Z-TEXT Is Live: A Private Messenger and the New Official BitcoinZ Wallet
Z-TEXT is now publicly available. It is a private messenger built on the BitcoinZ blockchain, and it is now the official BitcoinZ wallet. You can download it today for Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux.
We first wrote about Z-TEXT in February, when it was still in developer testing. It has since been released to the public, and anyone can install it.
A messenger with no central servers
Most messengers pass your messages through servers that their company runs. Z-TEXT has no central server in the message path. It runs on BitcoinZ nodes spread across the world. Each message is encrypted on your device and sent as a shielded BitcoinZ transaction, the same way BTCZ itself moves.
That one design choice changes a lot:
- No phone number and no email. Your identity is a 24-word seed that only you hold. There is nothing to register.
- Nothing to seize or switch off. Messages are never stored on a Z-TEXT server, so there is no database to breach and no account to close.
- Two layers of encryption. AES-256-GCM on your device, then a shielded transaction where zk-SNARKs hide the sender, the recipient, and the amount.
- Your contact never sees your IP address. Their app picks the message up from the network. There is no direct connection between you.
- 24 words restore everything. Wallet, messages, and contacts come back on any device, with no cloud backup.
- Delivery in seconds. Messages typically arrive in 1 to 5 seconds.
The official BitcoinZ wallet
Z-TEXT is also a full BTCZ wallet, and it is now the official one: stable, fast, and secure. Your keys stay on your device, payments are shielded, and you can send BTCZ in the middle of a conversation.
BitcoinZ Blue is no longer supported. It will not receive updates or fixes. If you still have funds in it, make sure your seed phrase and private keys are backed up. New users should start with Z-TEXT.
More than chat
- On-chain channels. Broadcast to any number of subscribers for the price of a single transaction. There is no central server to seize and no account to suspend.
- Panic PIN and stealth mode. An emergency PIN wipes keys, messages, and contacts in one action. Stealth mode re-skins the app so it does not look like a messenger.
- Post-quantum handshake. Every contact handshake combines X25519 with ML-KEM-768, protecting the key exchange against a future quantum computer.
- On-chain vault. A password manager whose entries are encrypted on your device and restore from your seed.
What it costs
The wallet is free to use. Sending and receiving BTCZ needs no license, and neither does receiving messages.
Sending messages requires a Z-TEXT license, which you can pay for with BitcoinZ as well as ZEC, BTC, ETH, and more. Each message also carries a network fee of about $0.00003, small enough to go unnoticed and large enough to make spam expensive.
The trade-offs
A design this different comes with real limits. Z-TEXT publishes them, and they are worth knowing before you rely on it:
- Text only. No files, pictures, or videos.
- Your seed is everything. Anyone who gets your 24 words can read every message and spend your funds.
- Messages are permanent. What settles on the blockchain cannot be deleted.
- Your internet provider can see that you connect to BitcoinZ, unless you add Tor or a VPN.
Z-TEXT also runs a paid bug bounty, with rewards of up to $1,500 for a critical finding. Read the full threat model →
Why it matters for BitcoinZ
Z-TEXT is not a separate token and not a layer-2 chain. Every message is a BitcoinZ shielded transaction, so every conversation is real activity on the BTCZ network. The privacy technology BitcoinZ has carried since 2017 now has an everyday use beyond payments.
Get Z-TEXT
Z-TEXT is available for Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux. Only download it from z-text.com, and check that the SHA-256 checksum of your file matches the one shown on the download page.