[RL_Quine]

There's nothing to reconsider, MobileCoin/Signal is still a terrible idea and was responsible for them withholding their open source code, for a year, with absolutely no explanation at the time or in retrospective. It's nothing but a money grab with zero expectation that this is something users want, or will use.

[fragmede]

> zero expectation that this is something users want, or will use.

Facebook Messenger already has this feature using fiat, Apple lets you send money via iMessage, Telegram already has this feature. Seems like adding payments is staying competitive with features other messaging utilities has. It might also be a money grab, but something can be two things at once.

[RL_Quine]

Payments in yet another currency is not useful. Apple letting you send payments in iMessage makes sense, MobileCoin in signal absolutely does not. What do you do with them once you have MobileCoins? You have to exchange them, potentially at some wildly varying exchange rate, rather than what Apple is offering which is just USD. Apple's solution not something I would use but it makes some sense given the relative difficulty of sending personal amounts of USD in the United States.

If you just wanted to send cryptocurrency, great, you use your normal method of doing it, making it something built into a chat client is at best nonsensical. It didn't need its own cryptocurrency offering, that part is just a cash grab that taints Signals mission.

[RL_Quine]

We can look at the interface for MobileCoin in Signal to get an idea of how bad this is. We're prompted to "add funds" by sending MobileCoin, and the "learn more" button leads to an article telling you to buy a "supported currency" (only MobileCoin) on some exchange. So it's fundamentally useless unless you are already into the cryptocurrency speculation sphere, in which case you almost certainly have something better to use that MobileCoin.

https://a.uguu.se/BWssrjlJ.jpeg

Remember the Signal PIN which is used for recovery of your account? It now lets you recover all of your money too, so that's going to be a great target for spear phishing attacks. That feature got a lot of pushback because nobody could really work out what it was supposed to be adding to the software, turns out, useless cryptocurrency.

https://a.uguu.se/YOGwpUcQ.jpeg

[crtasm]

> It now lets you recover all of your money too

Just the PIN? Or do you need control of the phone number associated with the account?

[fragmede]

Their UX is shite, you'll get no argument from me against that

[fragmede]

The various cryptocurrencies may all look fairly similar from the outside but there are, actual, material differences between them. Whether or not there was an existing cryptocurrency that met Signal's needs requires more in-depth knowledge of the world of cryptocurrency than I have. Their whitepaper lays some of this out.

If your other complaint is that Signal tried to make money, I hate to break it to you, but that's kind of, like, how capitalism works? If Signal runs out of money, Signal stops working.

[RL_Quine]

> The Signal Foundation, officially the Signal Technology Foundation, is an American non-profit organization founded in 2018 by Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton.

[TomSwirly]

Sending money is something that almost everyone needs. Sending cryptocurrencies is something almost no one needs. And if you did need it, why wouldn't you just send it directly from your wallet, without the middleman? Isn't that the point of cryptocurrencies?

[codethief]

> And if you did need it, why wouldn't you just send it directly from your wallet, without the middleman? Isn't that the point of cryptocurrencies?

That's a good point but: Do you know the wallets of all your friends? The advantage of Signal is that it knows your social network.

[RL_Quine]

I sign up for a mobilecoin exchange, do aml/ykc, buy cryptocurrency in some way, make a wallet in signal, have my friend make a wallet, then I send them mobilecoin, which is useless to them unless they also sign up for an exchange to turn it back into something something sensible. Yeah that's made so much easier by Signal being in the loop.

[codethief]

> was responsible for them withholding their open source code, for a year, with absolutely no explanation at the time or in retrospective

I fully agree with you here but I'm 50-50 on your other statement:

> [There is] zero expectation that this is something users want, or will use.