Author: Nancy, PANews

In the world of cryptocurrency, both assets and technology are gradually stepping onto a more meaningful stage.

In the past few months, from Hurricane "Melissa" sweeping through Jamaica, causing a nationwide internet blackout, to Uganda, where authorities cut off signals due to elections, a cryptocurrency communication application called Bitchat unexpectedly gained popularity, becoming the "Communication Noah's Ark" in the eyes of millions around the world.

Multiple Top Downloads, Bitchat Becomes the "Communication Noah's Ark"

In extreme environments of internet blockade, natural disasters, or infrastructure paralysis, traditional instant messaging tools often fail collectively. Bitchat has proven itself in multiple real-world scenarios to be not just a social software, but a key emergency tool for dealing with internet interruptions, helping countless people cross digital barriers and reconnect with the world.

Recently, the Ugandan government cut off the national internet on the eve of the presidential election under the pretext of curbing misinformation. In the face of the blackout, Bitchat quickly became the most downloaded application in the country. Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the platform, maintaining basic information flow amid the information blockade.

In addition to sudden social unrest, Bitchat is also a key tool during natural disasters. In October 2025, Hurricane "Melissa" severely impacted Jamaica, causing devastating damage to the island's power and communication networks, with internet connectivity plummeting to about 30% of normal levels. In the darkest moment when traditional instant messaging tools were completely paralyzed, Bitchat quickly filled the gap, topping the local app charts and becoming a crucial communication channel for the country's 2.8 million residents.

According to AppFigures data, at that time, Bitchat not only secured the first place in the social category of the Jamaica App Store but also ranked second in the overall free app charts on both iOS and Android platforms. This was the first large-scale download peak triggered by Bitchat in response to a natural disaster.

The heat brought by this crisis is not an isolated case. In places like Nepal, Indonesia, Madagascar, and Côte d'Ivoire, whether due to government intervention triggered by political protests or infrastructure damage caused by disasters, Bitchat has seen a surge in popularity during periods of network restrictions, becoming a safe haven for people to maintain basic communication during turbulent times.

From "Weekend Experiment" to "Cryptocurrency Communication Tool," Over a Million Downloads

The rise in popularity of Bitchat is not accidental. As a cryptocurrency communication application based on Bluetooth mesh networks that can operate without the internet, Bitchat precisely addresses the pain points of traditional instant messaging tools in extreme environments.

This decentralized peer-to-peer chat application was launched in the summer of 2025 by Jack Dorsey, co-founder of X (formerly Twitter), with the aim of exploring Bluetooth mesh, message encryption, and storage forwarding models. At that time, he wrote on the X platform, "I did a project over the weekend to learn about Bluetooth mesh networks, relaying and storage forwarding models, message encryption models, and some other things."

Today, this open-source "weekend experiment project" has evolved into a decentralized offline communication tool of real significance.

Imagine that during a natural disaster or in remote mountainous areas, you only need a mobile phone to communicate securely and encrypted with nearby people, without needing an account or personal information.

Specifically, Bitchat's core competitiveness lies in its innovative application of Bluetooth mesh network (BLE Mesh) technology. Unlike traditional peer-to-peer Bluetooth connections, Bitchat transforms every smartphone with the app installed into a dynamic node with routing capabilities. This model supports multi-hop relaying, meaning information can be transmitted not just between two adjacent devices but can be relayed through countless intermediate nodes, greatly extending the signal coverage. Even if some nodes go offline due to movement or shutdown, the system automatically calculates the optimal path for rerouting. Even when the entire world is offline due to internet outages or base station collapses, it remains online.

At the same time, unlike tools like WeChat and WhatsApp that rely on centralized servers, Bitchat emphasizes extreme privacy. Users do not need to bind their phone numbers, emails, or social accounts; it is ready to use upon startup. All messages are end-to-end encrypted, ensuring that content is only visible to the sender and receiver, and the sender's ID and timestamp are also obfuscated. Since there is no central server, users' communication exchanges, friend lists, and physical trajectories leave no trace in any cloud, fundamentally eliminating the possibility of data leaks and mass surveillance.

In addition to basic communication, Bitchat has also introduced a practical location note feature. Users can pin information to specific geographic coordinates. In disaster response or emergency scenarios, these notes can mark danger zones, provide safety shelter guidelines, or even share community mutual aid information, with any user entering that geographic fence immediately receiving alerts.

This high-resilience communication feature has driven an explosive growth in Bitchat's user adoption rate, with downloads exceeding one million, especially popular in areas with internet restrictions or outages. For example, during the internet blackout in Iran in 2025, weekly downloads reached as high as 438,000; during the anti-corruption protests in Nepal in September 2025, downloads surged to over 48,000; and on the eve of the 2026 elections in Uganda, due to a recommendation from an opposition leader, over 21,000 people installed it within just 10 hours.

It can be said that Bitchat's rapid development is not only due to Jack Dorsey's personal influence or its free model but also because it provides global users with a connection right that requires no permission. When the whole world is offline, Bitchat can still stay online.

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