Introducing msig.chat: The On-Chain Chat and DAO Management App
Msig.chat is an innovative chat and DAO management web application, specifically designed for communities on the WAX blockchain, particularly those within Alien Worlds.
The WAX blockchain features an advanced account system, one that allows a user to include their account within the permission system of another account. By doing this, the user creates an account that requires multiple signatures to execute transactions (e.g., token transfers).
For instance, the WAX account community123 could be jointly owned by two other WAX accounts: johnsaccount and bobsaccount. A token transfer from the community123 account can only be executed if both johnsaccount and bobsaccount sign the transaction.
In our example, community123 is under a multisig (also known as msig) arrangement. An account with msig is a crucial component for DAOs on the WAX blockchain. DAOs employ various governance systems to decide which accounts are included in the msig. Regardless of the system used, the ownership of community123 is not fixed; meaning that today, it could be owned by johnsaccount and bobsaccount, and tomorrow, it could change to petersaccount and dansaccount.
The most popular game on the WAX blockchain, Alien Worlds, features six planets, each with its own WAX account. Weekly, as a result of elections, five players are appointed to the msig of a planet’s account (e.g., Planet Eyeke’s account is eyeke.dac, and at the time of writing, the accounts constituting the msig include 15vgq.wam, 1uvkq.c.wam, ancyw.wam, jbhqu.wam, gunkw.c.wam). The composition of these accounts may change in the following week due to new election results.
Imagine a scenario where players elected to the msig attempt to establish a private communication channel among themselves on Telegram. One of the players creates a Telegram group and invites the other electees. However, if the creator of the group is not re-elected to the msig the following week, they must transfer ownership of the group to the new electees. Should the creator refuse to transfer ownership, it results in a variety of inconveniences, such as the need to create a new group chat, leading to the loss of all previous communications.
Msig.chat provides an elegant solution to render the ownership of a chat both decentralized and dynamic. When creating a chat on msig.chat, the user must specify the WAX account to which the chat will be linked. For instance, the creator of the chat can associate it with the eyeke.dac account. This means that only the players with access to the accounts included in the msig of the eyeke.dac account will have the capability to read and write messages.
Note: To interact with msig.chat, users will need to authenticate their ownership of a WAX account via Anchor or Wax Cloud Wallet.
Main features of msig.chat
1. Chat creation
There are two ways to create a chat through our UI; users can either:
a) Provide an existing WAX account that already has a multisig setup.
b) Create a new WAX account and assign a multisig to it. In this case, the accounts that will form the multisig need to be specified.
2. Encrypted message storage on-chain
All messages posted by users are stored on-chain until the owners of the chat group decide to delete them. The group owners can create a proposal to enable the deletion of messages.
3. Proposal creations
There are four types of proposals that can be created, approved, and executed within the app:
a) Token transfers (for any token that follows the eosio.token standard on WAX).
b) Modification of the active/owner permissions of the account under multisig.
c) Granting or denying access to the chat for accounts not part of the multisig.
d) Enabling or disabling message deletion.
4. Push notifications
Users can enable push notifications to receive alerts when a new message or proposal is created in a chat they are part of. Users will only receive notifications for chats where they have clicked the “Get notified” button. To successfully activate notifications, users need to allow notifications in both their browser and operating system settings.
Note: On iOS, push notifications only work if the user adds msig.chat to their Home Screen.
6. User profiles
Users have the ability to add a display picture and provide a description for their profile. If a user logs in with a WAX account that already has a profile on Alien Worlds, the profile information in the app will automatically be populated via the DAO API v2.0.0.
5. Message replies / emojis / pinned messages
The app also includes standard features that we’re all accustomed to. Users can leave up to four emojis for a message. Any member of the chat can pin a message, which then becomes accessible at the top of the chat window. Through the side menu, users can access a view that displays all the historical pinned messages.
6. Filter for communities
Users can filter chats to indicate which communities they are a part of.
That’s all, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for reading. We look forward to seeing you on msig.chat! If you have any questions, feel free to join our Telegram group or follow us on Twitter.
Special thanks to Galactic Hubs for supporting the development with a grant. Learn more about their grant program here.
