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

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.