Ethereum-based project Status has started an incentivization program for node operators around its decentralized peer-to-peer messaging protocol, Waku.<\/p>\n
In an announcement today, Status said it would be rolling out the first phase of a program to encourage people to set up and run nodes used by Waku, a private messenger based on the Whisper protocol. The project said it planned to offer up to $100 worth in its native token SNT to 100 people participating in a three-month program. <\/p>\n
The Status team forked Whisper to create Waku in 2019. The protocol uses community owned and operated nodes to route messages through the network rather than the \u201ctraditional\u201d client-server model, with the project working on a peer-to-peer messaging service aimed at competing with major firms like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing peer-to-peer networks for personal communication is the only reliable way to escape censorship,\u201d said former Cointelegraph reporter Andrey Shevchenko, who will be running one of the nodes. \u201cStatus has clearly put a lot of effort into this to make it technically viable so I\u2019m curious to see where it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the project, one of the pushes for the development of the protocol was Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently encouraging developers to \u201cgo further\u201d in innovating beyond the typical boundaries of decentralized finance, or DeFi. Buterin said that non-financial applications for Ethereum, including decentralized social media, could serve this purpose.<\/p>\n