A profile of Matrix, an open-source, decentralized protocol for messaging interoperability that saw its network's users double in 2022 to at least 80.3M
After years of walled gardens, cross-pollination could be in sight — Interoperability and decentralization have been major themes in tech this year … Tweets: @hannan_rai , @rschuler10 , @alexanderchopan , @michaelguimarin , @hyoondae , and @psawers Tweets: Abdul Hannan Rai / @hannan_rai : Interoperability emerged as one of the big technology trends of 2022, shining a light on open, decentralized protocols such as Matrix. https://techcrunch.com/... R Schuler / @rschuler10 : Messaging apps are finally playing nice with each other! It's like the parents of the tech world finally decided to sit down and have a family dinner 🤣 #MatrixtheProtocol https://techcrunch.com/... #TheMatrix @alexanderchopan : “We believe that the value of any messaging platform grows based on its ability to connect with other platforms,” https://techcrunch.com/... Michael Guimarin / @michaelguimarin : Significant that a majority of Matrix use cases are within the enterprise. This is a great development. https://twitter.com/... David S / @hyoondae : What abt people wary of/weary of installing appps/companies that violate privacy/fail to disclose what data their apps can sniff outside the sandbox? ""These bridges could be run client-side — for example, the Matrix iMessage bridge runs client-side..." https://techcrunch.com/... Paul Sawers / @psawers : In a year where messaging interoperability fell into the mainstream spotlight, I took a look at Matrix, an open communication protocol that Reddit is reportedly experimenting with: https://techcrunch.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Matrix ended 2022 as one of interoperability's proof points: an open-source, decentralized messaging protocol whose network doubled during the year to at least 80.3M users, with a majority of its use cases inside enterprises rather than consumer apps. The commercial base was laid earlier when Element, the flagship app built on Matrix, raised a $30M Series B in 2021.
The momentum held — by late 2023 the network reported 115M+ users after shipping Matrix 2.0 — and the regulatory side of the story arrived soon after, with Meta detailing how it will open WhatsApp and Messenger to third-party chats under the EU's DMA. This profile is the early data point showing demand for cross-network messaging existed before regulators mandated it.
First-order effects
- Enterprise adopters get a protocol-level path out of walled-garden lock-in: Matrix's majority-enterprise use means organizations can bridge internal and external messaging without abandoning their existing clients.
- Reddit's reported experimentation with the Matrix protocol gives the network a high-profile consumer-scale test case beyond its enterprise core.
Second-order effects
- Meta's DMA-driven interoperability build-out for WhatsApp and Messenger — opt-in third-party chats in a separate inbox — effectively concedes the premise Matrix has been selling: that messaging value compounds across networks, not within them.
- Privacy-first rivals like Signal, profiled separately as aiming to reach everyone while upholding E2EE, now face a landscape where interoperability is table stakes rather than a differentiator, pushing competition toward trust and encryption guarantees.
Third-order effects
- If regulated interoperability normalizes bridged messaging, the industry structure shifts from proprietary network effects toward protocol-level ones — where the durable assets are bridges, identity, and encryption standards rather than user counts per app.
- The pattern echoes the broader decentralization wave Mastodon and nostr rode after Twitter's turmoil: complexity is the tax, but each mandate or adoption datapoint lowers it, making open protocols viable defaults for both enterprises and platforms.
The trend: Messaging is moving from walled gardens toward mandated and market-driven interoperability, with open protocols like Matrix supplying the connective tissue regulators are now requiring.