Security experts harshly criticized Elon Musk's XChat statement, stating that Bitcoin does not use encryption technology and that his wording is technically incorrect.

Elon Musk recently announced a new encrypted messaging feature for X, causing quite a stir, not because of the feature itself, but due to his baffling description of its underlying technology.

On June 1, the owner of X revealed through the platform's official account that the new XChat 'is built on Rust and uses (Bitcoin-style) encryption.'

Why experts say 'Bitcoin-style encryption' is nonsense

Shortly after Musk's tweet was posted, a flood of comments emerged questioning the accuracy of his terminology. Notably, Bitcoin advocate Udi Wertheimer responded candidly:

“Bitcoin actually has no encryption at all.”

The co-founder of Taproot Wizards later explained that BTC uses cryptographic hashes and signatures, which are essential for verifying data integrity and ownership, but do not hide messages, which is a key feature of encryption.

Encryption refers to when you have a message and want to keep it confidential. There is nothing in the Bitcoin protocol that is encrypted... everything is public and transparent, and anyone can see it.

Cryptographer Ian Miers also pointed out that Bitcoin lacks privacy and compared it to a social media platform for bank accounts. 'Everything you do is public,' he said, 'which is completely opposite to privacy.'

Zcash co-founder emphasized that BTC transactions rely on signatures for authentication, rather than encryption to ensure privacy. He further criticized the ambiguity of Musk's statement, writing:

“Needless to say, 'Bitcoin-style' and 'Rust' are neither descriptions of encryption schemes nor strong indicators of the security of messaging applications.”

However, there are also others who support the Tesla CEO, with some speculating that he might be referring to the SHA-256 hash algorithm. Computer engineer Dai Wei also offered a benign explanation, suggesting that Musk might equate 'Bitcoin-style' encryption with 'peer-to-peer' or 'end-to-end' encryption. However, this statement fails to clarify the cryptographic protocol actually used by XChat, and this ambiguity only adds fuel to the fire.

Musk under scrutiny

This ongoing debate comes at a time of widespread concerns about Musk's leadership. Just a month ago, Tesla was forced to publicly deny reports from The Wall Street Journal that it was searching for a new CEO.

It is said that this is mainly due to investors being unsettled by the controversial political activities and erratic online behavior of the 53-year-old executive. The Tesla board responded by reiterating its full confidence in Musk's leadership.

The latest incident with XChat could further damage the outspoken billionaire's credibility in the tech community. As anonymous developer Yueya.eth put it: 'Marketing teams love to throw around buzzwords from cryptocurrencies without understanding the fundamental principles.' In an ecosystem that relies on language and precision to build trust, the vagueness of this Boring Company founder's wording may lead to more confusion than hype.