Signal would devote resources to the development of a cryptocurrency payments service.
The instant messaging app has seen its users double over the past month. It is even number 1 for downloads in the App Store.
Crypto-currency payments
The app has been brought to the forefront following controversies over WhatsApp and the support of figures such as Elon Musk and Edward Snowden.
The Signal team would have carried out tests to integrate a payment solution into its application. The experiments were said to have been carried out with MobileCoin (MOB), a cryptocurrency focused on privacy and running on the Stellar (XLM) blockchain.
Moxie Marlinspike, CEO of Signal, is already involved in the MobileCoin project as an advisor, which reinforces speculation that the test could be done in order to prepare for a deployment in the messaging app.
However, Marlinspike played down the speculation and explained it as “design explorations”. He also said, “If we did decide we wanted to put payments into Signal, we would try to think really carefully about how we did that.”
Facebook ahead
These crypto payments reports come weeks after many users choose Signal in favor of other messaging apps.
Signal saw its users grow by 100% over the past month after WhatsApp unveiled its new privacy policy which provides for messages and phone details of users to be shared with Facebook, its parent company.
Facebook itself is considering launching its recently rebranded “Diem” cryptocurrency for its messaging services such as Messenger and WhatsApp.
Facebook's cryptocurrency is expected to take the form of a dollar-backed stablecoin and could launch sometime in 2021.
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