San Francisco, CA – July 1, 2024 – XMTP Labs, the core team behind the messaging protocol XMTP, announces its rebranding to Ephemera. This name change underscores that Ephemera, the company, is distinct and separate from XMTP, the protocol.
The name also reinforces that Ephemera's core role in nurturing XMTP is not meant to be permanent. In fact, the true marker of Ephemera's success is a future in which it can step away and have XMTP endure as a decentralized, secure, private, and resilient protocol, maintained by a committed and diverse community of contributors and participants.
Currently, as the main contributor to XMTP, Ephemera works alongside grassroots developers, partners, and the community to build features, strengthen security, and promote the protocol's growth. The company’s efforts center on fostering a vibrant community and expanding the developer surface area to drive innovation in decentralized messaging.
The messaging space is dominated by centralized powers—corporations and individuals who dictate the rules, control the networks and protocols. Developers can’t trust to build on these platforms without a constant threat of being rugged or shut down. This must change. XMTP is leading this change, bringing trust and confidence to its community of developers and users with a secure and open messaging network not owned by any single person or company. Together, we can build the most secure and private messaging network in the world, owned by the people who build it and use it. - Shane Mac, CEO of Ephemera
Since June 2024, XMTP has supported secure group chat built with Messaging Layer Security (MLS), ratified last year by the IETF as the new internet standard for secure, private messaging. MLS delivers robust security guarantees such as message confidentiality, forward secrecy, and post-compromise security. These features, combined with advanced cryptographic techniques and secure key management practices, make XMTP’s group chat uniquely secure.
Decentralization remains a core focus as Ephemera helps expand the number of node operators, protocol contributors, and client apps, ensuring users have reliable, transparent, and fair access to truly secure and private communications. We are eager to connect with node operators who share our vision for a secure, private, and decentralized messaging future. If this resonates with you, reach out to us at nodes@ephemerahq.com.
