Bitfinex and Tether launch P2P video calling app 'Keet'

Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange and stablecoin issuer USDT – Tether – on Monday announced the launch of a new protocol called Holepunch. In addition, together with Hypercore, which develops P2P infrastructure, they launched peer-to-peer (PS2) encrypted video calling application Keet; which is in alpha phase.

According to the company's announcement, Keet will allow its users to schedule audio and video calls. In addition, they will be able to chat via text, chat and share files. All this for free.

The Keet application is based on Distributed Holepunching (DHT) technology. This solution allows users to locate and connect to each other "using only authorized cryptographic key pairs".

About the Holepunch protocol and the Keet application

As Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino pointed out, Holepunch is similar to BitTorrent. However, its difference is that in addition to file sharing, it is possible to create many applications:

"You can reconstruct the whole World Wide Web [www] experience in a fully P2P way," he said.

According to Holepunch's executive-turned-chief strategy officer, the three companies have been building the technology over the past five years. "We are working to create a platform that gives users access to applications that are unstoppable and offer freedom of expression," Ardoino said.

The companies said the platform will not rely on any blockchain. Instead, it will use the Lightning Network (LN) API for payments. Tether's USDT token will also be supported as the default payment system for companies looking to build products on Holepunch.

freedom of speech

In a press release, Ardoino pointed out that in many places around the world, freedom of expression is far more restricted than in, say, the US or the UK.

“And freedom of speech is not just sitting around and saying whatever you want. But it's like sharing and chatting with people you want to. And without worrying about big tech companies eavesdropping on you or using your data; they collect your data and potentially monetize it or use it against you.”

In total, Tether and Bitfinex invested around $10 million to build Holepunch and Keet. Additionally, the companies still intend to invest $50 to $100 million more in the future. This is because they develop more P2P applications.

Holepunch is now closed source and will remain so until they finish alpha testing. It will then move to open source. This is expected to happen in the fourth quarter of 2022. Thus, anyone can create an application on the protocol and earn money from it.

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