Vitalik Buterin donates ETH to Session and SimpleX privacy apps
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has donated 128 ETH to each of two privacy-focused messaging applications, Session and SimpleX Chat, totaling approximately $760,000 in Ether. He announced the contributions on Wednesday in a post on X, describing the projects as advancing the next phase of digital privacy.
Buterin said encrypted messaging services such as Signal are essential to safeguarding online privacy and identified permissionless account creation and stronger metadata protections as key priorities for the sector. He encouraged users to test both platforms.
Session is designed to eliminate common identifiers and metadata used by traditional messaging services, including phone numbers, and operates without centralized servers. SimpleX Chat similarly avoids phone number requirements and does not assign persistent user IDs, among other privacy-centric features.
Buterin, whose net worth is estimated to be at least $737 million based on his crypto holdings, has a history of donating to initiatives aligned with Ethereum’s principles as well as to charitable causes.
Industry collaboration needed to protect digital privacy
Privacy in messaging has remained a focus amid proposals such as the European Union’s previously floated “Chat Control,” which would have required platforms including Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal to enable authorities to screen messages prior to encryption.
Alexander Linton, president of the Session Technology Foundation, said the support is welcome given ongoing challenges to private communications. “Unfortunately, regulatory and technical developments are currently threatening the future of private messaging. However, the challenges private messaging faces are solvable, and I think Vitalik clearly understands the importance of decentralization in this fight,” he said. “Everyone working on private messaging right now is living under some threat right now, due to regulation such as Chat Control, but this type of support helps us stay focused on the mission.”
User experience and security require further focus
Buterin said both applications should continue striving for robust user experience and security, noting that strong metadata privacy depends on decentralization. “Decentralization is hard, users expecting multi-device support makes everything harder,” he said, adding that “Sybil / DoS resistance, both in the message routing network and on the user side, without forcing phone number dependence, adds further difficulty. These problems need more eyes on them. I wish all teams working on these important problems best of luck.”
Sybil attacks involve a malicious actor creating many pseudonymous identities or nodes to gain influence or control within a peer-to-peer network.
Broader awareness needed for encrypted, decentralized messaging
Chris McCabe, co-founder of Session, said it is “amazing to know, as clear as day, that Vitalik and many people around the world understand what real privacy is, what people need to live freely.” He added that building global awareness remains a critical next step for encrypted, decentralized messaging.
“People are unconscious of what is going on with their data behind the scenes, and Session is a shining light to be like HEY! — You can actually have trustless privacy, it’s here now,” McCabe said. “If there is one message that we can let the world know, it’s that you don’t need to be a product; you can be who you want to be and speak freely. Privacy is a right, you just need to know it.”
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