this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2024
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Mobilecoin (self.signal)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by anonvurr to c/[email protected]
 

Anybody have any experience with mobilecoin? What is the use case for it? Seems kind of pointless and a lot more tedious than just a bank transfer. Why does signal include crypto nonsense in their app (I like crypto, but just can't see any reason why it should be integrated in the app). I'm sad that signal does not have support for 3rd party open source clients that could remove such features. Why not add support for monero instead?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

What is the use case for it?

The same use case as any crypto - to use as currency and pay debts.

Seems kind of pointless and a lot more tedious than just a bank transfer.

The same can be said of every crypto which doesn't hit any kind of adoption.

Why does signal include crypto nonsense in their app (I like crypto, but just can’t see any reason why it should be integrated in the app)

It aligns with Signal's mission statement to "Protect free expression and enable secure global communication through open source privacy technology." [1]. The reason it was integrated into the app was to support crypto that was "easy to use". The same way cash provides privacy by not allowing third parties to see what you're doing, they believe(d) that enabling a privacy preserving crypto wallet would further "protect free expression".

I’m sad that signal does not have support for 3rd party open source clients that could remove such features.

It's not not enabled by default and makes up for (based on github commits and pulling a random number out of my ass based on my continue following of Signal's development) less than 1% of development work since it was introduced.

Why not add support for monero instead?

Monero did not meet the technical requirements that the Signal developers were looking for at the time. Signal has commented that they would consider adding other crypto, as long as it meets the technical requirements - which I don't have so can't source unfortunately.

[1] https://signalfoundation.org/en/

[–] shortwavesurfer 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Mobile coin is a useless fork of Monero. If they had any sense whatsoever, they would have just put a Monero wallet into the app instead of that crap.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I can't take any statements from you about Monero seriously: https://lemm.ee/comment/15410085

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Why try to start a beef from a old thread?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The real question is to shortwavesurfer: Is it actually a Monero fork, or are they just saying the word "Monero" because it's always on their mind?

Because I've seen zero evidence of the former (after wasting my time looking), but plenty of the latter. Thus, not worth taking seriously.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MobileCoin

MobileCoin's mechanics build on Stellar (for consensus) and Monero (for privacy), using CryptoNote alongside zero-knowledge proofs to hide details of users' transactions.[2]

It's a fork of the protocol written in rust, and with proof of stake.

You don't need to actively badger individual users for a discussion that didn't satisfy you from 2 months ago, it doesn't look good and it makes lemmy acrimonious. It's petty.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 hours ago

"a fork of the the protocol" does not make any sense. Do you even know what forking means?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Can you provide a citation for a claim that it is a fork?

If you're against being petty, lead by example and don't tone police!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The Wikipedia article and quote I gave you above

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The Wikipedia article and the quote don't mention it being forked from anything. And the word has a strict code definition so if it was, it wouldn't be hard to prove...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Based on and fork can be used interchangeably in English, this is what the wiki article clearly says.

If you want the full chain of pedantry: They forked the project, then refactored it into rust, then changed the protocol to include proof of stake based on steller.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago

According to who and where? You just chronologically ordered things backwards from the Wikipedia article!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

I'm using the Molly client and don't see any reference to mobilecoin

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

MOB is monero in rust with proof of stake. It's a centralized coin, antithetical to federation.... Just like signal.

Right now it's trading at 0.50$, but I'm sure the signal foundation made a bunch of money with the hype and sell off.

I do believe someone honestly thought it was a good idea, central control, revokable, a crypto governments will like... But coming from the signal foundation it shows what their mental model really is.

I did buy some to use, there is no use for it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm skeptical of all cryptocurrency, but in regards to this:

It's a centralized coin, antithetical to federation.... Just like signal.

What is wrong with centralization when a core principle of Signal is privacy? Federation often complicates and confounds efforts to make things more private - look no further than Matrix's Olm implementation. MegOlm also encrypts far less metadata, by design and probably out of necessity.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

centralization invites central control and observation...

imagine if talking to the people around you required you calling a central phone depot first before being connected to the person next to you... its not necessarily less secure, but there are more opportunities and the risk surface is greater.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

imagine if talking to the people around you required you calling a central phone depot first before being connected to the person next to you

Meanwhile, our Lemmy conversation is just like that, except instead of one central telephone provider, there are at least two (yours and mine). The risk surface has doubled!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

I guess they thought it was more 'private' than a bank transfer

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

This is the most important thing I know about it, from an article that was first published in 2021, and last seen earlier this year.

Signal Founder May Have Been More Than a Tech Adviser to MobileCoin

Signal recently launched a beta integration of MobileCoin (MOB) for payments. Its price has jumped from $7 to over $55 in the past month, giving it a market cap of $13.75 billion.

Signal founder Moxie Marlinspike, whom MobileCoin previously described as a technical adviser, may have been more deeply involved in the cryptocurrency project.

An earlier, nearly identical white paper found online, which MobileCoin CEO Joshua Goldbard called "erroneous," lists Marlinspike as the project's original CTO.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210409220023/https://www.coindesk.com/signal-founder-may-have-been-more-than-tech-adviser-mobilecoin