Session, the encrypted messaging app that doesn’t require a phone number and keeps no metadata, has announced it’s down to its final 90 days of operation. Unless the Session Technology Foundation (STF) secures sufficient funding by July 8, 2026, the service will shut down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The foundation needs roughly one million dollars annually to cover developer salaries, infrastructure, and operating costs. So far, the STF has received about $65,000 in donations, enough to keep critical infrastructure running for the next three months but not enough to retain paid staff. By April 9, 2026, all employees had already left their positions; some will continue on a volunteer basis until the deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Session launched in 2018-2019 by a group of Australian developers under the Oxen Privacy Tech Foundation (OPTF). The network model was built around the OXEN cryptocurrency: distributed node operators forming the infrastructure had to stake OXEN tokens as collateral and received rewards in return. In theory, this mechanism should have made the network self-sufficient without relying on centralized servers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OXEN as a cryptocurrency has essentially ceased to exist. According to CoinGecko, the token lost over 99% of its value from its peak and was delisted from nearly every exchange. The economic foundation of the network had evaporated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2024, as OPTF transferred project management to the newly created Swiss STF, citing an increasingly hostile regulatory environment for encryption in Australia, the team announced migration to a new token called SENT, based on Ethereum. A second attempt at building sustainability on crypto foundations. Meanwhile, the “Session Pro” plan, a paid tier meant to guarantee steady revenue, still wasn’t ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not all applications that integrate cryptocurrency into their infrastructure are equivalent, and an economic incentive for node operators can, in principle, be a legitimate solution to the decentralization problem. The Session case demonstrates, however, that relying on a crypto token as a primary financing mechanism structurally exposes a project to market volatility. When evaluating a privacy tool, dependence on cryptocurrency for the service’s survival should be considered a real risk factor, to be weighed alongside technical features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With 1.7 million monthly active users, Session remains a project with a real user base. The STF has stated that if the service does shut down, any unused funds will be donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. For those wanting to contribute, donations are open on the official website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n