Press Kit — Z-TEXT

Z-TEXT bird mark PRESS KIT // 2026
Z-TEXT — zk-SNARKs blockchain messenger

This press kit contains our own weaknesses. That's what makes it usable.

Z-TEXT is a zk-SNARKs blockchain messenger built on BitcoinZ — no phone, no email, no SIM, zero metadata. Below is everything a journalist needs to write a real story: verified facts, an interactive tool that scores us honestly (including where we lose), pre-approved quotes, and direct contact — no PR firm in between.

Status: Public beta live — licenses, wallet, and messaging are already running at z-text.com. Broader app store rollout is underway across multiple stores. This is early access, not a hypothetical.

Founder
Eric Pierrot
Entity
Z-TEXT LLC, Wyoming
Funding
Self-funded, no VC
Chain live since
Sep 10, 2017
Bug bounty
7 ZEC pool
Threat model
Published, public
§01

Try to catch us lying

Rank what matters to you. We'll show exactly where Z-TEXT lands among 29 messengers — scored on the same 8 criteria as everyone else, no matter what you pick. It rarely wins. That's the honest result of a scoreboard we built the same way for all 29 apps, including our own.

Known limitations — published in full at z-text.com/docs/security

No group calling yet. No independent third-party security audit yet — built on audited Zcash cryptography, but Z-TEXT's own implementation hasn't been externally audited. A timestamp-based nonce in one non-critical component and an unprotected panic-PIN toggle at file level are known issues; neither affects funds or message confidentiality.

§02

Boilerplate

Copy-paste ready. No need to email us for a usable paragraph.

Z-TEXT is a zk-SNARKs blockchain messenger built on the BitcoinZ network. It requires no phone number, no email, and no SIM card, and collects zero metadata by design. The app combines a shielded messenger, a password manager, a non-custodial crypto wallet, and Channels broadcasting under a single 24-word recovery seed. Z-TEXT LLC is self-funded, based in Wyoming, and publishes its own threat model and known security limitations publicly rather than only its strengths.

§03

Story angles

Four ready hooks, ranked by how unusual they are — not how flattering.

1

The messenger that scored itself honestly, and shipped it anyway

Z-TEXT built an open comparison tool against 28 other messengers, on 8 criteria, and lands 27th of 29 overall — a rare case of a company publishing a scoreboard it doesn't win.

2

Self-funded, no VC, two people

No investor board, no venture round. The founder and one remote developer built the app, the blockchain integration, and the infrastructure independently.

3

What happens when your messenger's company disappears

Wickr (Amazon) shut down in Dec 2023. Skype (Microsoft, once an $8.5B acquisition) shut down in May 2025. Both apps now score zero on every criterion — not from broken encryption, but because a company decided to stop running servers. Z-TEXT's identity is a recovery seed, not a company account.

4

Governments are already moving to blockchain

Wyoming — where Z-TEXT LLC is incorporated — became the first U.S. state to issue its own blockchain-based digital currency (Frontier Stable Token, live since Jan 2026). The Bank of Japan is expanding its own blockchain settlement infrastructure in 2026. What most of those systems don't add is a privacy layer — which is where zk-SNARKs comes in.

§04

Pre-approved quotes

"We scored our own app honestly against 28 others, using the same rules for all of them. It loses on group calling and network size — because it's new, and those are real weaknesses. Publishing that felt riskier than hiding it. It wasn't."

— Eric Pierrot, Founder, Z-TEXT LLC

"A messenger built on a company's servers only exists as long as that company keeps paying for them. Wickr and Skype prove that. Z-TEXT's identity is a 24-word phrase, not an account — no company can shut that off."

— Eric Pierrot, Founder, Z-TEXT LLC

§05

Frequently asked

Is this a scam? +

Z-TEXT LLC is a registered Wyoming company, self-funded, with no token sale, no presale, and no investor round. The app doesn't ask for a phone number, email, or ID — so there's no personal data to sell or leak. The cryptography is built on Zcash's audited Sapling protocol, not a custom unaudited scheme. Skepticism toward a small, self-funded privacy project is reasonable — that's exactly why this kit leads with weaknesses instead of hiding them.

Why blockchain instead of a normal server? +

A normal server is a single point of failure — one company decision, one subpoena, or one shutdown ends the service. Wickr and Skype both prove this: neither was broken by weak encryption, both simply stopped existing when their parent companies pulled the plug. Z-TEXT messages travel as shielded transactions on the BitcoinZ blockchain, so there's no company server holding the network together. The identity is a 24-word seed phrase, not an account tied to any company's infrastructure.

Who's behind Z-TEXT? +

Z-TEXT is built by Eric Pierrot (founder, Wyoming-based Z-TEXT LLC) and one remote developer. No venture capital, no board, no outside investors. Contact and PGP details are listed below for direct verification.

Has Z-TEXT been independently audited? +

Not yet, and this kit says so directly rather than implying otherwise. Z-TEXT's core cryptography (zk-SNARKs, Sapling shielded transactions) comes from Zcash, which has been externally audited. Z-TEXT's own implementation on top of that has not had an independent third-party audit yet. A public bug bounty (7 ZEC pool) is live to surface issues in the meantime.

Why should I trust a small, self-funded team over a bigger company? +

Size isn't the same as trustworthiness. Bigger companies have shut down messengers before (Wickr, Skype) despite deep resources, because the product depended on their continued existence. Z-TEXT's design goal is the opposite: even if Z-TEXT LLC disappeared tomorrow, a user's messages and funds would still be recoverable from their own seed phrase, because nothing is stored on a company-controlled server.

§06

Assets

High-resolution, no watermark. Right-click to save.

Live proof, not a screenshot

A screenshot can be cropped or staged. The blockchain can't. Open the real BitcoinZ explorer and look at any shielded transaction yourself — sender, receiver, and content are not visible, on any transaction, to anyone, including us.

explorer.btcz.rocks → — search any transaction hash. Shielded fields show as encrypted, not blank or redacted — there was never plaintext to hide.

§07

Direct contact

Eric Pierrot, Founder — contact@z-text.com

PGP fingerprint, for anything sensitive:

13B8 6375 AEBD 6AF9 EBE4 06FE 92CA 539F 9E6C 1ADC
Z-TEXT bird mark

zk-SNARKs blockchain messenger · Signal alternative · Telegram alternative · Wyoming, USA

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