[ACCESSWIRE]
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / November 21, 2017 / Snap Interactive, Inc. ("SNAP," the "Company," "we," "our" or "us") (OTCQB: STVI), a leading provider of live video social networking applications building on innovative technologies such as blockchain, today announced it is developing a new video-enabled secure messaging service built on blockchain technology. The new initiative, called Backchannel, enables real-time text, voice, and video messaging between individuals and among groups and will leverage blockchain and other decentralization technologies to offer unique security benefits. SNAP's products serve a global audience and became popular as a free speech platform in many countries in Asia and the Middle East. Backchannel is a further iteration on SNAP's legacy of providing global communication platforms and showcases our dedication to serve privacy-minded consumers around the world, as well as business, legal and government end-users.
Backchannel will integrate end-to-end and forward secrecy encryption best practices for communication apps in line with what Telegram, WhatsApp, and the Signal Protocol provide. In addition, Backchannel will validate and authenticate users with a crypto identity that does not require any personally identifiable information. As a result, Backchannel will never request or hold the real world identity of its users, and therefore have no personal information that could be stolen by hackers or be subject to legal demands for disclosure. In addition, Backchannel intends to decentralize the transmission of all communications within its network. Once this feature has been implemented, communications will never pass through Backchannel servers, and the service will be resistant to censorship, disruption and eavesdropping.
Alex Harrington, SNAP's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We believe Backchannel will be the first secure video messaging app in which users need not rely on a trusted centralized intermediary. The companies that host competitive secure messaging apps on some level know who you are, to whom what you are speaking, and, in some cases, your interests and the context of your conversations. If they have that information in any form, it can be hacked, stolen or disclosure can be forced. Backchannel has been designed to be completely decentralized and "trustless," meaning that you don't need to trust an intermediary to keep this information safe because the communication system is built to have no intermediary, keep no personal information, and most importantly, no central point of failure. No centralized communication app would be able to match that level of security."
"The development team at SNAP is excited to introduce the first natively blockchain-based app initiative to our portfolio of social products," said Eric Sackowitz, SNAP's Chief Technology Officer. "We anticipate Backchannel's live video messaging platform will offer decentralized end-to-end encryption for superior privacy. Backchannel will initially be introduced with a crypto identity layer, with streaming and messaging decentralization offered in the longer term. Backchannel will be launched as a freemium app, leveraging a private blockchain for the free service, and the public blockchain for premium service, payable in crypto-tokens. Accepting payment in crypto-currency completes the secure offering, since credit card payments include real-world identity. We expect the beta launch of phase one in the back half of 2018."
For more information about Backchannel please visit https://backchannel.live, or email [email protected].
IR Contact:
[email protected]
About Snap Interactive, Inc.
Snap Interactive, Inc. is a leading provider of live video social networking applications building on innovative technologies such as blockchain. SNAP's product portfolio includes Paltalk and Camfrog, which together host one of the world's largest collections of video-based communities, and FirstMet, a prominent interactive dating brand serving users 35 and older. The Company has a long history of technology innovation and holds 26 patents related to video conferencing and online gaming.
For more information, please visit http://www.snap-interactive.com.
The contents of our website is not part of this press release, and you should not consider the contents of this website in making an investment decision with respect to our common stock.
Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc. Apple, iTunes and iPhone are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. and App Store is a registered service mark of Apple Inc. Android and Google Play are registered trademarks of Google Inc. Paltalk, Camfrog, FirstMet and The Grade are trademarks of Snap Interactive, Inc.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Such statements may be preceded by the words "intends," "may," "will," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "predicts," "estimates," "aims," "believes," "hopes," "potential" or similar words. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control, and cannot be predicted or quantified and consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks and uncertainties associated with general economic, industry and market sector conditions; the ability to effectively integrate the operations of the Company and Paltalk; the Company's ability to institute corporate governance standards or achieve compliance with national securities exchange listing requirements; the Company's future growth and the ability to obtain additional financing to implement the Company's growth strategy; the ability to increase or recognize revenue, decrease expenses and increase the number of active subscribers, new subscription transactions or monthly active users; the ability to enter into new advertising agreements; the ability to diversify new user acquisition channels or improve the conversion of users to paid subscribers; the ability to anticipate and respond to changing user and industry trends and preferences; the intense competition in the online dating marketplace; the ability to release new applications or derive revenue from new applications; and circumstances that could disrupt the functioning of the Company's applications. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements is set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov.
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SOURCE: Snap Interactive, Inc.
