News

Signal Now Supports In-App MobileCoin Cryptocurrency Payments

Signal’s latest beta version has introduced a new payment feature, called Signal Payments, allowing users to send and receive cryptocurrency from within the app.

Published

5 years ago

April 16, 2021

Joanna Melki

signal now supports mobilecoin cryptocurrency payments

The latest beta version of the privacy-oriented instant messaging platform Signal has introduced a new cryptocurrency payment feature, called Signal Payments, allowing its users to send and receive MobileCoin tokens directly from the Signal app.

Initially, the cryptocurrency payment feature will be available only to Signal users living in the United Kingdom, but support for more regions is planned for the future.

Signal

“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,” explains Signal in the official announcement. “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.”

Following the launch of the beta integration of MobileCoin, the value of a single MOB token jumped from $7 to over $60.

It’s no coincidence that MobileCoin was picked as the first cryptocurrency supported by the messaging app. The platform’s founder, Moxie Marlinspike, is listed as MobileCoin’s technical adviser, and some keen observers have pointed out that his involvement could be much deeper than both he and MobileCoin admit.

According to an early version of the MobileCoin whitepaper, Marlinspike was the project’s original CTO. If this information is true, then the decision to integrate MobileCoin should raise some serious questions among users, questions some members of the crypto community have already voiced their opinions.

Also Read: What Will Happen If You Don’t Accept WhatsApp’s New Privacy Changes?

“Signal sold out their user base by creating and marketing a cryptocurrency based solely on their ability to sell the future tokens to a captive audience,” said Bitcoin Core developer Matt Corallo, who also used to be a contributor.

MobileCoin CEO Joshua Goldbard disputed the authenticity of the whitepaper, claiming that it wasn’t written by anyone at MobileCoin even though the project’s current whitepaper is almost identical to it. Marlinspike refused to say anything about his professional relationship with MobileCoin.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.