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About XMTP
XMTP is an open messaging protocol for wallets and apps that lets signing addresses exchange end-to-end encrypted messages. MLS manages key rotation for direct and group chats, providing forward secrecy and post-compromise recovery, while Welcome messages are protected by hybrid XWing key encapsulation that includes the NIST-standardised ML-KEM component against quantum attack. Message bodies sit on off-chain nodes grouped by inbox, with only identity registration and limited metadata on-chain, keeping everyday chat out of blocks. Apps subsidise fees through gateways, and users open conversations with a signing identity rather than a phone number. Sessions are identified by inbox ID, so a single identity restores history across devices while nodes hold only ciphertext; gateways charge by message volume and apps can pay on users' behalf. Identity registration goes on-chain while conversations stay out of blocks, keeping migration and backup cheap.
Integrators embed messaging through an SDK: a user signs with a wallet to create an identity and inbox, MLS groups manage keys per conversation, and history is restored from the same identity on a new device. Apps cover gateway fees and nodes hold ciphertext only, with notifications raised app-side. Messages from strangers wait in a request queue until the recipient admits them. After Base App launched in 2026, its in-app chats run on XMTP, so social messages and trade alerts share one encrypted channel.
XMTP's key milestones include the February 2025 launch of its decentralized testnet, marking the shift from centralized infrastructure to a community-run network. In July 2025, XMTP integrated live messaging into the Base app, combining AI, finance, and secure group chats, demonstrating practical use cases for agent-to-agent communication. The roadmap targets mainnet completion by March 2026, introducing phased decentralization with fee-based economics, staking, and eventual permissionless participation. These steps establish XMTP as a foundational layer for secure, interoperable messaging in the Web3 ecosystem.
In 2026 the decentralized messaging protocol XMTP advanced its mainnet migration and agent communication. In January it published a staged decentralization roadmap and in February completed its testnet migration, targeting seven independent nodes on mainnet; on February 10 it brought quantum-resistant group chats to ATProto, the protocol behind Bluesky; on April 1 it published a communication standard for the agent era. The network connects about 55 million users, uses quantum-resistant hybrid encryption and audited MLS group chat, and charges roughly $5 per 100,000 messages to node operators.
Future strategy and roadmap: XMTP is migrating to its V3 decentralized mainnet: testnet relaunch (December 2025), validation (February 2026), a 60-day migration countdown and mainnet cutover, with 7 independent nodes. It will harden post-quantum (XWing/ML-KEM) and anti-spam defenses and grow agent communication on an identity-agnostic open messaging layer, already reaching ~55M users.
XMTP was founded in 2021 by Matt Galligan and Shane Mac. The operating company, once XMTP Labs, is now Ephemera, a name signalling that the company is only a temporary steward of a protocol that should end up community-owned. Galligan studied international business at Illinois College and founded Socialthing, SimpleGeo and Circa; his crypto asset manager Interchange was acquired by Kraken in 2019, after which he was vice president of design at Earnest Research.
Mac has spent 15 years on messaging, starting in product roles at email and SMS marketing platforms before founding the enterprise messaging service Assist. Both concluded that wallets lacked a communication layer of their own. They run the company as co-CEOs, with Nicholas Molnar as chief technology officer, Ashley Bassett as chief operating officer and Saul Carlin as chief product officer.