Secure messaging app Signal tests P2P payments via cryptocurrency

Signal, the messaging app that enables privacy via encryption, is testing a feature in the U.K. that will allow users to send currency to each other through the MobileCoin wallet and cryptocurrency MOB.

Why should we care?
As peer-to-peer payments apps like PayPal’s Venmo and Square’s Cash App add support for cryptocurrencies, a dive into payments seems a natural next step for Signal, which has more than 40 million users globally. The payments tool through MobileCoin wallet will ensure privacy of user data, Jun Harada, Signal’s head of growth and communication, wrote on a company blog. “MobileCoin’s design means Signal does not have access to your balance, full transaction history, or funds,” he said. Users can also transfer funds at any time if they choose to switch to another app or service, the company noted, without offering details on how this would work. Keeping payments private has important use cases, according to the company, including situations where “not only can you feel that when you talk to your therapist over Signal, but also when you pay your therapist for the session over Signal,” Moxie Marlinspike, CEO of Signal, said in a recent interview. Instead of other peer-to-peer payments tools that connect to users’ bank accounts, Signal payments will only be trackable by the sender and recipient. Signal plans to expand the test after the initial rollout.