The Cake Wallet team launches Radar Chat, an app integrating end-to-end messaging via the Signal protocol and Bitcoin payments via Lightning Network
The team behind Cake Wallet launched on Tuesday Radar Chat, a new application that combines end-to-end encrypted messaging with self-custodial Bitcoin payments via Lightning Network. The app, available on iOS and Android, lets users send Bitcoin directly within private conversations, without switching to a separate wallet or copying addresses.
“The idea behind Radar is that the people we talk to and the people we pay are often the same, yet messaging and payments still live in separate places,” said Vikrant Sharma, founder of Radar Chat and Cake Wallet. Radar is a separate company from Cake Wallet, as the company itself clarified. The open-source Signal protocol was chosen as the technical foundation for message encryption, with private keys kept under the exclusive control of users.
Sharma explained the decision to build on Signal rather than develop a secure messaging system from scratch: “Many Bitcoin- and privacy-conscious users already rely on Signal, so Radar builds on a familiar foundation by adding what was missing: native Bitcoin payments inside conversations.” The app also contributes financially to the Signal project, because, as Sharma put it, “we believe privacy-preserving communication is an important public good.”
The contrast with traditional payment services is central to the product’s vision. “Apps like PayPal and Cash App have made it easier to send money, but they are centralised services,” Sharma said. “They hold your money, they can freeze your account, and they see every transaction you make. Convenience has come at the cost of control.” Radar instead focuses on self-custody: during setup, users receive a recovery seed phrase to restore their Bitcoin on another device, with an additional encrypted backup tied to the Signal account.
