Iran has been experiencing intense protests towards the Islamic Republic regime in latest weeks. Authorities have responded with extreme measures, together with a nationwide telecoms blackout and jamming satellite tv for pc companies like Starlink, aimed toward stopping coordination amongst demonstrators.
Iranians are embracing freedom tech instruments; Bitchat, Noghteha, and Delta Chat for offline communication. Two of those apps hint their origins on to Bitcoin, highlighting how applied sciences from this neighborhood present sensible options in high-stakes environments. Bitchat, constructed by Bitcoin pioneers Jack Dorsey and open-source developer Calle, operates over Bluetooth mesh networks and the Nostr protocol without having an web connection. Noghteha on the otherhand, is a closed-source fork of Bitchat, tailored for the Iranian context with full Persian/Farsi assist, an enhanced person interface, and options tailor-made to native wants.
How Did Bitchat and Noghteha Achieve Recognition?
Bitchat first gained widespread consideration when Jack Dorsey introduced it on X on July 6, 2025, describing it as a weekend venture to discover Bluetooth mesh networks. The announcement generated instant curiosity, mirrored in surges on Google Tendencies for associated searches. In September, Frank Corva wrote about Bitchat’s function in supporting Nepalese protestors throughout social media restrictions and unrest, the place practically 50,000 downloads occurred in a single day.
Noghteha, alternatively, noticed speedy adoption within the first week of January 2026. Earlier than the complete web shutdown, Google Play recorded greater than 70,000 downloads of Noghteha within the house of three days, with numbers seemingly rising by peer-to-peer sharing, sideloading, and Bluetooth transfers afterward.
Promotion of Noghteha reached a broad viewers by Iran Worldwide, an opposition satellite tv for pc TV channel primarily based exterior Iran. The station, a significant supply of knowledge and coordination steering from figures like opposition chief Reza Pahlavi, broadcast particulars concerning the app.
The developer Nariman Gharib, a digital-political activist, launched the app independently, with out authorities or personal funding, as a response to the regime’s ways.
However Why Fork Bitchat?
The Iranian regime employs extremely refined info warfare ways. As Ziya Sadr, a distinguished Bitcoin researcher and former political prisoner, explains: “The regime units up phishing assaults, creates faux obtain hyperlinks, and makes use of influencers on social media to misguide individuals into putting in malicious variations of the identical app.”
This persistent menace is probably going the principle motive the Noghteha developer selected to not launch the app as absolutely open-source, and maybe it additionally explains the app’s launch timing, simply earlier than the web shutdown. By releasing so near the anticipated blackout, there was a possibility to distribute a brand new, closed-source model into as many palms as doable earlier than the regime might intervene with downloads or seed malicious alternate options.
Noghteha stays compliant with Bitchat’s MIT license, which permits modifications and redistribution with correct attribution. This method is an try and shortly defend protesters from regime sabotage.
Calle, Bitchat’s co-creator, doesn’t fairly see it that method. He’s involved concerning the closed-source parts, donation requests, and safety dangers in adversarial settings—factors which can be legitimate and exhausting to dispute.
But the interplay raises a worthy query: Is Bitchat cypherpunk sufficient to counter the regime’s potential undermining of it, the place openness itself might be weaponized? In that sense, does Noghteha obtain one thing that Bitchat can’t, and will that be the case, can Bitchat be tailored to grow to be extra resilient towards such ways?
Finally, it’s inspiring to see Bitcoin gaining prominence on the worldwide stage, alongside freedom tech instruments rooted within the cypherpunk rules of privateness by cryptography. Cypherpunks and, extra lately, Bitcoin builders have pioneered applied sciences that excel in high-stakes eventualities, empowering people to take care of communication and autonomy amid oppression. With many of those instruments launched below permissive open-source licenses like MIT, they invite cloning and repurposing to suit numerous wants. Whereas closed-source diversifications introduce new dangers, in addition they may also generate worthwhile classes, doubtlessly guiding future enhancements to raised stand up to info warfare ways.
The occasions in Iran display how improvements from the Bitcoin ecosystem adapt and thrive, providing actual assist to these navigating censorship, blackouts, and repression by resilient, user-focused instruments.
Editor’s Be aware: A Warning on Safety Customers ought to proceed with warning. Noghteha is a closed-source utility. Calle, the unique developer of Bitchat, has explicitly warned towards utilizing the app as a result of incapacity to confirm its code or safety. Nonetheless, reviews from the bottom point out it’s being broadly and efficiently utilized by protestors.
