# How Peer-to-Peer Apps Stay Free Forever (Holepunch Interview) Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/techlore-talks-5778657/how-peer-to-peer-apps-stay-free-forever-holepunch-interview Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/techlore-talks-5778657/how-peer-to-peer-apps-stay-free-forever-holepunch-interview.md Podcast: [Techlore Talks](https://stenobird.com/podcast/techlore-talks-5778657) Published: 2026-01-31T17:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/fddc0c80 Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/fddc0c80/8fd3dfa4.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/techlore-talks-5778657/episodes/how-peer-to-peer-apps-stay-free-forever-holepunch-interview Duration seconds: 4508 ## Resource Peer-to-peer networks have no servers—just devices talking directly to each other. Henry interviewed Mathias Buus Madsen, CEO of Holepunch, about how BitTorrent handled 40 million users without servers, why their messenger Keet can't go down even when usage spikes, their new P2P password manager, and how P2P apps are more energy efficient than data centers. 🔗 SOURCES & LINKS • Holepunch: https://holepunch.to/ • Keet Messenger: https://keet.io • Pears: https://pears.com • Pear Pass: https://pass.pears.com ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 INTRO 00:01:25 WHAT IS PEER-TO-PEER (P2P)? 00:03:16 BENEFITS OF P2P 00:05:38 GETTING STARTED IN P2P 00:08:43 NEGATIVE P2P ASSOCIATIONS 00:14:13 P2P CENSORSHIP RESISTANCE 00:17:14 P2P SAFETY 00:21:29 KEET (P2P MESSENGER) 00:26:21 OPEN SOURCE? 00:27:12 BEING SERVERLESS 00:31:04 OPEN SOURCE VS. CLOSED SOURCE 00:34:05 ARE UPDATES P2P? 00:34:33 IS THERE AN APK? 00:35:37 BACKGROUND SYNC 00:39:27 WHAT ELSE DOES HOLEPUNCH WORK ON? 00:42:04 MORE INFO ON THE STACK 00:45:00 FUNDING + TETHER 00:48:09 P2P PASSWORD MANAGER? 00:54:48 AUDITS 00:55:57 AVAILABLE ON LINUX? 00:58:33 CENTRALIZED/HYBRID P2P? 01:01:49 P2P DOWNSIDES? 01:05:01 APPLE FINDMY NETWORK 01:07:16 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 01:11:48 SERVICE DOWNTIME 01:12:52 HOW TO FOLLOW 01:13:59 OUTRO 🎥 VIDEO Watch on YouTube 🧡 SUPPORT TECHLORE Keep Techlore Talks independent & growing: ★ Support this podcast ★ ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/techlore-talks-5778657/episodes/how-peer-to-peer-apps-stay-free-forever-holepunch-interview/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/techlore-talks-5778657/how-peer-to-peer-apps-stay-free-forever-holepunch-interview.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.