Tether, Bitfinex and Hypercore Collaborate to Launch Encrypted P2P Apps

The trio launched Holepunch with a vision of giving control over data while breaking technology monopolies, among other things.

True to the motto "The bear market is for construction", crypto exchange Bitfinex with Tether (USDT) and Hypercore has announced the launch of a fully encrypted platform, Holepunch, for the creation of peer-to-peer applications. As part of this initiative, the trio launched Keet, an encrypted application capable of facilitating real-time audio and video calls, text chat and file sharing.

The partners aim to confer control over data while breaking technology monopolies with Holepunch, according to the announcement. Tether and Bitfinex funded the development of the Holepunch platform. Paolo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer of Tether and Bitfinex, will lead the new initiative as Chief Strategy Officer.

Speaking on behalf of Tether and Bitfinex, Ardoino highlighted the need to address growing privacy concerns, saying:

"It [Tether and Bitfinex] believes freedom of choice, communication, and finance are the cornerstone of the future, and anything that enhances these freedoms is worth amplifying."

Holepunch is currently operating as a closed source protocol in its alpha or pre-release phase, which will be moved to open source by the end of 2022. In doing so, Holepunch will not use blockchain technology at its base and will instead switch to an internal payment API powered by the Lightning Network.

Developers building solutions on the Holepunch protocol will be able to use USDT as the default for micropayments. However, the company has yet to disclose support for other cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.

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