Tesla CEO Elon Musk Says X Chat's New P2P Encryption System Is Similar to Bitcoin's

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says his social media company X will roll out a standalone “X Chat” in the coming months, which will be embedded in the platform and will have a peer-to-peer encryption that is “similar to Bitcoin.”

Speaking on Friday’s “Joe Rogan Experience,” Musk said X has “rebuilt the entire messaging stack” as X Chat and argued security should be viewed in “degrees of insecurity,” not as a binary. He described a peer-to-peer-style model and said the goal is to make the chat “the least insecure” among messaging apps.

"It's using a sort of peer-to-peer-based encryption system. So, it's kind of similar to Bitcoin. I think, very good encryption," Musk said, adding that it's undergoing thorough testing.

Musk said that the chat app won't have “hooks for advertising,” unlike some rival messengers, as such practice introduces risk if abused.

The X Chat will have a dedicated app targeted “in a few months,” alongside the integrated experience inside X. In either version, users should be able to text, share files, and make audio or video calls once the full feature set is available.

The new massaging system will be an upgrade to X's current legacy direct messaging feature and is currently in beta for Premium subscribers. The in-app Chat supports text, photos, media attachments, GIFs, and file sharing tied to X handles rather than phone numbers.

This isn't the first time Musk has mentioned bitcoin in recent months. On Oct. 14, in response to a Zerohedge X post trying to explain gold, silver and bitcoin at or near record highs, the Tesla CEO said, "That is why Bitcoin is based on energy: you can issue fake fiat currency, and every government in history has done so, but it is impossible to fake energy."