Radar Chat, a new open-source messaging app from the team behind Cake Wallet, launched on July 7 for both iOS and Android platforms. According to reports from DataReportal's 2026 mid-year report, 93.6% of online adults use chat apps or messenger platforms each month, with WhatsApp users opening the app more than 20 times per day on Android and spending an average of 59 minutes per day inside the app. The app allows users to open a chat, enter an amount, and send Bitcoin over Lightning while keeping custody of their funds, with payments settling in less than 1 second and keys staying on device. As reported by Decrypto, the app is designed to let users send and receive bitcoin directly in chat windows without opening a separate wallet app or copying wallet addresses. The app's biggest feature is that it integrates a messenger and a cryptocurrency wallet into a single service, eliminating the need to move between apps or share addresses during conversations.
The launch addresses a significant market opportunity as reported by The World Bank's Global Findex 2025, which found that 79% of adults worldwide now have a financial account, while 84% of adults in low- and middle-income countries own a mobile phone, and 3 billion have smartphones. Users currently use messaging apps for coordinating dinner bills, creator support, gifts, small business payments, and peer-to-peer transfers, but final payments typically require separate wallets, apps, addresses, invoices, or custodial accounts. Radar Chat eliminates this friction by integrating Bitcoin Lightning payments directly into encrypted private chats, bringing private messaging and self-custodial Bitcoin Lightning together in one seamless experience. The app presents everyday small payments such as splitting lunch bills, transfers between friends and paying tips as key use cases, with the developer noting that whether users find it convenient will be key to the service's spread.
As reported by the company, Radar Chat is free to use and open source, with an ad-custodial structure designed for users who care about privacy in both communication and payments. The app's open source code allows developers and privacy-minded users to examine how the product works, and messages, contacts, notes, balances and payments all remain private by default. According to Seth for Privacy, COO of Radar Chat, the app helps remove friction from payment coordination, peer-to-peer transfers, creator support, and day-to-day Bitcoin spending. The company stressed security and control of assets, with the app adopting a self-custodial structure designed for users to store private keys themselves. The app operator does not store or control users' assets, and it provides a seed phrase during initial setup so assets can be recovered on another device. The app also supports an encrypted backup function based on a Signal account as an additional recovery method.
According to the company, the app focuses on payments with social context, allowing users to split dinner bills, gift sats, support creators, and pay someone back inside the same private chat where payment requests appear. The use of the Bitcoin Lightning Network provides fast settlement, with the company completing testing for payments of up to $5,000. As noted by Seth for Privacy, COO of Radar Chat, Bitcoin payments often begin inside a private chat before becoming a transaction, with chat already containing the context around many peer payments. The app's biggest differentiator is its compatibility with Signal, allowing it to communicate with existing Signal users without requiring them to rebuild contact lists or convince friends to join a new platform. The app was built by the team behind Cake Wallet, a self-custodial wallet trusted by nearly 2 million people, and uses Signal's incredible network to bring the people users already talk to with them. The app's biggest feature is that it integrates a messenger and a cryptocurrency wallet into a single service, eliminating the need to move between apps or share addresses during conversations.
