The privacy-focused messaging app Signal has allocated resources to test internal cryptocurrency payments, according to Platformer founder Casey Newton.
🧵 Today’s issue of @platformer is a look at the battle inside Signal. The company is developing features that would make it vulnerable to abuse — and employees are sounding the alarm https://t.co/7KotVpoQWK
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) January 26, 2021
According to Newton, Signal conducted an experiment with the MobileCoin token — developed by Signal founder Moxie Marlinspike. In 2018, the project team raised $30 million from the crypto exchange Binance.
Sources suggested that integrating the token would attract the attention of regulators and unscrupulous users. Marlinspike described working with MobileCoin as ‘research’.
“If we really decided to add cryptocurrency payments to Signal, we would have taken care to think this through carefully,” said the platform’s founder.
However, former employees told Newton that the company is actively developing the necessary protocols to integrate MobileCoin.
In January 2021 Signal grew its user base amid changes to WhatsApp’s privacy policy. In a week the number of downloads of the messaging app rose by 4,200%.
In November 2020, EU authorities adopted a resolution obliging messaging operators to create keys to monitor chats and messages protected by end-to-end encryption.
For details on why governments seek access to private communications, read ForkLog’s piece.
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