When it encrypted The Signal communications app, launched nearly seven years ago, brought the promise of the strongest encryption available to a dead-simple calling and texting interface. Now Signal incorporates what it describes as a way to bring that same ease of use and security to a third, fundamentally differentiating feature: payments.
Signal plans to announce today that it is rolling out the ability for some of its users to send money to each other within its burgeoning encrypted communications network. To do this, it has integrated support for the cryptocurrency MobileCoin, a form of digital cash designed to work efficiently on mobile devices while protecting users’ privacy and even their anonymity. For now, the payment feature is only available to users in the UK, and only for iOS and Android, not the desktop. But the new feature nevertheless represents an experiment to bring privacy-focused cryptocurrency to millions of users, one that Signal hopes to eventually expand around the world.
Moxie Marlinspike, the creator of Signal and CEO of the nonprofit that operates it, describes the new payment feature as an attempt to extend Signal’s privacy protections to payments with the same seamless experience that Signal has provided for encrypted conversations. “There is a noticeable difference in the sense of communicating through Signal, knowing that you are not being listened to or that you are not being listened to, compared to other communication platforms,” Marlinspike told WIRED in an interview. “I would like to go to a world where you feel that not only when you talk to your therapist about Signal, but also when you pay your therapist for the session through Signal.”
Unlike payment features integrated into other messaging apps such as WhatsApp or iMessage, which typically link a user’s bank account, Signal aims to provide a way to send money that no one other than the sender and recipient can observe or track. Financial institutions routinely sell their users’ private transaction data to marketing companies and advertisers or hand it over to law enforcement officials. Bitcoin wouldn’t work either. As with many cryptocurrencies, the protection against fraud and counterfeiting relies on a public, distributed accounting ledger – a blockchain – that in many cases can reveal who sent money to whom.
That’s why Signal looked at privacy-preserving cryptocurrency, or “ privacy coins, ” which bypass both banks and are specifically designed to protect users’ identities and the details of their payments on a blockchain. While more established privacy-focused cryptocurrencies such as Zcash and Monero are more widely used and arguably better tested, Marlinspike says Signal chose to integrate MobileCoin because it has the most seamless user experience on mobile devices, requiring little storage space on the phone and only seconds to confirm transactions. Zcash or Monero payments, on the other hand, take minutes to complete transactions. “You’re using a cryptocurrency with state-of-the-art encryption, but from your perspective it feels like Venmo,” said MobileCoin founder Josh Goldbard.
Signal’s choice of MobileCoin comes as no surprise to anyone viewing the development of the cryptocurrency since its launch in late 2017. Marlinspike has served as a paid technical advisor on the project since its inception, working with Goldbard to develop MobileCoin’s mechanics. design with possible future integration into apps like Signal in mind. (Marlinspike notes, however, that neither he nor Signal owns MobileCoins.)
MobileCoin only started trading as a real value currency in December last year – until then it operated as a crappy ‘test net’ – and the 250 million coins, at approximately $ 69 each, currently total nearly $ 17 billion dollars. worth . For now, it is listed for sale on only one cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, which does not allow transactions by US users, although Goldbard says there is no reason US exchanges should not be able to list the coin for trading as well. Signal chose to roll out its MobileCoin integration in the UK, in part because the cryptocurrency cannot yet be purchased by users in the US, says Marlinspike, but also because it represents a smaller, English-speaking user base to test out the new payments. . function, which he hopes will make diagnosing problems easier.
Payments pose a tough dilemma for Signal: to keep up with the features of other messaging apps, users need to be able to send money. But doing this without compromising excellent privacy guarantees poses a unique challenge. Despite the intentions of Marlinspike and MobileCoin, using each cryptocurrency today remains much more complex than Signal’s other features. Even if users can send MobileCoin back and forth, they will likely still need to redeem them in traditional currency to spend them as MobileCoin is not widely accepted for real goods and services. And aside from that need for exchanges and lack of availability in the US, MobileCoin remains even more volatile than older cryptocurrencies, with constant price swings that will significantly change the balances in a user’s Signal wallet over days or even hours. – hardly the kind of problem that Venmo users face. (Since March 27, MobileCoin’s value has risen nearly 600 percent, possibly due to rumors of its upcoming Signal integration or possibly the result of a “short-squeeze.”)