The project started with a ton of momentum but never really got picked up in the mainstream. Iirc the founder and most of the core code came from one guy.
Not to mention there has been a ton of internal drama: iirc one of the devs stole a bunch of tox donation money to pay off part of his tuition. Then there was a split in the devs and one of the devs stole all the credentials for the website and they switched? Then there was the accusations that some of the devs where child molesters and where doxed.
They also his a brick wall at one point on mobile due to the protocol being very heavy on battery usage so for a while it was only realistic to use on the desktop.
I wish the project nothing but the best and hope they succeed, but I feel like they have reached a point where they have lost interest. I hope I'm wrong.
Now it isn't a hacked together piece of shit anymore, but proper. As a result, it works reliably. The user experience is very good.
Definitely made by some memesters
Personally, I hope it succeeds in the longer term. We need good, decentralized protocols and software. Decentralization comes with its own costs, and it may never overtake the centralized web. But, protocols like Bittorrent have proven to be super powerful even with their flaws and limitations. To me, it is a no brainer that we need end-to-end encrypted chat, and it would be ideal if it could be peer-to-peer.