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Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency

wired.com

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Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency

#101

Post by lrvick »

airza wrote: post #13

The technology is cool, but I don't really know if I want KYC regulatory risk in my encrypted messaging client. I just want italics.

Then why use Signal at all? You had to have KYC to get a phone number in most countries which you had to give to Signal which could expose your location etc via tower pings to anyone you communicate with unless you port it to a VoIP number (how many know how to do that?)

You also had to provide a phone number to get a Google or Apple account to install Signal because anonymous signed install methods are not supported, which moxie says is intentional to collect analytics.

Signal may have end to end encryption but being anonymous is a clear non goal.

Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency

#102

Post by RL_Quine »

bdcs wrote: post #99
RL_Quine wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Signal chose MobileCoin because nothing else met their performance and privacy standards. Signal has obvious financial connections to MobileCoin, something that frankly nobody else has ever heard of before today. I find it really difficult to believe that MobileCoin paying Moxie (which you've acknowledged), and Signal/Moxie happening to choose MobileCoin for inclusion in Signal when nobody wanted it was a coinciden…

"Marlinspike notes, however, that neither he nor Signal own any MobileCoins." https://www.wired.com/story/signal-mobilecoin-payments-messa...

> "Moxie, as an individual, is a paid technical advisor to MobileCoin"

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26715013

This seems incompatible with the spirit of the quote in the article.

Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency

#104

Post by [deleted] »

alexmingoia wrote: post #96
orph wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keys are not stored in SGX. Keys never leave the phone.

Can you provide more detail? ”Running MobileCoin in an SGX enclave allows nodes to securely manage keys for users. A client can perform remote attestation to its MobileCoin node before transmitting its keys into the remote enclave along with a short recovery PIN. The MobileCoin node can then rate limit authenticated access to the keys, while the enclave prevents the node operator or anyone who compromises the node fr…

[deleted]

Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency

#105

Post by ornornor »

rvz wrote: post #97

So when Keybase added Stellar support for payments, this was met with lots of hostility and disappointment, such as 'cryptocoin bullshit' [0] or 'Yeah, I am not going to use any product associated with anything cryptocurrency. Just smells bad. [1] Now the same thing has happened on Signal; HN's favourite messaging app. So why is this met with warm welcoming arms especially when they are also going into cryptocurrenci…

Maybe because people trust the signal project more than keybase (which sold out to zoom, of all companies)

Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency

#106

Post by leppr »

rvz wrote: post #97

So when Keybase added Stellar support for payments, this was met with lots of hostility and disappointment, such as 'cryptocoin bullshit' [0] or 'Yeah, I am not going to use any product associated with anything cryptocurrency. Just smells bad. [1] Now the same thing has happened on Signal; HN's favourite messaging app. So why is this met with warm welcoming arms especially when they are also going into cryptocurrenci…

I think it's 2 factors.

First, indeed the sentiment changed radically between now and then. For some reason, this subject has always attracted irrationality on HN. Back then any comment vaguely positive about cryptocurrencies would accumulate downvotes, now threads are full of clearly invested shills (you can see it in this very thread).

Secondly and more specifically, Stellar, being a simple Ripple fork with an equally dubious token distribution, was a weird fit for Keybase.

MobileCoin, while having some of the same downsides (federated, centralized token holders distribution) has a more interesting design, and is closer to the actual cryptocurrency/cypherpunk spirit thanks to its fully private transactions and balances.

Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency

#107

Post by ncmncm »

lrvick wrote: post #91
ncmncm wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree. It would be OK to make Signal able to integrate payment systems and make this thing compatible with that or with any other comm that implements the interface. Tying them together is pernicious. Anyway Signal is itself pernicious by being tied to a phone number and to Google Play services, and by being very choosy about who gets ports. I had high hopes for Matrix, once they got E2EE, but they have flubbed that…

Have you seen matrix p2p? Also anyone can run their own servers, and Dendrite can run on very modest hardware like a Raspi.

Thank you, Dendrite is listed as "beta", and appears to require Postgres?

Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency

#108

Post by CodeGlitch »

RL_Quine wrote: post #12

This is garbage, and shouldn't be part of Signal. Everything on the internet is being corrupted with adding cryptocurrency scams where they absolutely don't belong, it turns Signal from an obvious recommendation into something that makes me hesitate. There's something to be said for focusing on doing one thing well, and that doesn't mean turning a communication platform into a kitchen sink.

With all due respect your comment seems to be coming from an extremely privileged position. In many parts of the world, people do not have the luxury of basic banking, where storing and sending money is fraught with risk due to corruption and a lack of infrastructure. Take a look at M-PESA [1] for a "last-gen" solution using SMS.

I think what Signal is doing with MOB is pretty important work for many non-western countries, and I wish them all the best.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Pesa

Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency

#109

Post by bilal4hmed »

ncmncm wrote: post #107
lrvick wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you seen matrix p2p? Also anyone can run their own servers, and Dendrite can run on very modest hardware like a Raspi.

Thank you, Dendrite is listed as "beta", and appears to require Postgres?

Here is some info https://matrix.org/blog/2020/10/08/dendrite-is-entering-beta

Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency

#110

Post by pixxel »

fourstar wrote: post #67
josh2600 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>Moxie creates Signal >Moxie advises MobileCoin >MobileCoin gets integrated into Signal Hm, yes, must just be one large coincidence that this "integration" happened.

And a reason surfaced to continue to connect users to their phone numbers...

>>The UK also has receiver verification. If I try to send to an account and it doesn't match the name I'm sending to, my bank will warn me. How do you stop impersonation?

A: Signal relies on phone numbers for identities. Other apps that integrate MobileCoin may have a higher threshold for identification.

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