diff --git a/status-spec.md b/status-spec.md index 6c00231..f14b257 100644 --- a/status-spec.md +++ b/status-spec.md @@ -73,6 +73,26 @@ For transaction support, Status clients currently have to rely on Infura. Status clients currently do not offer native support for file storage. +#### Why do you use Whisper? + +Whisper is one of the (three parts)[http://gavwood.com/dappsweb3.html] of the +vision of Ethereum as the world computer, Ethereum and Swarm being the other +two. Status was started as an encapsulation of and a clear window to this world +computer. + +#### I heard you were moving away from Whisper? + +Whisper is not currently under active development, and it has several drawbacks. +Among others: + +- It is very wasteful bandwidth-wise and it doesn't appear to be scalable +- Proof of work is a poor spam protection mechanism for heterogenerous devices +- The privacy guarantees provided are not rigorous +- There's no incentives to run a node + +Finding a more suitable transport privacy is an ongoing research effort, +together with (Vac)[https://vac.dev/vac-overview] and other teams in the space. + ## Footnotes 1.