Bitcoiners roast Elon Musk's new ‘Bitcoin-style' XChat
Bitcoiners roast Elon Musk's new 'Bitcoin-style' XChat originally appeared on TheStreet.
Elon Musk wants X to become the most secure communication platform on the planet. But his latest branding choice has left the crypto world confused, and a little amused.
On June 1, Musk announced XChat, a new feature for X (formerly Twitter) that includes encrypted messaging, vanishing messages, file sharing, and audio/video calling — all without needing a phone number. The architecture is reportedly built on Rust, and as Musk described it, uses 'Bitcoin-style encryption.'
That phrasing triggered an instant response from Bitcoin experts.
'Brother w*f is bitcoin style encryption, bitcoin literally doesn't have any encryption in it whatsoever,' wrote Taproot Wizards contributor Udi Wertheimer, whose tweet quickly racked up over half a million views.
Short answer. Not in the way you think.
Despite being one of the most secure financial systems ever created, Bitcoin does not use encryption to keep data private. Instead, it relies on cryptographic hashing and digital signatures, both critical tools in cryptography, but not encryption. Hashing (like SHA-256) is used to generate unique fingerprints of data, crucial for mining and verifying transactions. Digital signatures (using ECDSA or Schnorr) ensure that only someone with the correct private key can authorize a transaction.
As Wertheimer explained, encryption is when you take a message and keep it secret from everyone but the intended recipient. Bitcoin doesn't hide anything. Every transaction is open, auditable, and publicly visible on the blockchain — that's part of its entire design.
'Seriously, what is Bitcoin-style encryption?' asked cryptographer and assistant professor Ian Miers. 'Bitcoin primarily uses signatures, not encryption. This is like saying, we decided to run our rocket on water, since NASA uses hydrogen and oxygen.'
Some users pointed out that Bitcoin Core implemented BIP-324, a proposal to encrypt peer-to-peer (P2P) network messages, in 2023. That means nodes talking to each other on the Bitcoin network can now encrypt their communication — but this is not the same as encrypting transactions or wallets.
So while there's some encryption involved at the networking layer, it's misleading to suggest that Bitcoin's core value proposition revolves around encryption.
Even Wertheimer admitted he may have jumped the gun: 'I might have to stop tweeting about bitcoin forever… turns out they do have some encryption in Bitcoin Core for the P2P protocol since 2023. Elon knows more about Bitcoin than I do. It's over, bye.'
Musk was probably referring to end-to-end encryption and threw in 'Bitcoin-style' as shorthand for peer-to-peer privacy and decentralization — even if the terminology isn't accurate.
As crypto OG Wei Dai speculated: ''Bitcoin-style' ~= 'peer-to-peer' ~= 'end-to-end'... So 'Bitcoin style encryption' means 'end-to-end encryption'.'
Musk's XChat may very well offer a solid privacy layer for communications. But if you're calling it "Bitcoin-style encryption," be ready for pushback — because in Bitcoin, transparency is the feature, not the bug.
And if you're going to cite the world's most open protocol, maybe… read the whitepaper first.
TheStreet Roundtable reached out to X for clarification on what Musk meant by 'Bitcoin-style encryption.' This story will be updated if and when the company responds.
Bitcoiners roast Elon Musk's new 'Bitcoin-style' XChat first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 2, 2025
This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Why CrowdStrike (CRWD) Stock Is Falling Today
Shares of cybersecurity company CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) fell 5.5% in the afternoon session after the company reported mixed first quarter 2025 (Q1 FY-26) results: its revenue guidance for next quarter slightly missed and its full-year revenue guidance was just in line with Wall Street's estimates. On the other hand, CrowdStrike beat convincingly on operating profit. Looking ahead, guidance was solid. The company's EPS guidance for next quarter topped analysts' expectations, and its full-year EPS guidance slightly exceeded Wall Street's estimates as well. Overall, this was a mixed quarter and not enough for the high expectations around the stock (as evidenced by the 52-week high right before reporting and a 40+% stock price appreciation year-to-date before the print). The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy CrowdStrike? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. CrowdStrike's shares are very volatile and have had 20 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today's move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business. The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 11 months ago when the stock dropped 14.7% following a global technology outage. The outage was caused by a faulty update deployed by CrowdStrike to computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system. CrowdStrike clarified that the issue wasn't caused by "a security incident or cyberattack." CEO George Kurtz noted on the social media platform X (formerly called Twitter) that "the issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed." However, the issue had far-reaching consequences, affecting systems in industries delivering critical services, including hospitals, banks, and airports. CRWD stock's decline suggested markets might be struggling to understand the long-term implications of the issue, especially as it relates to CrowdStrike maintaining its dominance in the highly competitive cybersecurity space, which often permits little to no room for mistakes. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives provided insights on how this might play out, adding, "It could create opportunity for some competitive displacements, but this will take time to determine the path of CIOs and companies looking ahead and related legal actions related to this outage." CrowdStrike is up 33% since the beginning of the year, and at $461.84 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $488.76 from June 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of CrowdStrike's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $4,812. Here at StockStory, we certainly understand the potential of thematic investing. Diverse winners from Microsoft (MSFT) to Alphabet (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO) to Monster Beverage (MNST) could all have been identified as promising growth stories with a megatrend driving the growth. So, in that spirit, we've identified a relatively under-the-radar profitable growth stock benefiting from the rise of AI, available to you FREE via this link.
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Republicans aren't following Elon Musk's lead anymore
Months ago, Elon Musk helped tank a government funding bill. Now, Republicans are mostly shrugging off his criticism of their "Big Beautiful Bill." "I don't think it's gonna move the needle in any direction," one House Republican told BI. Elon Musk says President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" is a "disgusting abomination." Republicans on Capitol Hill are making clear that they don't really care. "I think he's flat wrong," House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. "I think he's way off on this." "We have a difference of opinion," Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Tuesday. "He's entitled to that opinion, we're going to proceed full speed ahead." It's a far cry from December, when Musk, then the incoming de facto leader of the White House DOGE Office, helped generate an online pressure campaign that swiftly tanked a government funding bill. That episode was a dramatic sign of the tech titan's burgeoning influence in Washington, suggesting that GOP lawmakers would be taking his cues — perhaps as much as they took Trump's — in the months to come. Now no longer leading DOGE, Musk has returned to being another outside voice. Fiscal hawks who agree with him don't mind getting a little backup. Other Republicans are happy to brush him off. "Elon, of course, is the wealthiest man in the world, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's wrong or he's right. He has an opinion, just like the rest of us," Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told BI. "I don't think it's gonna move the needle in any direction." Musk did not respond to a request for comment. Trump has continued to pressure Republicans to support the bill, and the White House has said that those who vote against it should face primary challenges. Trump himself has not yet responded to Musk, though Johnson told reporters that the president is "not delighted that Elon did a 180" on the bill. Musk's broadside against the bill, according to him, is about its impact on the debt. Multiple forecasters who have analyzed the bill, including the Congressional Budget Office and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, have estimated that the current version of the bill would add more than $2 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years. Musk has argued that this undermines DOGE, which has been trying to significantly reduce federal spending. Republicans were already arguing about this amongst themselves. Fiscal conservatives like Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin say that the version of the bill that passed the House last month adds too much to the debt, and they're now seeking to amend it. Most Republicans, however, have argued that outside projections about the bill's impact on the debt are flawed and don't account for potential economic growth as a result of the bill's eventual passage. Even those who agree with Musk don't seem to believe that his comments will strengthen their hand that much. "Sure, it helps bolster the case," Sen. Ron Johnson told reporters of Musk's tweet. "But again, the President wants to balance the budget as well." Perhaps the biggest reason why Musk's comments are unlikely to tank the bill: It's the centerpiece of Trump's legislative agenda, and it's simply too important to them. The bill includes a permanent extension of tax cuts that Trump and Republicans first enacted in 2017, contains new funding for border security and immigration enforcement, and is chock full of other GOP priorities that they're not going to give up simply because of Musk's concern about the deficit. "All the things that are in this bill are so important for the US economy, it's going to be jet fuel for the US economy," Speaker Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. "The risk of not getting it done is enormous, not just for the Republican Party, but for the country. We've got to do this." The government funding bill that Musk helped tank in December, on the other hand, was a bipartisan piece of legislation that included all kinds of provisions that Republicans don't agree with. Plenty of fiscal conservatives planned to vote against it anyway, and Musk's involvement strengthened their case, eventually making it untenable for Speaker Johnson to move forward with it. Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, the chairman of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, voted "present" when the "Big Beautiful Bill" passed the House last month. He told reporters on Wednesday that he hopes senators keep Musk's criticism "in mind" as they make changes to the bill, but he didn't predict that it would change much. "He doesn't have to change the dynamic," Harris told BI. "I'm glad that he reminded people that the federal deficit is of grave concern." Read the original article on Business Insider
Axios
24 minutes ago
- Axios
Musk demands do-over on Trump budget bill
Elon Musk says Republicans need to start over on the Trump budget bill. Why it matters: A no-new-deficits bill would require far smaller tax cuts, or far deeper spending cuts. Both are non-starters for Republicans, who are watching in dismay as Musk turns his ire on them. "A new spending bill should be drafted that doesn't massively grow the deficit and increase the debt ceiling by 5 TRILLION DOLLARS," Musk posted on X. The House-passed bill would include $2.4 trillion in deficit spending over the next 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday. CBO also estimated the Trump tariffs would bring in $2.8 trillion in revenue over the next 10 years. Zoom in: House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday that Musk didn't "answer" a phone call on Tuesday but hopes they can speak today. Musk turned on the "one big, beautiful bill" as a "disgusting abomination," but privately tried to block cuts to electric vehicle credits, Axios reported on Tuesday. "We don't have time for a brand new bill," Johnson told Fox News on Wednesday. "We worked on the bill for almost 14 months. ... We have a great product to deliver here," he said.
