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

At I/O 2026, Sundar Pichai Concedes AI Must Deliver Real Value

Gemini 3.5, a personal agent called Spark, agentic shopping, and Android XR eyewear are all aimed at making AI feel useful, not just impressive.

Published

1 week ago

May 20, 2026

Nour Nasir

at io 2026 sundar pichai concedes ai must deliver real value

Google

Google’s annual I/O developer conference (I/O 2026) has recently become a status update on the same question: can the company turn its AI spending into products people use every day? This year, chief executive Sundar Pichai described Google as being in a phase of hyper progress, while conceding this is the part of the cycle where people want to see real value in the products they use on a day-to-day basis.

The strategy on display was to push agents — AI systems that act on a user’s behalf — into nearly every Google product at once. Search now has an “intelligent search box” that returns generated explainer videos alongside links. Gmail, Docs, YouTube and Maps are gaining their own agent layers, including a Docs Live feature that turns spoken instructions into drafted text with citations.

Two new models, Gemini 3.5 and a cheaper Gemini 3.5 Flash, arrived the same day. Google says 900 million people now use Gemini, and that more than 50 billion images have been generated with it. The pricing tier names are likely to confuse buyers: a new AI Ultra plan launches at $100 a month, while the older Gemini AI Ultra drops from $250 to $200.

The flashier announcements were Gemini Omni, a video generator pitched as a more realistic answer to OpenAI’s discontinued Sora 2, and Gemini Spark, a personal agent that handles recurring tasks across a user’s Google account. A new universal shopping cart lets agents complete purchases across multiple retailers from inside Google itself, placing the company between the merchant and the buyer, and also owning the checkout.

Also Read: DJI Teases Dual-Camera Osmo Pocket 4P For 2026 Launch

Google also confirmed its Android XR eyewear, built with Samsung and frames from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Audio-only glasses ship this autumn; a display-equipped version, which would superimpose live translations into the wearer’s field of view, is still in development. Both sets translate, however only the display version shows you the result.

What Pichai did not resolve is the bargain underneath all this. An agent is only useful to the degree it knows your calendar, your inbox, your shopping history and your physical surroundings. Google has now confirmed that, in time, the same context may carry advertising.