WhatsApp Competitor Signal Tests In-App Peer-to-Peer Crypto Payments

Signal App, the recently popular WhatsApp competitor, and end-to-end encrypted messaging app is pushing up the envelope and planning to test in-app crypto payments. The new feature called Signal Payments is currently in the beta version and allows its users to send money in digital currencies to friends and family.

Signal said that the feature is currently available only in the UK and currently supports a privacy-focused payments network called MobileCoin, having its own native currency called MOB. The official announcement from Singal reads:

“Signal Payments makes it easy to link a MobileCoin wallet to Signal so you can start sending funds to friends and family, receive funds from them, keep track of your balance, and review your transaction history with a simple interface.

As always, our goal is to keep your data in your hands rather than ours; MobileCoin’s design means Signal does not have access to your balance, full transaction history, or funds. You can also transfer your funds at any time if you want to switch to another app or service”.

Taking Up The Competition Bar Higher

Recently, the Singal app gained a lot of traction when Facebook-owned WhatsApp announced tweaking its policies with user data accessibility. Facebook has been having a bad reputation so far with handling user data with multiple major leaks in the last few years.

The news of tweaking WhatsApp policy irked its users and even billionaires like Elon Musk asked his followers to move away from the platform while rooting for Signal. Since then, Signal has seen strong traction of new users joining its platform.

It looks like Signal now wants to take the competition to the next level. Integrating crypto payments is certainly a smart move as most online users now want to be a part of the crypto world that gives them better control over their money. On the other hand, Facebook has been struggling to get the regulatory breakthrough with its Diem project, earlier Libra.

It will be interesting to see how sooner do other messaging platforms integrate crypto payments.