Communication is going decentralized, enabling individuals to participate in and have ownership over every aspect of the messaging and communication “stack”. This movement of decentralized messaging, which we have coined Self-Sovereign Communication, consists of 3 core components:
- Decentralized Messaging Identifiers
- Censorship resistant messaging protocols
- Decentralized wireless networks
Self Sovereign Communication is made possible with Decentralized Messaging Identifiers (DMIDs). We have built the first DMID called 3NUM. DMIDs are universal decentralized messaging identifiers that enable channel agnostic messaging across both web3 and web2. What makes 3NUMs flexible and unique is that they can serve as both a standalone messaging “identifier” (like how you would traditionally use a phone number, for example) or provide user controlled messaging capabilities to an existing web3 “endpoint” associated with one’s identity, like an ENS name, NFT or a standard wallet address. Better yet, they can function universally across all messaging platforms, from popular messaging applications like Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram, to traditional SMS and also in peer to peer wallet messaging instances. This universality means that decentralized messaging identifiers, like 3NUMS, can go anywhere you want to communicate.
Requirements for a Decentralized Messaging Identifier
- A Decentralized Messaging Identifier MUST be owned not rented
Over the last 60 or so years, we became comfortable with rented communication identifiers by way of traditional phone numbers. This is problematic on a number of levels. The least concerning risk being that if you stop paying for a service, you lose access to your communication identifier, with the more concerning being that you remain completely vulnerable to a corporation or nation state cutting access to “your” communication identifier based on any justification they deem reasonable.
2. A Decentralized Messaging Identifier must be solely controlled by the end user
Virtually every “messaging identifier” that is issued by a platform to a user, is ultimately controlled by the issuing company. Take email, for example. Those identifiers aren’t rented, like they are with phone numbers, but they are controlled by a single issuing party. This again introduces risks to end users, as access to the identifier could be revoked at any time — all without the users control or consent.
3. A Decentralized Messaging Identifier must be able to be used universally, regardless of the communication medium
Nearly all current messaging identifiers, even ones fully controlled by users, only work in siloed messaging environments. In order to be considered a DMID, it must work universally — whether that be in the web2 world with traditional phone and email messaging identifiers, or in web3 with wallets, web3 names and NFTs.
4. A Decentralized Messaging Identifier must give users control over who can contact them and where
Problems stemming from SMS spam are not only annoying to end users, they are dangerous. From receiving unsolicited messages to phishing attempts- If a user cannot control who messages them, they do not have sovereignty over that messaging identifier. Because DMIDs extend messaging functionality to other identifiers, this also means that they must extend control over who can contact these connected identifiers. For example, if you add your 3NUM as a record to your ENS name to use with the popular messaging app Signal.web3, you can limit who is able to message that identifier based on user directed requirements.
5. A Decentralized Messaging Identifier must be permanent
A messaging identifier must be able to exist in perpetuity, where a user has the ability to cut off communication access at their discretion.
6. A Decentralized Messaging Identifier must be non-fungible
Just as no two phone numbers are the same, neither are DMIDs. 3NUMS are actually minted as a non-fungible token, providing innovative ways to prove ownership while simultaneously extending user functionality.
If you are interested in learning more about how DMIDs fit into the broader Self-Sovereign Communication stack, check out our full length writeup covering all aspects of Self-Sovereign Communication here
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