I mined my first btc on a laptop when that was thing. It was so hi tech when it was launched. It seems like it’s features are mostly gradual and around the edges.
Mobilecoin feels hi tech
Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency
81–90 of 665 posts
Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency
#82Help Us Encourage Matrix Adoption
Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency
#83There 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.
Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency
#84Signal is still centrally controlled and compiled by a single entity and distributed only in an unsigned insecure form or in a signed/verified manner only if you give up your privacy to install with Google Play or the Apple store.
Those that only run open source software like myself have no secure way to run Signal short of compiling every release by hand which is impractical. Moxie has stated he will not support anyone but his team compiling or distributing Signal binaries so third party signed builds via privacy focused app stores like F-Droid are out. All builds must also use Signal centralized servers even though that centralizes TCP/IP metadata, etc.
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.
Secondly having a decentralized currency whose servers can only run on Intel machines with Intel SGX is a very centralized supply chain as well.
A single supply chain attack on Intel microcode or related SGX updates could run malicious code and game over for the currency globally? A government that sees MobileCoin as a threat could make Intel do this.
With a SPOF on the supply chain of the only client people are expected to use and another SPOF on the only hardware enclave people are supposed to use for servers... decentralized is technically true but not used in the same way as most other projects that use that word.
I will keep an eye on this experiment though, because there are some unique ideas here which could have value should your trust anchors expand beyond Intel and Signal.
Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency
#85Them not allowing federation sucks, because I would absolutely use a client with this removed.
On some level, they can't prevent you from just using the backend. Unfortunately just maintaining a fork with different branding is essentially a full time job, I used to do this so that I could use a work and personal number in two instances of the app but it was too much effort to be worthwhile.
Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
You’re being really cynical in a way that doesn’t reflect the reality of the situation. This doesn’t entail scam marketing, ICO offers, and airdrops just because that’s something that happens in a lot of the rest of cryptocurrency space.
You missed the point. Even if Signal doesn't do the typical cryptocurrency scam behaviour, I now somehow need to try to explain to people why it is different to every other thing in the space that does act like that. On the face of it, if we assume that the inclusion of MobileCoin in Signal is completely benign, it's something that's never happened before. Smoking causes cancer, but smoking these specific cigarettes…
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Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Looks like it depends on SGX, so basically delegates trust to Intel. Bitcoin doesn't depend on trusting anyone.
You have to put the keys somewhere . Storing keys in SGX and using attestation to ensure only valid nodes access them is significantly more secure than not using the SGX. Using SGX gives a Signal user’s phone the same level of security as using a hardware wallet like Ledger Nano.
Keys are not stored in SGX. Keys never leave the phone.
Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency
#88This 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.
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…
Mastodon, Matrix and others suffer that issue greatly. You can't really run single-user instances without running a gigantic installation, when a minimal implementation of their protocols should have no footprint to speak of.
Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency
#89This 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.
Hi, Before you label MobileCoin a scam, I would encourage you to take a look at the Github. I think you'll see that we've made a lot of very carefully considered choices on how to deliver a great payments experience without many of the compromises other cryptocurrencies have chosen. Of note, the speed of transactions, much greener energy design, privacy-protections, and mobile-first UX are differentiators. Many crypt…
Yow, the damage control is quick on this one. Off the front page, too?
I don't care about your cryptocurrency. I don't care about your cryptocurrency being offered in my messenger.
Let me put it plain and simple. You bring nothing to the table for me but liability.
Nothing. But. Liability.
Signal's one and only feature is security. This feature is a joke, and devalues Signal.
Re: Signal adds a payments feature with a privacy-focused cryptocurrency
#90Hi! 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…
I tried going to https://buymobilecoin.com/ as referenced in https://www.mobilecoin.com/terms-of-sale.html but get a Cloudflare "Error 1020" page. What's up with that?