. BChat presents you with high bandwidth, low latency, lag-free voice and video calls.

Voice and video calls on BChat are available on all platforms (Android, iOS, Desktop – Windows, Mac, and Linux).

Is that all?

No. 

Group calls are coming. 

 

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Your Child’s Safety Online

Online safety has become a major concern. Cyberbullying and online harassment has affected almost 37% of the children worldwide today. As children spend more time on the Internet, it is indispensable that we educate ourselves on the importance of child safety online and ways to prevent cyberbullying.

So, how can your kids use the internet safely?

Children and adolescents, even more than adults, engage extensively in online activities such as surfing, streaming, gaming, and even shopping.

Adults would know the risks of using the Internet. And so, they don’t venture into the dark alleys of the Internet that’s accessible only to a very few. However, that’s not the case with children. Often, due to their inquisitive nature, children tend to open pathways that are not meant to be opened. For example, to the dark web. This challenge is daunting now that the pandemic has increased the time children spend online.

From age 5 to 13, children believe whatever they see, hear, or whoever they meet. Studies have shown that children acquire the capacity to make informed decisions only between the ages of 9 and 12.

Thus, whenever your child visits a site online, they are more likely to believe what they see. The children of today can be touted as the “Internet Generation.” Because, they live and breathe on the Internet. Their exposure to the digital world at a very young age has both its pros and cons.

With the creation of Metaverse, real-time global communication and immersive interaction between strangers is expected to increase. So will the time that your child spends online.

So, what are the issues that the children and parents of today face and how do we overcome them? Let’s take a look.

What Are the Challenges?

Children are moving into the digital world at an unprecedented rate. Every half second, a child connects to the internet for the very first time, a report by the United Nations Regional Information Center states.

There are four important challenges that a kid will face on the internet. They are,

1. Screentime

With the onset of the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns, we began spending more time online to work and stay connected with our friends and family. This change has also affected children who spent time learning and connecting with their friends online.

The AACAP states that 90% of American children between the ages 13 and 17 have used social media and 75% have at least 1 active social media account. In 2022, even with relaxed lockdowns, research shows that children worldwide spend 2-3 hours per day online.

2. Your child’s digital footprint & persona

You leave a digital footprint whenever you visit a website or an app. This is the same with your child.

To ad companies that thrive on personal data, your child’s data is just as important as yours.

To prevent ads on platforms like YouTube, ensure that your child uses the kids version of the app.

3. Cyberbullying

This is the most threatening activity on the Internet right now.

Statistics show that the U.S., India, and Brazil are the three countries where cyberbullying happens the most.

A 2021 report by the Cyberbullying Research Center shows that 45.5% of kids in the U.S. have experienced cyberbullying in their lifetime. 

4. Online scammers & harmful people

Kids trust everyone. Scammers take advantage of this trait and entice them to share their personal information.

Scammers may try to extort photos, home addresses, the child’s school details, information about his/her/their family member and even passwords.

For example, they may send a message that claims to offer free Roblox items and gift cards. A phishing link may be attached to this message.

People with malintent go a step further and may try to reach out to your child from beyond the display screens of their monitor and mobile phones.

5. Malicious software

Kids may download games through referral links or cracked versions that host harmful viruses. The malicious software then begins to track and monitor their activity.

What are the other threats?

• Exposure to harmful content such as violence, self-harm, and nudity
• Exposure or access to substance & narcotics
• Online bullies, trolls, and malicious actors
• Incomplete, misleading or inaccurate information
• Ads that target children

How Do We Protect a Child’s Safety Online?

It becomes more difficult to monitor a child’s online activity as they grow older. They may always have a smartphone with them. They most likely prefer and require privacy.

This is perfectly natural as they grow more independent of their parents.

If you’re a parent, open dialogue may help. Try to discuss online safety with your child.

• Discuss the risks of communicating with random people on the Internet and alert them not to readily trust everyone they meet online.
• Explain that passwords should not be shared with anyone, even if they are someone really close to them (boyfriends/girlfriends). Let them know why it is important to set boundaries.
• Discuss their online identity and ask if it makes them feel empowered or exposed. Online identities, just like real world identities, can be misused or misrepresented. Here’s an example of an online identity that is secured by cryptography and cannot be recreated or used twice.
• Explain what will happen if they visit inappropriate websites, links, or click on alluring pop-up ads. A friendly guide will always be more helpful than strong criticism.

How long is adequate?

Kids spend time on the internet using various devices. Almost every kid between the ages of 8 and 11 has their own smartphone. The survey was taken by UNICEF-Global kids online.

They claim that children received their smartphones at a very young age. Some younger than 8 years old.

• Between 11 and 13: 23.78%
• Between 8 and 10: 23.68%
• Between 14 and 16: 13.89%
• Younger than 8 years old: 13.29%
• After 16 years old 8.79%

Smartphones can be used as tools that protect and deter safety depending on the applications that children use.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) advises that kids between the ages of 2-5 should be limited to less than 60 minutes of screentime on a weekday and 180 minutes on a weekend.

Kids older than 6 years of age may be encouraged to limit their screen time and be educated about safe surfing.

Tips to Safe Online Surfing 

Children usually spend more time on social media than on other activities. They get more friends and interact with strangers on a daily basis. The engagement they receive on these social platforms is sometimes more important than ones in the real world.

Kids love attention. They try to imitate stunts and many daring tasks that they see online. Some examples of these are,

• The slap my teacher challenge
• The NyQuill chicken or sleepy chicken challenge
• The face wax challenge
• The skullbreaker challenge
• The penny challenge
• The dry scoop challenge

*Please don’t try these challenges at home or anywhere else.

If you notice your child being exposed to or engaging in such activities, educate them on the ill effects of these trends.

On the other hand, if they are being bullied or forced to participate in such activities, converse with them and reassure them that you can help.

If you’re a distraught parent worried about your child’s online safety, then these tips can help:

• Spend time online with your children to teach them proper internet usage.
• Never agree to let them meet anyone they met online, without your permission or supervision.
• Ask them to never reply to threatening emails, messages, posts, or texts.
• Always take your child’s report of an unsettling online platform seriously.
• Locate the computers or laptops in a public area where anyone can see what your child is doing. Always instruct them not to access personal or private information from a publicly used system.
• Regulate your child’s screen time on smartphones or tablets.

If you’re a child or an adolescent, then

• Never post or exchange personal information, such as your address, phone number, school name, or location publicly on the Internet.
• Use only a fictitious name, and never share your password with anyone.

Now, Online Safety Is Under One Roof

To safeguard your child’s privacy from scammers and malicious actors online, use the BChat Web3 Messenger. Any information that you share with your child and vice versa remains private.

On BChat, the BChat ID is used as an identifier instead of personal information like an email address or password.

This negates the risk of their phone number or email address being exposed online.

Since no data is collected, your child can converse without the fear of being impersonated by others.

The BChat privacy messenger only requires a working Internet connection to access in case of an emergency.

• Private Conversations: Things stay between the two of you, parent and child. No third parties, centralized actors, or advertisers.

• Peer to Peer Calls: Private calls stay private. No interference, wiretapping, surveillance, or eavesdropping.

• Goodbye, Strangers: Spammers cannot contact you, unless you share your BChat ID with them.

• Moderated Social Groups: On social groups, you cannot directly message someone without knowing their BChat ID. Social groups are also moderated to control spam.

• Closed to DMs: Even the most tenacious of spammers will only end up in the ‘message requests’ tab. All new conversations end up there. You can choose to accept them or block them with a single flick of a button.

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Aren’t we tired of the bots ravaging the internet right now? It’s one thing to use bots to help aid the flow of information, like when you need to get the price of the Beldex coin on Telegram with a slash command. But that’s different from having to deal with scores of “Hey, wanna chat?” messages. Community moderators have it tough, wading through bots and cleaning them up.

So are bots really disrupting your experience on the Internet? Why do businesses and institutions still use them?

And… are bots allowed on the BChat private messenger? Let’s take a look.

 

Bots vs Humans

Let’s face the truth. The bots are taking over, and they’re not playing around. Twitter was recently bought by Elon Musk who initially refused to go through with the acquisition deal because he claimed that a third of visible accounts on Twitter are bots. But other sources have claimed that bots on the platform are just shy of 5%.

Still a pretty high figure for a social platform with 238 million users because that’s close to 11.85 million bots.

Bots Are Bad for Social Media, Right? 

We’re pretty sure that you might have realized this, but bots are not necessarily bad for social media. It’s how they’re used that makes them annoying or undesirable.

Bots serve many purposes. Some bots are programmed to provide information when prompted. They help businesses and communities grow.

What Are Social Bots 

A social bot is a bot that communicates and interacts with users on social media.

For example, the bot @DearAssistant on Twitter is like your personal assistant that tweets answers to your questions. You could ask what’s the weather in Scarborough now or what day of the week does Christmas fall on in 2045 and you’d get the answer instantly. These are FAQ bots.

There are several other implementations of bots that help you get the information you need or perform a certain task. For instance, some bots on Telegram help provide real-time information about the price and volume of a cryptocurrency. E.g. Slash Commands

/about

/helpdesk

/price {Asset}

/volume {Asset}

/search

/faq

Spam Control 

Bots like Combot are used in Auto Moderation that help in reducing spam. They check the humanity of members who’re added to the group using a simple CAPTCHA test.

A filter can be added to the messages that are sent to delete, mute or ban bots and users who spam the community chat.

DM spam via bots are unavoidable on most of these social applications though.

 

Where Did It Go Wrong? 

Just as there are useful bots that help and support users online, there are also malicious ones whose primary purpose is to wreak havoc.

These range from spam and click-bait phishing bots to web scraping bots and a network of bots (a botnet) used to perform a DDoS attack.

Web Scraping Bots

Web scraping bots are bots that crawl a web page’s HTML or a mobile application to collect unencrypted data such as email addresses, user names, phone numbers, and the like.

This data is then used to send spam messages or phishing links. It may also be sold on darknet marketplaces further compromising the user’s privacy and security.

Spam, Scams, and Phishing Bots

•     Unwarranted DMs 

Once your username or email address is scraped, it is fed to a spam bot to send random phishing messages with links to spammy websites.

These messages can be exasperating and time-consuming to deal with.

Rule No. 1 when dealing with such messages,

If an unsolicited “May I help you” is the first message that you receive, be sure to block them immediately. Real moderators don’t DM you first unless you reach out to them. They also make sure to verify their identity beforehand.

Also,

Never Share Your Seed or Recovery Phrase and Password with Anyone 

Keep your recovery phrase safe and in a place that’s accessible only by you.

Below is an example of a random phishing message to our inbox.

 

•     Group Chats with Spammy Links 

If you’re joining a group chat, be sure to verify if it’s an official community chat of a legitimate project. Joining random crypto signals, airdrops, and pump and dump groups may lead you to phishing websites down the link.

Sometimes it’s exhausting to deal with these spammers. Here’s a quick guide to protect yourself from online spam & scams.

•     Endless Work for Moderators 

Community moderators have it tough with kicking, muting, banning bots and spammers. Though automod bots can help, there are limitations to what they can do.

For example, you’d want to allow users to send images, however, there may be no mechanism to review and approve images. In such cases, a community moderator has to review each and every image or video that’s sent by the users/bots.

 

Does BChat Allow Bots? 

BChat is a Web3 messaging app. As such, BChat connects to a decentralized network (the Beldex network) instead of centralized servers. Creating a bot on BChat is a bit complicated, however, it’s not impossible. However, there are mechanisms in place to keep those bots away.

Does BChat need a reCaptcha check?

reCaptcha is used to tell humans and bots apart. BChat currently doesn’t need this feature as it has preventive measures in place to prevent bots and spam from your inbox.

Preventive Measures 

The following features and practices may help you avoid unwanted messages on BChat.

• Your BChat ID Isn’t Visible to Anyone 

Your BChat ID isn’t visible to anyone on Social groups. Social groups are public groups that can accommodate a large number of participants. Thus, to prevent spammers from knocking your inbox, BChat IDs are visible only to your BChat contacts and hidden to others by default.

• Message Requests

The ‘message request’ feature filters messages from people who are not in your BChat contact list. When you share your BChat ID with someone for the first time, the messages they send will end up in the ‘Message Request’ tab at the top of the chats screen.

You can either accept or reject a message request.

Replying to their message also accepts their message request by default.

 

• Join Trusted Social Groups 

Since anyone can set up a server and open a Social group on BChat, we suggest that you only join trusted Social groups. These may be groups set up by your friends and peers.

You can also join one of the five groups managed by the Beldex Foundation.

These are,

1. Masternode
2. Beldex
3. BChat
4. BelNet
5. Crypto News

Download BChat Private Messenger

• Privacy on Secret Groups 

Only those in your contacts can add you to Secret Groups. Thus, you wouldn’t lose your privacy. However, members of the group can still see your BChat ID. The maximum number of people you can add to Secret Groups is 100.

 

Closing Thoughts 

Bots are just tools that we use to ease repetitive tasks or aid in supporting people. In the right hands, they are useful and in the wrong hands, they’re malicious.

Bots on BChat may be helpful in moderating Social group communities, however, we’ve ensured that they don’t end up in your inbox.

In the long term, BChat will incorporate useful bots such as an FAQ bot or a price bot.

Follow us to get instant updates on our developments

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Unlike fiat, there is no physical cash in crypto. The world is moving towards a digital future where cashless payments are made everyday. Prolonged pandemics like the COVID-19 have also made contactless payments a necessity.

People use credit cards, debit cards, and instant payment applications to pay for everything from travel, food, booking hotels, and shopping online/offline etc.

 

Crypto Payments, the New Buzz 

Crypto has only accelerated this trend with middlemen-free, near-instantaneous, cross-border payments. With crypto, you also pay only a fraction of the fees when compared to digital fiat payments.

Crypto payments are becoming popular as several retail stores, businesses, and even educational institutions begin to accept cryptocurrency. A few examples include Microsoft, Starbucks, Tesla, McDonalds, KFC Canada, Bentley University etc.

 

Here’s a report by Deloitte which states that over 75% of the retailers surveyed said they’d accept cryptocurrency within the next 2 years.

Businesses today want to connect with their customers instantly via messaging apps. It’s also easy and convenient for users to converse with the person or the business they’re transacting with. However, this exposes the users’ personal data.

 

Web3 communication & payments with BChat

Communication on instant messengers happens in real-time and paves way for millions of people to get in touch with their loved ones. To use Web2 messengers, users need to submit their name, phone number, or email address.

But this caveat once again results in user data being mishandled and even sold.

Right to privacy is really important. You pull that brick out and another and pretty soon the house falls.

-Tim Cook 

So how do we solve this problem?

Don’t collect any more data than what is strictly necessary to provide the service.

To prevent usage of user data, we must curtail the application’s dependency on it. Fortunately, blockchains applications provide a way to assign decentralized identities to people, removing the need for Web2 authentication mechanisms like emails and associated passwords.

 

Enter BChat

BChat is a private messenger that helps you connect with your friends privately. 

The BChat Web3 Messenger does not collect any of your personal information because it doesn’t need them! It secures your messages by onion routing them over a decentralized network.

 

Send Messages & Crypto

But even with a secure communications channel, everyone today needs a user-friendly, censorship-free, secure payment service. The Beldex decentralized wallet serves this purpose. Thus, BChat combines these two services and makes it easier for users to pay as they chat.

BChat has an integrated wallet and a pay as you chat feature (currently a WIP). With the ‘pay as you chat’ feature, you can send and receive BDX just as you converse with your friends.

Blockchains facilitate the transfer of both messages and value. BChat, built over the Beldex chain, acts as a decentralized messenger and a wallet service, adding anonymity to both your messages and transactions. 

 

Privacy in A Decentralized Payments App 

There was once a time when you couldn’t step out without paper money. Now, the times have changed. Cashless and contactless payments are the norm. 

People swipe their cards or scan with their mobile phones to make payments. It’s so much easier than having to carry wads of cash. It’s also easy to verify and authenticate the receipt of payment. No more counting!

Though there are many advantages, when it comes to the user’s financial privacy, these payment methods are lagging. 

Here are a few examples that illustrate why Web2 payment methods get a low score on privacy.

 

Connected to the Banks 

To use centralized payment applications, you’d need to connect them to your bank account.

To do this, you’d either connect your mobile phone number or email address registered to your bank account to the payments app.

You can connect multiple bank accounts to this application. With your authorization, the payments app can make transactions on your behalf. While all this sounds progressive, remember, 

• You’re sharing your bank account details with a third party payments / settlement vendor.
• Your transaction history is logged both by the third party app and your bank, which equates to zero financial privacy.

Solution: The Web3 messaging app BChat has an integrated wallet. The app directly connects to the Beldex decentralized network. Thus, communications and transactions on BChat are peer-to-peer. 

Users send and receive BDX peer-to-peer with the BChat Web3 messenger.

Only the user can access their transaction history. (Good riddance to third parties and even more third parties!)

Each transaction has a unique hash value associated with it. You can verify your transaction with the help of this transaction hash on the Beldex explorer. 

To access BChat on any device, you only need a Recovery Seed. 

You can sign in using an existing seed phrase or create a new one.

So you can finally say adios to your phone number, email address, and bank account. BChat is a simple and easy way to transfer messages and money without losing your privacy. 

 

Delayed or Failed Transactions

Transactions fail.. for many reasons. The sender or receiver’s bank servers may be experiencing a downtime.

A bank’s employee will constantly verify each transaction that happens among its users, paving the way for further centralization and censorship.

Cross-border transactions

Furthermore, cross-border transactions are a nightmare. Imagine you need to send $500 to your friend living in Malaysia due to an emergency. The time it takes for your bank to contact all the intermediaries and process the transaction is 3 to 5 days on an average. Each of these intermediaries charge a fee. Thus, cross border transactions usually charge a hefty fee. 

If a payment’s provider or correspondent bank’s server is down, then your payment will be further delayed. 

Solution: The BChat wallet connects to an always live decentralized network, thus there is virtually no downtime. 

You can make the payments in near real-time for a negligible fee. Your transaction will take a few minutes to be confirmed. Once your transaction is confirmed, you can use its corresponding hash to verify the transaction on the Beldex explorer. 

If there is a delay, then when the next block synchronizes, your transaction will be confirmed in a few minutes.

 

They Can See Your Transaction History

Your transactions will be stored on both the payment app as well as the bank’s servers. 

Both the centralized parties can view your transaction details like to whom you sent it to (the receiver), when it was sent (the timestamp), where it was sent from (your geolocation), how much was sent (the amount), your current account balance and the device that was used to access the app. 

GooglePay stated that they will collect user details like phone number, location, IP address, bank details, metadata, etc. and if required, they will share this information with third parties. 

Solution: Users need a censorship-free application to make payments which means that only the user can see their financial information.

Bchat, being a private messaging app with an integrated wallet, doesn’t need your IP address, location or metadata. Only the sender and receiver will know the BDX has been sent and received. 

 

Limits on Payment

There are limitations to transactions on a Web2 payments app. For example, the amount and number of transactions that can be made on GooglePay.

GPay states that “in a rolling 7-day period, you can only make 30 withdrawals.” 

Micropayments have become a part of our everyday lives so much so that it’s unthinkable to have limiters on them. 

Besides, not all micropayment applications support cross-border transactions and the ones that do have higher currency conversion charges and service taxes. 

This fee isn’t fixed and will change based on the amount transferred, your bank and the payment services they’re tied to. 

Solution: There are no limitations on the BChat decentralized wallet. 

Since your BChat ID and Wallet ID are mapped together, you can pay someone without switching to the Beldex wallet app (PlayStore, AppStore). 

You can transfer any amount any time to anyone from anywhere in the world. Now that’s truly powerful! You can make these payments on the go as you chat with them using the ‘pay as you chat’ feature. 

Cross-border payments become so much easier with BChat. A flat fee of 0.003 BDX is charged when you transfer BDX using Flash instant transactions. That means you don’t pay even a penny. And it is the same for all transactions, whether you transfer 10 BDX or 10 Million BDX. 

Later on, Beldex Name Service (BNS) domains (still a WIP) can be mapped to your BChat ID and wallet so you can send and receive messages as well as BDX using your BNS domain name. 

 

Final thoughts

The decentralized Beldex wallet in BChat reassures your privacy and provides you near real-time settlement in transactions. If you are thinking about a secure payment option, then choose BChat Web3 messenger today. 

 

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It’s here people! Truly private conversations have expanded into a new realm.

BChat’s desktop application is live! Now, your conversations stay private no matter what device you use.

BChat is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac. Download them from the links below.

Download BChat for Windows: https://deb.beldex.io/Beldex-projects/Bchat/desktop/windows/releases/v2.0.0/bchat-desktop-win-x64-2.0.0.exe

Download BChat for Mac: https://deb.beldex.io/Beldex-projects/Bchat/desktop/macOS/releases/v2.0.0/bchat-desktop-mac-x64-2.0.0.dmg

Download BChat for Linux: https://deb.beldex.io/Beldex-projects/Bchat/desktop/linux/releases/v2.0.0/bchat-desktop-linux-amd64-2.0.0.deb

The BChat Desktop app will also support voice and video calls.

Here’s a quick guide to the features on the BChat desktop app.

Stay tuned for more exciting news and updates. Follow us on,

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BChat is our flagship and first dApp to be launched. It’s a messaging application that doesn’t collect any information about the user. You can create an account on BChat simply by generating an anonymous on-chain BChat ID that you can use to chat with your friends and family. BChat is available for mobile devices on the PlayStore and AppStore.

Download BChat from PlayStore

Download BChat from AppStore

We envision BChat to be a cross-platform application that’s accessible on every device. This is why we’ve been developing a desktop version of the application for Linux, Windows, and MacOS.

We’re close to launching the app, save for a final few testing. So here’s a quick sneak peek into the application and its features.

 

Display Name

Set a display name. This is the name that your friends will see when they chat with you. This is not a username as BChat doesn’t have usernames. If there’s anything such as an username equivalent, then it’d be your BChat ID.

 

Wallet Password

BChat is not a standalone messenger. It’s an application that incorporates several features with messaging as its primary use case. However, BChat will later incorporate an integrated wallet that will let you send and receive BDX, the native crypto currency of the Beldex network.

For this reason, set a wallet password that can be used to access your wallet within BChat. This password is also used to authenticate your transactions.

 

Chat ID & Beldex Address

Once you’ve set your wallet password, a randomly generated BChat ID and Wallet address will be displayed on-screen. You can share this BChat ID with your friends to connect with them on BChat.

The wallet address corresponds to your wallet within BChat. Both the wallet address and BChat ID are generated with the same mnemonic key or recovery seed. Thus, you can use this seed to restore your wallet on the Beldex decentralized wallet (PlayStore, AppStore).

 

Recovery Phrase

The next screen will show you your recovery phrase (also called recovery seed or mnemonic key). Ensure that no one else is behind you. Copy the recovery phrase and save it somewhere safe.

Preferably write it down on paper and place it in a safekeep. Your recovery phrase can be used to restore or sign into your BChat account from another device.

 

Your Profile

And voila! You’ve created your account. You can see your profile (display name, BChat ID and wallet address) by clicking on the profile icon at the top left corner. You can edit your display name here.

 

Start a New Chat!

Start a new chat by clicking the (+) icon on the navigation bar at the top-left. Enter your friend’s BChat ID to connect with them or share your BChat ID via a secure external channel.

 

The Chat Box

Messages that you receive are first filtered through a message request. You can either choose to accept or reject the message request. Once you accept a message request, then the sender is added to your BChat contactbook.

Message requests are automatically accepted when you respond to a message. You can use the attachment icon to send images📷, videos📹, and files📁.

 

Chat Settings

Click the hamburger icon at the top-right corner of the chat window to reveal the chat settings. The chat settings has a number of options that allow you to

• Set disappearing messages
• Enable/disable the notification for a specific chat
• Pin the chat to the top of the left pane
• Block a contact
• Copy their BChat ID
• Mark all the unread messages as read
• Change the nickname for your contact
• Delete all the messages in the conversation
• Delete the contact
• And show user details (alternately, you can click their profile icon to reveal their details)

 

The Left Pane

Alternatively, you can also click on the chats in the left pane to reveal the chat settings

 

Secret Groups

You can find the secret groups option at the bottom of the left pane.

Secret groups are groups that you can create for your close circle of friends and family. You can only add your BChat contacts to secret groups.

Currently, the maximum number of contacts that you can add to a secret group is 100. Secret groups work in the same way as one-to-one chats.

 

Social Groups

Social groups are public groups that can accommodate a large number of participants. Thus, it is perfect for larger communities. To set up and manage a social group, the administrator of the group needs to set up a dedicated server. The capacity of the group at any time will depend on the capacity of the server. A detailed documentation on setting up a social group will be shared in a follow-up post.

At present, 5 social groups are managed by the Beldex foundation. These are Beldex, BChat, BelNet, Crypto News, and Masternode.

 

Settings

Click the settings⚙️ icon at the bottom of the left pane to access account settings.

Here you can find the options to customize your account appearance and manage your privacy settings. You can also find the list of blocked contacts, view your recovery seed and messages requests.

Hops will show you the location of the nodes your messages are being routed through in the Beldex network.

 

Voice & Video Calls

To make a voice or a video call, first go to Settings > Privacy and enable ‘microphone’ and ‘voice and video calls’ access.

Now, click the phone icon at the top right of the chat window. This will initiate a voice call and you’ll see a pop-up window.

You can enable video by clicking the video icon in the pop-up. Here, you also have the option to mute the microphone and the speaker.

 

Light Mode

Click the sun☀️ icon next to the (+) icon at the top left to activate light mode. You can also access this option under Settings > Appearance > Dark Mode > Disable.

Similarly, clicking the moon🌙 icon or enabling dark mode under settings activates the dark mode.

BChat desktop will be launching soon. Stay tuned.

 

Until then, try BChat for mobile: 

Download BChat on PlayStore

Download BChat on AppStore

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For real time communication, we are all entirely dependent on digital technology. Instant messengers have a prominent role in making our communication comfortable and easy. You can communicate with anyone from anywhere at any time from anywhere in the world. Messengers are beneficial in many ways. Today’s instant messengers allow you to not only send text messages but also images, voice messages, videos, files, and many more.

You can also share your location in real time or connect with your friends for a group voice or video call. But is all of this really free to use? Everything you need has a price. It’s the same with instant messengers. You do pay a price for using such services.

It’s your data.

Centralized messengers, by monitoring your messages, create your digital persona. This digital persona is a consolidation of your preferences and interests. This information is often sold to third parties (and that’s how instant messengers make money!). These third parties can range from an e-commerce company to a political party.

However, every problem has a solution and if you don’t want your personal preferences to be known to third parties, there’s something that you can do about it.

Switch to the best privacy messaging app today.

 

A Free Lease on Your Data

People communicate with others through messaging applications. On centralized messengers, the messages you send to others will be transmitted through centralized servers.

The servers will route the messages to the receiver from the sender. While transmitting, your messages get stored on their centralized servers and in your device’s local storage.

For example, on the Meta-owned messaging app WhatsApp, the messages you send can be accessed by its legion of more than 15000 content moderators.

Though WhatsApp claims to offer end-to-end encryption, a report shows that WhatsApp moderators can see what you sent, when you sent it, and to whom you sent it.

This happens when someone reports the message. In addition to this, centralized messaging platforms use artificial intelligence to scan metadata information for suspicious or abusive messages.

Metadata is nothing but data about your data. For example, if you’re sending an image to your friend, the metadata information for this image can be

• The type of message that was sent (in this case, a JPEG or PNG file)
• The timestamp of the message
• The size of the message
• Names of the sender and the receiver etc.

The metadata collected by centralized messengers is substantial. On most messengers, only one-to-one chats are encrypted. However, there are several other pieces of unencrypted data that are unprotected and ripe for harvesting. These include everything from your,

• Name
• Phone Number
• Profile Photo
• IP Address
• Location
• Language
• Mobile Device ID
• The Mobile Apps that you’ve downloaded
• Your Battery Level
• Wireless Network Strength
• The Operation System of your mobile device and
• Other details such as usage patterns

Clearly, that’s too much information and your privacy can be compromised.

 

Messages Can Vanish Without A Trace?

Instant messengers today provide a feature called disappearing messages. These messages have a time limit after which they disappear, usually 5 to 10 seconds. Normally, your messages will always be stored on your device’s local storage and on the servers maintained by the platform. But with disappearing messages, once you’ve set the timer, they vanish without a trace, or that’s what they’re supposed to do.

But are these messages really deleted when you delete them? Not really.

Centralized messaging applications can state that they are end-to-end encrypted, safe, and secure, but they do store and share your data with their partners and vendors. This article here explains how popular centralized messages share your data with third parties.

Messages also don’t disappear on Whatsapp when replied to. So, even after turning on the disappearing messaging feature, messages that have been replied to will remain forever. When a disappearing message is forwarded, it will still be available in the forwarded chat.

When you backup messages to the cloud or your local drive, the entire history of your messages are saved. This includes disappearing messages. In addition to this, the recipient can see the message after it has been deleted in push notifications  if they haven’t opened the app for a few days.

In Telegram, disappearing messages are only available in secret chats. The feature is not available for group chats or personal chats. To ensure that your privacy is preserved, you need a decentralized messenger like the BChat private messaging app.

 

Yes, Messages Do Vanish Permanently

BChat ensures privacy in communications by never storing your messages for longer than 14 days on-chain. These messages are encrypted and can only be accessed by you.

At times, you’d want to save a record of your conversations to look at it at a later date.

However, since BChat doesn’t store your messages for more than 14 days on-chain, this isn’t possible.

Can you then not retrieve your messages sent on BChat?

You can.

The entire history of your conversations on BChat are always stored locally on your device, accessible only to you.

But there are times when you’d need no traceability of certain conversations. You might want to communicate something confidential and not have any record of it for later inspection. It might be something personal or related to your work or completely random stuff just off the top of your mind.

That’s why we added a disappearing message feature to BChat that permanently deletes any conversation without a trace when enabled.

Because there needs to be a secure communications channel to send confidential information that auto-deletes after a preset time.

You can set the preset time for disappearing messages on BChat anywhere from 5 seconds to a week.

So whom does the disappearing messages on BChat help?

Well, it’s literally everyone but there is a certain section of people who may benefit from it more than others.

• Specifically, journalists covering controversial topics
• Businesses sharing highly confidential information such as trade secrets
• Communication in oppressed regimes

are a few of the examples.

 

How Do Disappearing Messages Work?

Disappearing messages can be set by either person in the conversation and they are deleted for both the sender and the recipient.

For example, if you set the timer to 5 seconds, then messages are deleted for the sender 5 seconds after it has been marked sent and for the sender, 5 seconds after it has been delivered.

The disappearing messages you send won’t be stored anywhere in the local storage either. Thus, they cannot be retrieved by backing up the data to your local storage. Users can extensively customize the timer as shown below.

• 5 seconds
• 10 seconds
• 30 seconds
• 1 minute
• 5 minutes
• 30 minutes
• 1 hour
• 6 hours
• 12 hours
• 1 day
• 1 week

When this feature is enabled, it is indicated to both parties on the chat screen.

Would you want to back up your messages or have them thrown into oblivion? Try it here.

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This article is about decentralized digital identities (DIDs) and their benefits. DIDs are on-chain identities that let you use a single wallet address or ID to access your accounts on different platforms.

 

Personal & Online Identities 

Personal identities have long since been used to serve consumers better. There are elaborate mechanisms used to identify and authenticate a user’s identity. 

Nations today use what is known as a national identifier. For example, in the U.S, people are identified using their Social Security Number. But are these identifiers really safe? 

With the onset of digital transformation, our personal identities today have migrated to the digital world. Whether we’re traveling or purchasing something online, we are required to produce a digital identity that is used to authenticate our travel or purchase. 

The digital identity can range anything from your national ID number, passport, bank account, credit card, or debit card information. There are three main constraints with using these digital identities. 

1. These are extremely important and sensitive data that need to be handled only by the user.
2. There is no secure place to store this information online. They run the risk of being exposed to third parties, and are susceptible to hacks. Thus, they can be stolen, altered or tampered with. 
3. Companies that handle this data need to be trusted to keep them safe. They may sometimes be used for purposes other than their intended use. 

 

Is Your Online Identity Safe? 

Your online identity nowadays is a username and a password associated with it. 

Depending on the platform that you use, you may be required to provide additional information. For example, if it is a subscription based service like Netflix, then you’d be required to provide your credit card or debit card and other details. 

If it’s a social media account, then you may be sharing your name, photo, phone number, email address, age, date of birth and other information. 

If it’s a centralized & KYC’d cryptocurrency exchange, then the information collected may be your National ID, Passport, or any other relevant ID document and your bank account details. 

In addition to this, if you’re browsing a video streaming service like YouTube, the data collected may be used to target you with relevant ads. 

Your information is generally safe with them, until they decide to use it for their own vested interests. Facebook, for one, is accused of allegedly selling millions of people’s data to third parties for devious reasons. 

More recent data breaches that compromised user data include Cisco’s VPN breach and a hacker selling 5.4 million Twitter users’ data on a forum that resulted from a bug exploit on Twitter. 

Hacks and data breaches have been increasing by the day. Just Last month, several high profile companies and websites like the rental service provider U-haul, the ride-hailing and ride-sharing firm Uber, American Airlines and even the online forum Kiwi Farms were hacked. These incidents further reinforces the need for greater security and privacy in sharing personal data. Did you know that you can protect your data and identity by using decentralized identifiers on BChat? 

 

What are Decentralized Identifiers? 

Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) are on-chain identities that can be used to identify users without having to reveal sensitive and personal information about them. DIDs can be anything from your wallet address to a BChat ID. 

For example, you can use your BChat ID to connect with your friends and family on BChat, without having to provide any of your personal data. All you need to access or restore your account is a 24-25 word cryptographically generated key. There are no usernames or passwords. Any data that you do share or download is encrypted and stored locally on your device. 

• Making DIDs Easy to Remember

Decentralized identities are usually long and random hexadecimal characters that are difficult to memorize or recall when needed. To solve this problem, decentralized domain mapping is used. Users can map their wallet address or ID to a human readable domain such as beldexcoin.bdx. 

.bdx domains are a part of Beldex Name Service (BNS) that can be used to host a domain on BelNet. Later on, it will be possible to send or receive BDX just by using your BNS domains. 

• Benefits of DIDs

• • They are easy to remember 
  • DIDs are private and secure 
  • They can be mapped to your wallet 
  • They can authenticate your on-chain identity 
  • They can be used to maintain a record of your lendings and borrowings (decentralized credit scores) 
  • They can be used to establish trust and prove your credibility (educational qualifications,  employment status, nationality, etc.)

• Benefits of BNS domains 

  • BNS (.bdx) domains can be used to host an intranet domain on BelNet 
  • BNS (.bdx) domains can be used to host MNApps
  • They can be used to send and receive BDX 

 

Building Trust with Privacy and Autonomy 

Your personal identity should always be private. So how do you protect your identity online? 

First is to use a safe and secure decentralized encrypted messaging app and a decentralized P2P VPN service to mask your IP. 

Use a decentralized identity such as a BChat ID to communicate with your friends and family. BChat never asks for your phone number or email ID. The anonymous signup will ensure your privacy.

BNS domains on BelNet will offer a way for you to host unstoppable applications over the Beldex network. BNS names will also serve as your decentralized identifier on the Beldex ecosystem. 

Beldex is currently researching the mapping of BNS domains to both your BChat ID and your Beldex wallet address so it will be possible to transfer BDX and send messages to your BNS names.

 

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