📝 usncan Note: A Chat App By Jack Dorsey Gains Traction During Nepal’s Unrest
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TOPSHOT – People displaying Nepal’s national flag burn tyres during a demonstration to condemn the police’s deadly crackdown on protesters in Kathmandu on September 9, 2025, a day after demonstrations over social media prohibitions and corruption by the government. Nepal rolled back its social media ban on September 9, a day after at least 19 people were killed in youth protests demanding that the government lift its restrictions and tackle corruption. All major social media apps were working, an AFP reporter in Kathmandu said, as the government ordered a probe into the violence that saw police launch one of the deadliest crackdowns on protesters for years. (Photo by Prabin RANABHAT / AFP) (Photo by PRABIN RANABHAT/AFP via Getty Images)
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On September 4, the Nepali government blocked access to 26 major social media platforms, including Facebook, X, YouTube, and Instagram. The decision triggered protests in Kathmandu, largely led by young people. Just five days later, on September 9, demonstrators stormed and set fire to key government buildings, deposing the administration, as the BBC reported. In the midst of the chaos, an app that uses Bluetooth meshes, the Nostr protocol and emulates the peer-to-peer nature of Bitcoin, reported a sharp increase in downloads, thanks to its capabilities that works without Internet connection: Bitchat
Announced on July 7, Bitchat was initially introduced as a “weekend project” by Jack Dorsey, the founder of X and Cash App, who developed the iOS version. The Android version was built by pseudonymous open-source developer “Calle”, who expanded its capabilities. Bitchat is a decentralized peer-to-peer messaging app that runs over Bluetooth mesh networks with a hyper-local focus. Most importantly, it requires no names, phone numbers, servers, or even an Internet connection.
As the Nepali population prepared for a possible nationwide internet blackout following the social media ban, users began recommending Bitchat across platforms like Reddit. One Reddit user on r/Nepal wrote: “No, I don’t mean banning some popular chat websites, though I believe that would be enough of an internet blackout for most people. I mean actual internet blackout.” Among the various alternatives circulating online, Bitchat stood out as a promising offline solution.
On Reddit, Nepalis shared different options for communicating without internet, with several mentions of Bitchat.
r/Nepal – Reddit
According to Calle on X, the app saw over 48,000 downloads just on September 8 from Nepal, representing more than 38% of its total installs to that date. “Last week, we observed a sudden spike in Bitchat downloads from Indonesia during nationwide protests. Today we’re seeing an even bigger spike from Nepal during youth protests over government corruption and a social media ban. Freedom tech is for the people. Please share,” Calle posted on September 10.
We contacted the pseudonymous developer to better understand the rise of Bitchat in Nepal. “In the worst case, it could be the only method for communication that’s still available,” Calle explained, referring to the app’s ability to operate independently of traditional Internet infrastructure. Unlike mainstream chat platforms that depend on servers or centralized networks, Bitchat’s hyper-local-Bluetooth mesh approach becomes crucial when those services are either blocked or surveilled.
“It’s similar to Bitcoin in that regard,” the developer underscored. Like Bitcoin, Bitchat is built for censorship resistance and accessibility. In times of political unrest or financial repression, tools that bypass centralized controls become invaluable. Bitcoin allows users to send money without intermediaries. Bitchat enables communication in much the same way, making it useful even when the government tries to restrict or monitor digital exchanges.
Bitchat: Enabling Communications And Soon, Private Commerce
Bitchat isn’t yet in its final form. In fact, following recent use cases in Indonesia and Nepal, the developer explained that they are working on adding financial capabilities through Bitcoin and Ecash. The goal is to use the infrastructure and functionality the app already has to enable private financial exchanges and even support commerce.
“The direction is to also integrate bitcoin through Cashu,” Calle explained. Cashu is an open-source Chaumian Ecash protocol for Bitcoin that allows users to send and receive bitcoin payments in various ways. Even an emoji could carry an embedded amount of bitcoin.
By combining Bitcoin’s censorship resistance with Bitchat’s communication infrastructure, the project not only offers a reliable tool for people in times of unrest, it could also unlock a new wave of private and secure commerce for the 21st century.
