←back to thread

Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency

(www.wired.com)
544 points josh2600 | 4 comments | 06 Apr 21 16:23 UTC | HN request time: 0.746s | source
Show context
RL_Quine ◴[06 Apr 21 17:20 UTC] No.26714661[source]▶
How much did MobileCoin pay for inclusion in Signal?
replies(3): >>26714777 #>>26714892 #>>26714906 #
josh2600 ◴[06 Apr 21 17:28 UTC] No.26714777[source]▶
MobileCoin has not yet paid Signal anything for integrating MobileCoin. We intend to donate a great deal of money to Signal over the coming years.

We believe in Signal's mission and we think that the world is a better place with Signal in it.

replies(1): >>26714857 #
RL_Quine ◴[06 Apr 21 17:33 UTC] No.26714857[source]▶
Moxie Marlinspike is listed as an advisor for MobileCoin, was this not a paid position?
replies(1): >>26715013 #
josh2600 ◴[06 Apr 21 17:46 UTC] No.26715013[source]▶
Moxie != Signal.

Moxie, as an individual, is a paid technical advisor to MobileCoin but the reality is that we could never pay Moxie what his time is worth. I am thankful that he has chosen to help make this project a reality.

replies(6): >>26715041 #>>26715138 #>>26715528 #>>26717180 #>>26717307 #>>26719451 #
1. aaaxyz ◴[06 Apr 21 20:45 UTC] No.26717180[source]▶
That is just sad.

I've been a longtime signal user (since the textsecure/redphone days). I've always given moxie a pass on his controversial decisions (no federalisation, no 3rd party clients, no fdroid repo, relying on Google play services, being slow to release serverside source code) because the team was small and obviously had to cut corners somewhere.

But learning that they spent their time adding support for a (premined?) cryptocurrency just because it's Moxie's pet project is disheartening. What are the odds that this would've been merged into the project if it had been a merge request opened by someone from the outside?

replies(2): >>26719271 #>>26723805 #
2. nullc ◴[07 Apr 21 00:49 UTC] No.26719271[source]▶
Especially when you consider those decisions in light of this move: they create platform lock in and lockdown.

Want to run signal with no payments integration or with a Bitcoin wallet instead? Too bad.

3. adeptus ◴[07 Apr 21 12:26 UTC] No.26723805[source]▶
What are your (you guys) opinions on Session (https://getsession.org/), the Signal clone that uses Tor, and no phone numbers? Any significant downsides? Anybody know the team there and can speak on their trustworthiness, longer term intentions etc? What about the code they've added? Anybody review that? At a quick glance it looks like a decent but less user friendly alternative (no phone numbers - good for privacy, bad for grandma's to be able to adopt it easily). Thanks.
replies(1): >>26736143 #
4. haakon ◴[08 Apr 21 07:49 UTC] No.26736143[source]▶
They are also going to integrate a cryptocurrency: https://getsession.org/crypto-craze/