I’ve been exploring peer:peer messaging between people who use blockchain protocols; for example DeFi protocols like Uniswap.
Protocols like Uniswap don’t currently offer a way to message someone else using the same protocol. Nor do they enable any communication other than notifications about execution of a transaction. But, there’s potential benefits from being able to message about swaps.
However it’s a challenge to store message data on-chain. Instead two or more parties could message via wallets, with messages stored in ephemeral caches without an on-chain write. Caches could then be reset after transaction confirmations. Messages don’t have to be stored on-chain; especially if the content isn’t intended to be transparent. But, some transactions do benefit from on-chain storage; for example multi-sig transactions or governance votes. Here’s a service that reveals on-chain messages for Ethereum L1:
https://www.notifi.xyz/
Ideally messaging could be built into all DeFi infrastructure. This reduces the need for DeFi protocols to create messaging as an add-on; and instead enable it in L2 deployments. Then DeFi users can see it as part of a transaction workflow and the experience is consistent regardless of protocol.
NFTs are another potential beneficiary of messaging. It’s somewhat surprising OpenSea hasn’t offered it to further lock-in loyalty to their platform. Here’s a service that’s experimenting with NFT messaging:
https://www.chatpuppy.com/