Roadmap

Roadmap · August 2026

ChatNode is not a proposal. The network is built, encrypted and running across five platforms today — what follows is what has been delivered, and what comes next.

Phases are ordered by dependency rather than by date. We would rather ship one thing properly than commit to a calendar we cannot keep.

14Capabilities shipped
5Platforms supported
6Phases ahead

The network

Shipped

ChatNode is built and running. A peer-to-peer node with end-to-end encrypted messaging, voice and video, on every major platform — with no company holding your messages and no account to suspend.

  • Peer-to-peer node in Go, built on libp2p
  • End-to-end encrypted direct messaging
  • WebRTC voice and video between peers
  • File transfer and group rooms
  • Private peers mode
  • Desktop: Windows, macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi
  • Android app with the node running natively in a background service
  • Bootnode discovery and relay infrastructure
  • Direct peer connections for contacts
  • On-chain domain registry
  • Cryptographically signed releases
  • My Nodes: reach a NAT'd machine's LAN over your encrypted connection
  • IP cameras: view, PTZ, two-way audio and recording through your own nodes
  • Full security review: identity binding, on-chain payment verification, signed admin data
01

Public chain deployment

In progress

CHAT and the domain registry move from a private chain to a public EVM L2, where anyone can verify the contracts and acquire the token.

  • Deploy CHAT to Base or Arbitrum
  • Deploy the domain registry
  • Establish DEX liquidity
  • Contract verification and published addresses
A low-fee L2 is a requirement rather than a preference: operator rewards only work where a transaction costs cents against a $1 reward.
02

Economics live

Planned

The token takes on its role in the network: names are priced and renewed in CHAT, and the operators who run the infrastructure start being paid for it.

  • USD-denominated pricing, settled in CHAT
  • Annual renewal for .chat names
  • 20% of each registration to the operator
  • Bootnode staking contract
  • 3-day unbonding period
03

Public feeds and streamnodes

Planned

The network's public broadcast side: a shared directory of live streams, sourced from an RTSP camera on your node's network or straight from your webcam. Alongside it, a new node role that lifts the ceiling on how many people can watch — the broadcaster sends one copy up to a streamnode, which fans it out on datacentre bandwidth, so a feed is not limited by a home upload and works from behind NAT.

  • Public feeds: a network-wide directory of shared live streams, browsable by category with live viewer counts
  • Broadcast from an RTSP camera on your node, or live from your webcam
  • Source address and credential stay on the publishing node, as with private cameras
  • Streamnode role: a bootnode-like node that hosts chosen feeds
  • At go-live, host on your own streamnode, rent one, or serve direct
  • Order-of-magnitude higher viewer counts, and NAT'd broadcasters reachable
  • Operators paid a hosting fee by the broadcasters who rent capacity, in CHAT
  • Run your own to host your feeds free and keep all your tips
  • Broadcaster-signed stream segments so viewers can verify the source
  • Failover to direct serving if a streamnode drops
The streaming and the payment are separable: a self-hosted streamnode already unlocks NAT'd broadcasters and far more viewers, while paid third-party hosting needs contract work that depends on the token economics phase.
04

Operator network

Planned

Infrastructure spread across regions and jurisdictions, run by people who are not us. This is the phase that makes the network genuinely difficult to pressure.

  • Bootnodes across multiple regions
  • Independent operators onboarded
  • Operator documentation and tooling
  • Support for community-run infrastructure
A network run by many independent operators cannot be shut down by pressuring any one of them. Until that is true, decentralisation is a design goal rather than a property.
05

Peer-to-peer trading

Planned

An escrow contract for tokens and NFTs, so holders of illiquid assets can settle over the counter with a counterparty they found and negotiated with directly.

  • Escrow contract: ERC-20, ERC-721, ERC-1155
  • Order discovery gossiped across the network
  • Automated contract risk scanning
  • Trading fees paid in CHAT
  • In-wallet ETH/USDC to CHAT swap
Audited before it touches mainnet. A contract holding user funds is a different risk class from the rest of the network, and internal review is not sufficient for it.
06

Adoption

Planned

Getting ChatNode to the people it was built for, and finding out where it falls short in their hands rather than in ours.

  • Forward secrecy: per-message key ratcheting
  • Encrypted identity key storage, hardware-backed on Android
  • Independent security audit
  • Deployment with user communities
  • Localisation and translation
  • Usability research and onboarding

Want to help build it?

The fastest way to strengthen the network is more independent bootnodes, run by more people, in more places. If you have a machine that stays online, get in touch.

Talk to us on Telegram

For the detail behind the token phases, see the CHAT whitepaper.