Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency • Hacker News Board

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

#161

Post by Geee » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 9:01 PM UTC

rOOb85 wrote: post #152

Geee wrote: post #83

There are 250 million units of mobilecoin, and majority of them are owned by the founders. Only 37.5 million have been distributed. With current price ($65), they're worth $14B already. This makes the project a scam and impossible for it to work as a reliable money that holds value. Bitcoin had no pre-mine and has been fairly distributed from the start.

Can you post your source for these claims?

It's in the whitepaper. There are 250 million coins in total, and 37.5 million were sold in the ICO. I couldn't find any information on further distribution or monetary policy, so I assume the founders still hold them.

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

#162

Post by admax88q » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 9:03 PM UTC

orph wrote: post #160

Geee wrote: post #83

There are 250 million units of mobilecoin, and majority of them are owned by the founders. Only 37.5 million have been distributed. With current price ($65), they're worth $14B already. This makes the project a scam and impossible for it to work as a reliable money that holds value. Bitcoin had no pre-mine and has been fairly distributed from the start.

Even UK-only release in Signal means more people with cryptocurrency wallets than all other cryptocurrencies combined.

Is the number of empty wallets of a cryptocurrency a useful metric in any way?

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

#163

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 9:03 PM UTC

lrvick wrote: post #98

fastball wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you want Signal to monetize?

Maybe like Matrix did? Sell turn key servers for people that lack the time or interest to run their own. Federated and ethical.

[deleted]

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

#164

Post by hiq » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 9:03 PM UTC

josh2600 wrote: post #2

Hi! I'm the CEO of MobileCoin. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask here. We've been working on this project for four years and it has been a labor of love. There's a lot of new technology here. We exist in a highly regulated space so it's possible some questions will require reaching out to lawyers to make sure we answer them in a way that's compliant so please don't feel offended if a response takes…

Hi, I still have to read the docs more thoroughly, but given that these HN threads die out quickly, I'd rather ask now that I have the chance, so forgive me if some of these are answered in the docs:

1. how does MobileCoin make money?

2. how many coins do you / does MobileCoin own?

3. related to that, are there mechanisms in place to prove that this is not a pump and dump? Or simply, how do I know it's not one and it's here for the long-term?

4. what's the threat model of the blockchain you're using? E.g. for Bitcoin, the chain is compromised once 51% of the hashing rate belongs to collaborative evil miners (as a rough approximation). What about MobileCoin? When would something bad happen? How is it prevented?

5. how does MobileCoin compare with privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies such as Monero?

P.S.: you might wanna add a F.A.Q. section somewhere for the questions I've mentioned and the others in this HN thread, right now we either have to blindly trust the claims on https://www.mobilecoin.com/ or going through the 133 pages of https://github.com/UkoeHB/Mechanics-of-MobileCoin, there should be some intermediate tech documentation (or does it exist already?)

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

#165

Post by maclured » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 9:04 PM UTC

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...

Yet. There are a couple of trivial ways they could end up with loads of coins and this statement could still be true as of the date of the quote.

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

#166

Post by CynicusRex » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 9:05 PM UTC

Geee wrote: post #83

There are 250 million units of mobilecoin, and majority of them are owned by the founders. Only 37.5 million have been distributed. With current price ($65), they're worth $14B already. This makes the project a scam and impossible for it to work as a reliable money that holds value. Bitcoin had no pre-mine and has been fairly distributed from the start.

No “pre-mine” doesn't mean fairly distributed. Bitcoin is a multi-level marketing pyramid scheme as well. Early adopters mine or buy large proportions at negligible prices while late adopters mine or buy negligible proportions at large prices.

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

#167

Post by hiq » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 9:05 PM UTC

olah_1 wrote: post #140

hiq wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last commit 5 days ago: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Server

This is either the mandela effect (I know for a fact that the server was stuck on "April 2020" for at least 6 months), or Signal intentionally hid development and then revealed it all when they realized it was bad PR.

No, they just pushed today. They presumably didn't want to talk about MobileCoin before it was ready.

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

#168

Post by mandelbrotwurst » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 9:06 PM UTC

admax88q wrote: post #162

orph wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even UK-only release in Signal means more people with cryptocurrency wallets than all other cryptocurrencies combined.

Is the number of empty wallets of a cryptocurrency a useful metric in any way?

I would say yes, at least to the extent that owners are aware that they exist and potentially become more likely to use.

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

#169

Post by fastball » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 9:08 PM UTC

lrvick wrote: post #98

fastball wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you want Signal to monetize?

Maybe like Matrix did? Sell turn key servers for people that lack the time or interest to run their own. Federated and ethical.

Yep, that is one option, though that doesn't seem like the route Moxie wants to take from what I've seen. He seems to think that you need a cohesive centralized platform if you want to be competitive (2016)[1].

At this point if you want federated it probably makes more sense to just use Matrix.

[1] https://signal.org/blog/the-ecosystem-is-moving/

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

#170

Post by maclured » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 9:09 PM UTC

edsimpson wrote: post #5

MobileCoin looks fantastic! Seems to solve the major pain points of Bitcoin: fast transactions, low transaction fees, private and no massive environmental impact with mining. Any ETA on when this will come to the USA?

MobileCoin isn't the only fast privacy coin in town - particl has most of the same features if not more, including a private ebay-style marketplace which should be ready for prime time in just over a month (all being well). And you can buy it on US exchanges today.

[1] particl.io