Inb0x: Encrypted web3 P2P Messaging
While consumer based end-to-end encryption solutions exist (e.g. Signal, WhatsApp, etc), they are still owned and operated by central services. Inb0x gives us a glimpse of a web3 native solution.
I love Parallel Alpha NFTs. While the actual game has yet to be released, the team has done an extraordinary job building a passionate community around their visually stunning cards.
Side note: You’ll have to click on the link to get a sharper render of that visual, along with the other beautiful pieces in the overall collection.
Their release of an encrypted messaging app caught many by surprise (myself included). Why would a company building a sci-fi card game get into the messaging business? However, it makes sense. The community being built around the cards is a web3 native culture. Reliance on phone numbers or emails or Zoom wouldn’t really feel right. How could won be able to reach out to a particular owner at a particular address without reliance on any intermediary? Thus, the inb0x experiment was born and shipped.
For those old enough to remember PGP email, the solution is quite similar. Parallel card owner are already using public key encryption from Ethereum, so keys are already there. ENS is typically used by Ethereum power users, so usernames are already there.
Best of all? This data isn’t being stored on Ethereum itself, so no gas expensive fees are required. Simply login to your account, authorize + generate a key pair, and send a message.
Now, I’m not going to lie. If you’re used to web2 speed and UX, it’s a little clunky. The messaging takes some time and you don’t have all the richness of threads and media and all that. Still, this is an important proof of concept. Another company could replace the storage on Parallel and switch it to IPFS or Arweave, which could be paid for by a monthly subscription to pay for data transport and storage (i.e. owning your data).
The broader implications of this are profound. A user could use an Ethereum privacy layer like zk.money to anoymize the source of their assets. They could then purchase their anonymous ENS handle and create their own pseudonymous profile. They can then purchase cards and play/communicate without ever having to reveal their IRL identity.