Thunder: A Secure Messaging Platform on the Blockchain

Introduction

Thunder is a blockchain project that aims to provide a secure messaging platform for users. With the rise of web3 technologies, users are more aware of the importance of privacy and security. Thunder leverages the ERC-4337 technology so we can onboard the mass adoption of users. Users do not need to go through the hassle of securing seed phrases to interact with the blockchain. Social recovery of accounts is possible and gasless transactions can be achieved via third parties.

Problem Statement

The current messaging platforms in the market, such as Telegram and WhatsApp, have been criticised for their lack of privacy and security. These platforms collect user data and use it for targeted advertising or share it with third-party companies. This puts the privacy of users at risk and raises concerns about data breaches and cyber attacks.

Solution

Thunder solves this problem by encrypting messages before storing them on the blockchain. The contents stored on the blockchain is immutable and only the intended parties are given access to this encrypted information. Thunder does not collect any user data and does not share it with third-party companies. This provides users with complete control over their data and ensures that their privacy is protected. Mass adoption of this chat application is further cemented by the ease of account creation via ERC-4337 technology.

Features

Thunder offers the following features:

Seamless account creation

Thunder uses ERC-4337 technology to create an account seamlessly for end users. Users do not need to go through the hassle of understanding and securing seed phrases to interact with the blockchain. The smooth chatting experience makes it such that users do not even know they are interacting via the blockchain.

Secure messaging

Thunder uses the Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) key exchange protocol combined with an AES-256 GCM encryption scheme to provide end-to-end data encryption. All messages are secure and private. This means that only the sender and the recipient can read the messages, and no one else, not even Thunder, can access them.

The following diagram shows the process flow of Thunder:

Decentralized storage

Thunder stores user data on the blockchain, ensuring that it is immutable and cannot be tampered with. This means that user data is not stored on centralized servers, which are vulnerable to attacks and data breaches. Instead, user data is stored on a decentralized network of nodes, which ensures that it is available at all times and cannot be lost.

User privacy

Thunder does not collect any user data and does not share it with third-party companies, ensuring that user privacy is protected. This means that users have complete control over their data and can choose what they want to share with other parties.

Gas-less payment

Chat contents are written on the blockchain without consumers needing to pay a single dollar. A paymaster concept is introduced in our application to facilitate seamless interaction between users.

Open-source

Thunder is an open-source project, which means that anyone can contribute to its development and review its code. This ensures that Thunder is transparent and accountable to its users, and that its code is auditable and secure.

Driving user adoption

We are working on a Chat API to allow all Arbitrum games and projects to integrate chat function with minimal effort.

Obstacles and Challenges

Gas fees are currently the biggest challenge for our project. We are currently exploring to launch our own Orbit AnyTrust chain or collaborate with existing Orbit chains.

Conclusion

With Thunder, users can communicate with each other securely and privately without worrying about their data being collected or shared with third-party companies. Our mission is to make Thunder the first blockchain killer app that successfully appeals to the masses, onboarding the next billion users onto web3.

Status Update

As of Aug 2023, our MVP has been built and we are currently carrying out internal testing before we upload it to Google Playstore and Apple Store for public beta testing.

As of Sep 2023, our MVP can be downloaded from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thunder.chat

Our app is still pending approval for Apple Store downloads.

You may read up more details on our app at https://thunder.im/