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in spring In 2021, the encrypted communication application Signal announced that it will Add a beta version of payment function to its users in the UK, Testing integration with a relatively new, privacy-focused cryptocurrency called MobileCoin. But since mid-November, a broader phase of the experiment has quietly proceeded. At that time, Signal allowed all users to use the same functions without much fanfare, providing the ability to send digital payments to millions of mobile phones that were more private than credit card transactions or bitcoin transfers.
Josh Goldbard, the founder of MobileCoin, confirmed the timing of the launch and stated that it has stimulated the large-scale adoption of cryptocurrencies. There are now thousands of transactions per day, compared to only a few dozen before the global beta release. “There are currently more than 100 million devices on the planet that can open MobileCoin and send end-to-end encrypted payments in 5 seconds or less,” Goldbard quoted Signal as saying. Total downloads.
In fact, it is still not that simple to start using Signal’s payment function. Anyone other than sanctioned companies such as North Korea and Syria can access their MobileCoin wallet in the message by clicking the “+” icon and then clicking “Pay”. But for many people, the first step is to load the wallet; the cryptocurrency is only listed on a few smaller cryptocurrency exchanges—such as BitFinex and FTX—and none of them offer it to American consumers.
Signal itself did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment on the global launch of the payment function. But last April, Signal’s creator Moxie Marlinspike Explain to WIRED He wants to add payment capabilities to encrypted video calling and text messaging applications to match the features of competitors such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, while also introducing Signal’s acclaimed privacy protection into currency transactions. “I want to enter a world where you can not only feel [a sense of privacy] When you talk to your therapist through Signal, and when you pay for treatment through Signal,” Marlinspike said at the time.
Marlinspike believes that a certain currency privacy needs to be combined with cryptocurrency, rather than traditional, easy-to-monitor banking and credit card systems. In 2017, Marlinspike considered this potential integration and helped launch MobileCoin as a paid technical consultant for cryptocurrencies.He and Goldbard said that the MobileCoin they designed is easier to make small purchases on mobile devices, the transaction confirmation speed is faster, and it is faster than Bitcoin, its public blockchain can allow a powerful form of tracking.
To avoid blockchain-based user financial tracking, MobileCoin has deployed technologies pioneered in older so-called “privacy coins”, such as currency And Zcash. These include a protocol called CryptoNote and a feature called Ring Confidential Transactions that hide the payment amount and make them difficult to track by mixing them together. MobileCoin also uses a form of mathematical proof called Bulletproofs, which can guarantee that a transaction has occurred without revealing its value. When talking about Bitcoin’s not-so-private blockchain, Goldbard said: “I think it is unreasonable to send transactions through a ledger that can link all operations.” “There are many different problems. If I pay the bills My barista now knows that I just paid my therapist or I went to the doctor. Every transaction I make with that wallet is now visible to my barista, forever.”
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