Share this article
BTC
$78,214.31
-
5.99%ETH
$1,573.33
-
12.51%USDT
$0.9994
-
0.05%XRP
$1.9135
-
10.08%BNB
$554.59
-
6.32%USDC
$1.0002
+
0.00%SOL
$105.74
-
11.76%DOGE
$0.1485
-
11.48%TRX
$0.2296
-
3.25%ADA
$0.5714
-
12.08%LEO
$8.8762
-
2.78%LINK
$11.23
-
12.15%TON
$2.9078
-
10.15%XLM
$0.2259
-
10.15%SHIB
$0.0₄1126
-
8.32%AVAX
$15.96
-
10.20%SUI
$1.9179
-
12.92%HBAR
$0.1391
-
13.61%OM
$5.7400
-
8.25%BCH
$271.83
-
10.28%Sign Up
- Back to menuPrices
- Back to menuResearch
- Back to menu
- Back to menu
- Back to menu
- Back to menuResearch
Secure Messaging App Signal Reportedly Toying With Crypto Payments
Staff at the firm are said to be worried the addition would bring bad actors and unwanted regulatory attention.
Private messaging app Signal is developing cryptocurrency payments and other features that reportedly have employees worried.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Signal is actively developing payment features relating to a Stellar-based, privacy-focused cryptocurrency called MobileCoin, a project advised by Signal CEO Moxie Marlinspike, Platformer said Tuesday.
Like the Facebook-backed Diem (formerly Libra) project, MobileCoin has been touted internally as a way to make it easier for people in developing nations to move money around, per the report. The app is also said to be working on allowing customers to have unique usernames amid concerns about its current use of mobile phone numbers as the basis for accounts.
However, employees at the firm fear the additions may open the app up to abusive behavior and bring negative attention to the app and encryption technologies from regulators, Platformer said.
A crypto payments feature is seen by staff as risky because it may draw criminals onto the platform, while usernames run the risk of impersonators and scammers. There are also concerns Signal may be failing to develop policies on how to handle bad actors.
“The world needs products like Signal but they also need Signal to be thoughtful,” Gregg Bernstein, a former user researcher at Signal, told Platformer.
Read more: Cryptocurrency Advised by Signal Founder Goes Live, Begins Trading on FTX
Signal is said in the report to have seen users rapidly grow to over 40 million, up from approximately 20 million in December, as users of rival app WhatsApp jumped to the platform amid concerns over a planned privacy policy.
MobileCoin is said to be a mobile-first privacy coin built with Stellar's blockchain technology. In May 2018, the project raised $30 million via a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT) sale.
Tanzeel Akhtar
Tanzeel Akhtar has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Forbes Africa, Financial Times, The Street, Citywire, Investing.com, Euromoney, Yahoo! Finance, Benzinga, Kitco News, African Business Magazine, Hedge Week, Campden Family Office, Modern Investor, Spear's Wealth Management Magazine, Global Investor, ETF.com, ETF Stream, CIO UK, Funds Global Asia, Portfolio Institutional, Interactive Investor, Bitcoin Magazine, CryptoNews.com, Bitcoin.com, The Local, The Next Web, Mining Journal, Money Marketing, Marketing Week and more. Tanzeel trained as a foreign correspondent at the University of Helsinki, Finland and newspaper journalist at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. She holds a BA (Honours) in English Literature from the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and completed a semester abroad as an ERASMUS student at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She is NCTJ Qualified - Media Law, Public Administration and passed the Shorthand 100WPM with distinction. She does not currently hold value in any digital currencies or projects.
