Mobile applications are an integral and substantial tool of our mobile communications. With rich and broad possibilities to communicate via text, audio and video messages, to engage in one-on-one chats and group discussions, to receive notifications and to upload and watch status updates and to share media, mobile instant messengers (MIMs) are among the most important and essential applications in our smartphones.
The use of mobile applications surpasses the use of most of the social network platforms, with over a billion WhatsApp users, more than 900 million Chinese WeChat users, over 1.3 billion Facebook Messenger users and 260 million active Viber users. However, most of the MIMs (except WeChat) do not include financial features, such as a payment system, electronic wallet and saving accounts, and none of them supports financial operations with cryptocurrencies.
Sappchat developing a platform that integrates both decentralized Blockchain-based mobile communications and financial operations in cryptocurrencies, including payments, fund transfers, crypto-exchange for conversions and yield farming (DeFi). Sappchat communication are fully anonymous as the platform does not require any personal or mobile details upon registration and provides end-to-end encryption of all messages and shared files. Additionally, Sappchat's platform will support multiple solutions for online shopping and e-commerce and will utilize AI technologies to support voice-only management of its communications and financial operations.
Sappchat conducted this study to assess the functionality of other non-blockchain and blockchain based MIMs. The platforms were compared according to prominent features of mobile messaging, privacy and security and financial operations of the platforms.
Information about the projects and the platforms was collected from multiple resources published by them, including whitepapers and brochures, websites, videos, forums, blogs, technical reviews, etc.
The benchmarking analysis was based on a comparative study of projects and platforms for mobile communications that are based on centralized and decentralized solutions.
The results of the comparison considering the multiple attributes of the platforms are follows:
Sappchat is a free decentralized and rich application that provides an ecosystem for mobile users for communications, cryptocurrency payment, exchange and DeFi (yield farming) and online shopping and e-commerce. Sappchat offers end-to-end encryption and operates on its Sappchain blockchain. Sappchat also integrates voice recognition and AI technologies to operate its multiple features and financial operations and crypto asset management only by voice.
Dust is a free private messaging app that uses end-to-end encryption for secure communication. Its main advantage is that messages cannot be kept and stored over time, but they disappear without any possibility to retrieve them or to use screen capturing of them. Dust utilizes a centralized network architecture and its own encryption protocol. It is solely for online messaging and does not have e-commerce capabilities, AI technologies and does not support cryptocurrency operations.
Echo is a free decentralized chatting app that operates on the Graphene blockchain. Echo provides end-to-end encryption of messages. Additionally, it integrated Payger – a coin agnostic payment platform for storing, transferring and trading digital assets. However, Echo did not develop its online shop and e-commerce solution, it does not implement AI technologies in its platform or supports yield farming via DeFi.
Dust is a free private messaging app that uses end-to-end encryption for secure communication. Its main advantage is that messages cannot be kept and stored over time, but they disappear without any possibility to retrieve them or to use screen capturing of them. Dust utilizes a centralized network architecture and its own encryption protocol. It is solely for online messaging and does not have e-commerce capabilities, AI technologies and does not support cryptocurrency operations.
Crypviser is subscription based secure messaging application. The app has blockchain-based endto-end encryption for transmission and storage of messages. Crypviser also supports cryptocurrency payments and transfers. However, Crypviser does not include online shopping and e-commerce solutions, yield farming and DeFi and AI technologies.
WeChat is a free centralized mobile communication platform, owned by the Chinese Tencent corporation. It provides a broad ecosystem to its users. WeChat has an integrated fiat (RMB) payment system, fiat (RMB saving account and shopping platform. However, WeChat does not have end-toend encryption and includes backdoors that allow other parties to read the sent and received messages of users.
WhatsApp is a free centralized mobile messaging platform owned by Facebook. It provides end-toend encryption that is based on its native protocol. However, WhatsApp does not include shopping and e-commerce solutions, does not support fiat or cryptocurrency financial operations or payments and does not implement AI technologies in its application.
BlockFi is Sappchat's major competitor in the domain of DeFi and loan provision backed by crypto assets. BlockFi is based on the provision of liquidity by crypto asset owners that are transferred to borrowers to finance their operations and needs in return to "freezing" their own cryptocurrencies as a collateral. Liquidity providers earn higher interest rates than offered by banks and financial institutes for providing cryptocurrency liquidity to borrowers.
The services of BlockFi require holders of cryptocurrencies to register through its website and to identify themselves with their full legal name. Sappchat takes a contrary approach and chooses to protect the privacy of liquidity providers and borrowers: Liquidity providers can anonymously link their wallet and their funds to the liquidity pools by approving the amounts that they wish to dedicate for liquidity provision and the terms offered to them by Sappchat. Similarly, borrowers can anonymously receive funds by providing collateral in crypto assets in their holdings to guarantee the return of the loan and approving the terms of the loan via the application. In this way, funds can be provided and interest gains can be generated in a completely secure and anonymous manner and can be carried out via Sappchat with ease, as a part of the integral financial operations that it offers to its users.
REFERENCES
Calleja-Castillo, J. M., & Gonzalez-Calderon, G. 2018. WhatsApp in stroke systems: current use and regulatory concerns. Frontiers in neurology, 9, 388.
Chen, Y., Mao, Z., & Qiu, J. L. 2018. Super-sticky WeChat and Chinese society. Emerald Group Publishing.
Dev, J., Das, S., Rashidi, Y., & Camp, L. J. 2019. Personalized WhatsApp privacy: demographic and cultural influences on Indian and Saudi users. Available at SSRN 3391021.
Dev, J., Moriano, P., & Camp, L. J. 2020. Lessons Learnt from Comparing WhatsApp Privacy Concerns Across Saudi and Indian Populations. In Sixteenth Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security ({SOUPS 2020 (pp. 81-97.
Grigg, A. 2018, February 21. WeChat's privacy issues mean you should delete China's No. 1 messaging app. Australian Financial Review. https://www.afr.com/world/asia/wechats-privacy-issues-mean-you-should-delete-chinas-no1-messagingapp-20180221-h0wgct.
Jozani, M., Ayaburi, E., Ko, M., & Choo, K. K. R. 2020. Privacy concerns and benefits of engagement with social mediaenabled apps: A privacy calculus perspective. Computers in Human Behavior, 107, 106260.
Kharpal, A. 2019, June 13. How social media is shaping what people know - and don't know - about the Hong Kong protests. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/13/hong-kong-protests-role-of-technology-and-china-censorship.html.
Liang, F., Das, V., Kostyuk, N., & Hussain, M. M. 2018. Constructing a data‐driven society: China's social credit system as a state surveillance infrastructure. Policy & Internet, 104, 415-453.
Liu, A. 2019. An Analysis of the PBOC's New Mobile Payment Regulation. Cato J., 39, 87.
Matemba, E. D., & Li, G. 2018. Consumers' willingness to adopt and use WeChat wallet: An empirical study in South Africa. Technology in Society, 53, 55-68.
Quintas de Arcanjo, T. 2019. Sending cryptocurrency over mobile applications (Doctoral dissertation, Dublin City University). Rastogi, N., & Hendler, J. 2017. WhatsApp security and role of metadata in preserving privacy. arXiv Prepr. arXiv1701, 6817, 269-275.
Tsai, W. H. S., & Men, R. L. 2018. Social messengers as the new frontier of organization-public engagement: A WeChat study. Public relations review, 44-3, 419-429.
Zhang, X., Tang, S., Zhao, Y., Wang, G., Zheng, H., & Zhao, B. 2017, May). Cold hard E-cash: Friends and vendors in the Venmo digital payments system. In Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (Vol. 11, No. 1).
