“Why people in ‘Crypto’ space use Telegram is all beyond me”

Source: http://www.mosaicventures.com/mosaicblog/2015/12/15/telegram-the-next-generation-messaging-platform

Recently my favourite figure, Amber Baldet, from Blockchain world tweeted about how there doesn’t exist an application which she can use to give usernames instead of phone numbers to the guys she just met. So the tweet sparked a thread and someone suggested her to use telegram, and oh boy, she lashed out!

And I completely agree with her.

She also highlighted a point where she doesn’t understand why people in the “crypto” space use Telegram at all!

The same people who vouch for exceptional security offered by blockchain actually have most of their conversations on the most insecure chat app in the world — Telegram.

Issues with Telegram

It doesn’t encrypt chats by default. One has to turn on an additional setting to converse in an encrypted format known as Secret chat option. To know how to do that, click here. Telegram has delivered everything a government wishes for.
All your data is stored on Telegram servers. Who knows in what form (encrypted or not)!
The desktop app is also not secure. Hackers took advantage of the loophole and installed remote-controlled malwares into the PCs.

Check out this amazing article which goes into technical detail of the encryption protocols being used.