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# River chat built on Freenet peer-to-peer network without blockchain

**[theacademe](https://daily.dev/sources/wnajl1vbavx2ccjbkkb5h)** · [@theacademe](https://daily.dev/theacademe) · 2 min read · 5 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

River is a decentralized group chat application built on the new Freenet peer-to-peer network, which uses WebAssembly contracts as keys in a global distributed key-value store. Unlike blockchain-based dapps or centralized servers, Freenet (formerly Locutus, written in Rust) focuses on censorship resistance and privacy with a distributed routing topology. The platform also hosts other projects including a decentralized website builder, peer-to-peer email, and decentralized Git hosting.

## Content

Freenet [River](https://freenet.org/river/) is a decentralized group chat system (a dapp) built on the [Freenet](https://freenet.org/about/faq/) peer-to-peer network, rather than a central server or a dapp built on Web3 blockchain infrastructure. Even has a CLI.

tl;dr join from your browser [here](https://freenet.org/quickstart/).

Freenet, is a global, decentralized key-value store where keys are WebAssembly contracts, allowing it to run in a web browser similarly to single-page apps on the traditional web. It features a distributed routing topology for peer discovery and data synchronization, focusing on censorship resistance and privacy. And no name squatting! Peertube video interview with Ian Clarke [here](https://peertube.futo.org/w/qT7MGoRoUuSdyDXE78Xa3d) about Freenet.

Whereas legacy Freenet was a distributed storage platform, written in Java, (and now re-named [Hyphanet](https://hyphanet.org)), new Freenet (fka Locutus) is a platform, and in Rust (**ooooh!**). _(I've no interest to wade into the renaming controversy - just don't)_

(If you remember how early p2p Gnutella-based apps like Phex, Shareaza and BearShare worked vs. Napster, this type of architecture made networks like Gnutella nearly impossible to shut down. There was no single point of failure; any two users could create a network simply by connecting to each other and inviting others.)

If you want a peek at the network in action, here's [a very pretty dashboard](http://nova.locut.us:3133/).

Other Freenet projects include:

- Delta, a decentralized website builder and publishing platform
- decentralized email built on Freenet, where messages route peer-to-peer with no provider in the middle
- freenet-git, decentralized Git hosting and collaboration to push and clone without depending on a central forge

---

Tags: [#rust](https://daily.dev/tags/rust), [#webassembly](https://daily.dev/tags/webassembly), [#decentralization](https://daily.dev/tags/decentralization), [#peer-to-peer](https://daily.dev/tags/peer-to-peer)

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