Towns, an onchain messaging platform, officially launched on October 15, sparking interest amidst growing concerns over privacy and content moderation in the social media landscape. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) with a $25.5 million Series A funding round earlier this year, Towns is positioning itself as a new standard for digital communication.
Founded by Ben Rubin, co-creator of Houseparty and Meerkat, Towns runs on the River messaging protocol, a decentralized layer-2 solution built on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). The app prioritizes user ownership of data, offering full control through River's end-to-end encryption and smart contracts on the Base protocol. Towns ensures transparency, security, and decentralization without intermediaries, a feature the company sees as crucial in today’s digital age.
The platform aims to differentiate itself from blockchain-enabled competitors like Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky by offering customizable onchain features and a permissionless group chat environment. With an interface resembling popular platforms like Discord and Slack, Towns is designed to seamlessly integrate into online culture, offering a new way for users to communicate and build communities with complete data control.
As more people shift their lives online, the demand for secure, decentralized communication is growing. Towns aims to fill this gap, promising transparency and user empowerment through blockchain technology.