ICP-based blockchain chat app launches ‘Communities’ to compete with Discord

Blockchain chat app OpenChat has enabled customers to create Discord-like servers referred to as “Communities,” in response to an Aug. 2 announcement.

OpenChat is a blockchain-based chat app working on the Web Laptop (ICP) community. It facilitates principally crypto-oriented discussion groups, together with some with just a few thousand members. LootMoneyArmy (3,201 members), Magnetic (2,703 members) and DFinityVN (2,597 members) are some examples of OpenChat teams.

The app’s improvement workforce first introduced the Communities function in February. On the time, they noticed that customers had been using OpenChat for various causes than initially anticipated. Whereas builders initially meant Communities for use as an immediate messaging app much like WhatsApp or Sign, end-users appeared extra keen on utilizing the app to kind public teams and construct communities.

Whereas the builders welcomed this curiosity, additionally they defined that OpenChat lacked the hierarchical system utilized in apps like Discord or Slack. This prevented group admins from utilizing it to create subgroups to maintain dialog centered on explicit subjects, finally making teams on OpenChat much less efficient than they in any other case might be.

The workforce promised to repair this downside by implementing Communities in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later, making the app extra appropriate for customers keen on becoming a member of teams. The brand new function would exchange the present teams with “communities” and permit admins to create “teams” inside these communities, much like the best way Discord has channels inside servers. Admins would additionally be capable to make their communities non-public, giving them a perform much like a Slack group, the publish said.

The Aug. 2 announcement states that Communities has now launched and is obtainable throughout the app.

In a dialog with Cointelegaph, OpenChat co-founder Julian Jeffs mentioned Communities will finally enable crypto protocols to construct communities straight from their very own web sites, eliminating the necessity for downloading exterior applications like Discord or Telegram.

“One different type of notable factor on the roadmap that Communities will facilitate is offering integrations to different apps within the ecosystem as properly,” Jeffs defined. “There are lots of different apps that want to have a chat perform inside however don’t essentially need to ship their customers outdoors of their web site or the app.”

Jeffs additional defined that the workforce is experimenting with a number of designs for this future “Communities integration” system. One idea is to supply a “server-to-server synchronization” between OpenChat and every mission, whereas an alternative choice is to create a set of front-end parts that tasks might “drop in” to their interfaces. Both manner, the combination would enable customers of Web3 protocols to talk with different customers and get technical assist from admins while not having to navigate away from the apps they’re utilizing.

The workforce pressured that the “integrations” function is not going to be part of Communities at launch however is deliberate to be applied in a later patch.

Associated: New Web3 ID app lets customers discover one another primarily based on confirmed pursuits

Discord and Telegram are the 2 most generally used messaging apps within the crypto neighborhood, however these Web2 platforms don’t enable customers to publish messages utilizing their Web3 identities. This could result in customers getting scammed by individuals claiming to be holders of wallets they don’t truly management. 

OpenChat is one mission attempting to unravel this downside. One other instance is Grill.chat, which runs on a Polkadot chain however permits Ethereum pockets holders to talk utilizing their Ethereum usernames. Coinbase pockets’s new messaging function is one other instance of the rising motion to permit wallet-based chat.

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