FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

What is ONLY NETWORK ?

ONLY NETWORK is a decentralized communication network, providing, among other services, the ability for users to participate in peer-to-peer chat without using centralized servers. Web3 application developers can add chat and other communication facilities into their apps using ONLY NETWORK’S SDK and APIs. ONLY NETWORK for their messaging is the ability to have an integrated view of their social graphs, personal data, messaging contacts and history across all these apps.

What is special about ONLY NETWORK ?

• Users’ ownership of ID, Social Graph, Social data.

• Private & Group Chat with rich messages solution (texts, files, voice, videos & emojis, etc.) and push notification service.

• End-to-end encryption on all chats, data stored and metadata.

• Powerful APIs with trading extensibility.

Is ONLY NETWORK decentralized?

ONLY NETWORK relies on a completely decentralized P2P network for message relay and data storage. The protocol also comes with a built-in DID system that guarantees the ownership of every account.

How does the protocol work?

ONLY NETWORK consists of three types of nodes connected through a P2P network: client node, edge node and blockchain. Specifically, client nodes are devices on which clients run ONLY NETWORK instances. All users’ messages interact through client nodes. Among them, online messages are delivered directly without relying on any nodes. The offline ones are delivered by users’ distributed or trusted edge nodes.

What is Edge Node?

Edge nodes construct the underlying P2P message network. They help with message relays, provide verifiable storage, support video call streaming, and work as provide network entry for the clients.

Can I choose my own Edge Node?

Yes, the client can select an Edge Node. If not specified, client node will be randomly assigned several edge nodes according to its wallet address. There is an algorithm ensuring these nodes are located in different areas around the world.

Where is my data stored?

All messages are stored on your device. When the user is offline, the P2P edge network caches all the offline messages. Users can fetch these messages when they get back online. We provide decentralized storage like IPFS or blockchains as a data back up solution.

Is the message encrypted?

All messages are end-to-end encrypted in private chat and group chat. Beyond securing the message content, ONLY NETWORK aims to encrypt the metadata as well, protecting the information of the sender and receivers.

What is Decentralized Identity (DID)?

DID is a new identity identifier system that supports a verified decentralized digital identity. Chat Protocol designs the wallet-based DID system with the following abilities:

• Achieve many-to-many relationships between Wallets and DIDs: Users can map multiple wallets to a single DID and a single wallet to multiple DIDs.

• Multi-chain support: support for EVM-compatible blockchains.

• Efficient proof mechanism: help message recipients verify the sender's identity quickly.