Signal creator is actively against 3rd party clients, because they "use his infrastructure for free":
https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37#issueco...
replies(1):
https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37#issueco...
Moxie is also using his position as the creator of Signal to promote and integrate his pet cryptocurrency project MobileCoin as a payment provider for Signal, of which he owns a majority stake in.
Technical merits of MobileCoin aside, it's not a good look.
Signal is really not inspiring confidence right now.
EDIT: Sorry, Moxie is only serving as a paid technical advisor to MobileCoin--it is not his project and presumably does not own stake in MobileCoin. So that's better, but remains to be seen what enfolds.
Found a summary of events here if anyone can confirm:
1. MobileCoin premines 250m coins
2. Moxie gets paid for being on their advisory board
3. Moxie directs his non-profit to integrate MobileCoin in secret
4. MobileCoin offers 1/5 of their premine for sale.
5. Signal announcement spikes price to $60
The Wired article covering this has a note clarifying that both Moxie and Signal own no MobileCoins, and that he's been a paid advisor to the project.
>Signal's choice of MobileCoin is no surprise for anyone watching the cryptocurrency's development since it launched in late 2017. Marlinspike has served as a paid technical adviser for the project since its inception, and he's worked with Goldbard to design MobileCoin's mechanics with a possible future integration into apps like Signal in mind. (Marlinspike notes, however, that neither he nor Signal own any MobileCoins.)
https://www.wired.com/story/signal-mobilecoin-payments-messa...
It is the case that Moxie is a paid technical adviser, not that MobileCoin was his project.
I've amended my above post for accuracy.