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Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency

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

#311

Post by amelius »

takenpilot wrote: post #218
meowfly wrote: post #195

The comment from the article echos my own sentiments: > Speaking solely as a person who is really into encrypted messaging, it terrifies me that they're going to take this really clean story of an encrypted messenger and mix it up with the nightmare of laws and regulations and vulnerability that is cryptocurrency. Moreover, there are three other points I'd add: 1. I don't like "do everything" apps like WeChat or Line…

In a lot of ways, the transfer of cryptocurrency is the same as the transfer of generic messages. It's only when you're transferring them back to dollars/yuan/yen/etc. that it's suddenly currency from a government.

You mean in the sense that it can be traced back to the originator, just like messages?

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

#313

Post by qqii »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #300
EMM_386 wrote: post #255

Mobilecoin was flat for long time at around $7 and then on March 28th started a dramatic rise to $66 today. There were rumors in late January that Signal was looking into Mobilecoin but that seems unrelated, and I'm not sure I buy a short-squeeze scenario as mentioned on Twitter. https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/mobilecoin/ https://twitter.com/classicmacro/status/1375868871509442562

Almost a 10X return in a couple of weeks. Having inside information on this announcement was highly profitable.

Moxie and Signal's intention to use MobileCoin are well documented, the only question was when.

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

#314

Post by blackearl »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #261
blackearl wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Value is lost to existing shareholders who have the value of their shares diluted. Everything you're saying may seem logical, but economics is often illogical and any 1:1 $:stock sales still tank the share price.

> Value is lost to existing shareholders who have the value of their shares diluted. You're confusing percentage dilution with absolute diluation. The shares represent the value of the company. The value of the company has increased by the amount of money raised. Each share represents a lower percentage of the company, but this is offset by the fact that the value of the company has increased by the amount of money r…

You continue to make a 1:1 assumption. Dilution can cause the stock to go down because of FUD of financial health. It can go up because of strong leadership and optimistic futures. It's not occurring in a vacuum where $1 is 1 share and +$1 to company worth.

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

#315

Post by hn8788 »

codethief wrote: post #225
nickthemagicman wrote: post #190

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 How accurate is this? via: https://twitter.com/lrvick/status/1379536536459431937

> 3. Moxie directs his non-profit to integrate MobileCoin in secret The fact that Moxie is collaborating with MobileCoin has been known for years . EDIT: See links in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26718488

But not the fact that it's going to be directly integrated into Signal. The CEO of MobileCoin is in here saying that he started it as a way to fund Signal, which from what I can tell, wasn't public knowledge until today. So he gets to monopolize a currency that was mostly worthless, knowing that it would be directly integrated into a popular application, greatly increasing its value. If that's not a scam, I don't know what is.

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

#316

Post by qqii »

Anon1096 wrote: post #226
mikeiz404 wrote: post #55

For those wondering about volatility... > MobileCoin also remains even more volatile than older cryptocurrencies, with constant price swings that will significantly change the balances in a user's Signal wallet over the course of days or even hours—hardly the sort of issue that Venmo users have to deal with. (Since March 27, MobileCoin's value has shot up nearly 600 percent, possibly due to rumors of the impending Si…

Are there any tax implications of sending someone cryptocurrency that has appreciated? Say you owned 1 million in mobilecoin a month ago that is now 6 million, can you just send it to someone and avoid the capital gains tax? And if not, do apps like Signal have to report these earnings on transfer from mobilecoin to USD? (since signal plans to facilitate it in some way)

In the UK (where the beta is being launch) every disposal (buy, sell, trade) counts towards income tax.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tax-on-cryptoasse...

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

#317

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

Klonoar wrote: post #310
ac29 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not to mention you need to show government ID to get a SIM to use the Signal wallet for said private currency/messenger in 200 countries. There are less than 200 countries in total, unless you get very creative with states that are arent recognized more more than a handful of other countries, like Abkhazia or Transnistria. You also dont need ID to buy SIM cards in the US, so I'm curious on how valid this assertion…

None of this particularly matters given that Signal is actively working on not requiring phone numbers.

Signal is actively working on other identifiers than a phone number, but can you cite proof that no phone will be required at all? I got the impression that Signal will still require a phone number at signup to do SMS verification, and only then give you a way to provide non-phone-number identifiers to contacts.

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

#318

Post by qqii »

wjntzf wrote: post #186
mikeiz404 wrote: post #55

For those wondering about volatility... > MobileCoin also remains even more volatile than older cryptocurrencies, with constant price swings that will significantly change the balances in a user's Signal wallet over the course of days or even hours—hardly the sort of issue that Venmo users have to deal with. (Since March 27, MobileCoin's value has shot up nearly 600 percent, possibly due to rumors of the impending Si…

The project is brand-new, what do you expect? In any case, the end-game is to use MOB for the transaction and instantly convert to fiat, so volatility would not be of concern to the end-user

How would that be any more private as every transaction can be deduced by the on/off ramp.

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

#319

Post by qqii »

josh2600 wrote: post #17
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.

I don't think Signal has any plans to scan your driver's license. What they've built is a non-custodial wallet (IE, they can't help you if you lose your keys, and they have no ability to authorize or deny a payment on your behalf).

> To try to tame that volatility problem, Marlinspike and Goldbard say they imagine adding a feature in the future that will automatically exchange users' payments in dollars or another more stable currency for MobileCoin only when they make a payment, and then exchange it back on the recipient's side—though it's not yet clear if those trades could be made without leaving a trail that might identify the user.

This would have to involve KYC or harsh limits.

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

#320

Post by hn8788 »

Klonoar wrote: post #306
xur17 wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If Signal was serious about this they would have launched their own fork instead of pitching a pre-mined coin to their users. Agreed. They either would have launched their own fork and distributed the vast majority to their users, or at the very least chosen an existing project that was fairly well distributed. This makes me believe they primarily did this in return for an incentive from Mobilecoin.

What? Marlinspike's been an advisor to MobileCoin from like... the beginning. The article also notes that neither he nor Signal own any actual MobileCoins.

Signal may not own any MobileCoins, but the CEO of MobileCoin said:

> 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.

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