The encrypted messaging app Signal launches a new payment feature on its app that would let users send privacy-focused payments. Signal founder Moxie Marlinspike has been an adviser to the project since 2018. The service can operate only using a cryptocurrency as of now. Privacy always remains at the forefront for the Signal Foundation. So they have started by partnering with MobileCoin.
However, Signal does not want its users to link their bank accounts or debit cards to send or receive money on the app. It plans to rely on cryptocurrency for that. The feature is currently available in a beta build for users in the United Kingdom and only on iOS and Android. Desktop support not included. The messaging app is yet to begin testing the features in the other markets.
A signal messaging app launches a new payment feature with one protocol- the Mobilecoin wallet, which has its currency, MOB. The goal of MOB, based on Stellar blockchain technology. It can work efficiently on mobile devices while also protecting users’ privacy.
Jun Harada, Signal’s head of growth and communication in the blog, explained that once you link the Mobilecoin wallet to Signal, you can start sending money to your friend, family and even receive money from them. He reassured that the Signal app would not have access to your funds, balance, etc., due to the way Mobilecoin has designed. Mobilecoin is currently only trading on FTX. Only the sender and receiver will know about the transactions. Signal App will not have access to anything related to the user’s money on its app.
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“The latest Signal betas are rolling out today. Inside, you’ll find performance enhancements, a slew of bug fixes, and improvements to the mute settings. If you’re in the United Kingdom, you’ll see support for Signal Payments. This new feature enables you to send and receive privacy-focused payments as easily as sending or receiving a message. This is a beta feature in a beta build, but only for the United Kingdom living life on the edge. Please help us test and give feedback,” Harada, said in a blog post.
“I’m terrified for Signal,” Matthew Green, a cryptographer at Johns Hopkins University who sits on the Zcash Foundation board, told Wired, adding
“Signal as an encrypted messaging product is really valuable. Speaking solely as a person who is really into encrypted messaging, it terrifies me that they’re going to take this really clean story of an encrypted messenger and mix it up with the nightmare of laws and regulations and vulnerability that is cryptocurrency.”
On the other hand, integrating privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies into relatively popular communications apps may give users an attractive onramp and interface to enter the crypto world.
While Signal is indeed available in India, cryptocurrencies are not in a particularly favourable juncture. One cannot expect Signal to introduce India’s feature anytime soon as the Indian government still isn’t in favour of using Cryptocurrencies as a payment mode for any transaction type.
