Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Announces 10-Day Block of X; Signal Also Affected

August 9, 2024 Bitcoin.com

Signal boss slams EU’s latest ‘upload moderation’ surveillance ploy

June 18, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Telegram’s Pavel Durov is wrong about Signal — and has been for years

May 25, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Report: Former FTX Director of Engineering Nishad Singh Negotiating Plea Deal with Prosecutors

February 18, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Sam Bankman-Fried may no longer be allowed to play League of Legends

February 16, 2023 Coin Telegraph

$250M

Sam Bankman-Fried is, for the most part, still able to freely access the internet through various devices. Prosecutors want to change that.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of crypto exchange FTX, may no longer be able to play League of Legends and other video games if newly proposed changes to his bail conditions from United States prosecutors are approved.

In a Feb. 15 letter to United States District Judge Lewis Kaplan, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams asked the court to further expand restrictions surrounding Bankman-Fried’s electronic device usage.

They pointed to Bankman-Fried’s recent device usage as cause for concern, and agreed with the court’s intuition that it was “shortsighted” to focus only on restricting the use of apps, adding:

“There is now a record before the Court of a defendant who appears motivated to circumvent monitoring and find loopholes in existing bail conditions. The appropriate course, therefore, is broader restrictions on the defendant’s cellphone, tablet, computer, and internet usage, with limited exceptions.”

The prosecutors propose that Bankman-Fried should be prohibited from using cellphones, tablets, computers, or the internet, except for very limited uses such as reviewing pre-trial evidence, communicating with lawyers and accessing emails.

Here’s the list of proposed new bail restrictions that SBF is going completely ignore, without any real consequences https://t.co/cMVCdmRAj3
— Sean Tuffy (@SMTuffy) February 15, 2023

He would be restricted to using a single computer and cell phone, which in addition to his Gmail account would be monitored using a “pen register” — a device or process that essentially produces a list of phone numbers of internet addresses contacted from a specific source.

Bankman-Fried is understood to be an avid gamer, having reportedly played online video games such as League of Legends during fundraising rounds while at FTX.

Bankman-Fried also mentioned during an interview with New York Times on Nov. 13 that he likes to play games, as it helps him “unwind a bit” and clear his mind.

Under the newly proposed bail conditions, it appears that Bankman-Fried will no longer be allowed to partake in the activity.

Earlier this month, the former CEO was prohibited from using encrypted messaging apps after he was found to have contacted potential witnesses in his criminal case.

He has also been temporarily banned from using VPNs on Feb. 14, after the Justice Department discovered he had used a VPN on two different occasions — in order to watch sports coverage. This ban will be further discussed during a Feb. 16 hearing.

Many from the crypto community were disgusted by the initial conditions of Bankman-Fried’s bail, which required him to wear an ankle bracelet but afforded him full computer and internet access from his parents luxurious home in sunny California.

SBF will be spending Christmas at home with his parents playing video games rather than locked up in a cell. What kind of justice is that?
— Layah Heilpern (@LayahHeilpern) December 23, 2022

Sam Bankman-Fried lawyers reach agreement on use of messaging apps

February 7, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Alameda Research

The agreement comes as a result of federal prosecutors looking to ban SBF from contacting current or former FTX and Alameda employees while on house arrest.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF's) lawyers have reached an agreement with federal prosecutors concerning his use of messaging apps.

According to a Feb. 6 court document, both parties have agreed SBF “shall not use any encrypted or ephemeral call of messaging application, including but not limited to Signal.”

However, under the agreement, the former FTX CEO will be able to access FaceTime, Zoom, iMessage, SMS text, email and Facebook Messenger.

He will also be allowed to use the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp but only if “monitoring technology is installed on his cellphone that automatically logs and preserves all WhatsApp communications.”

The latest agreement comes as a result of a push in late January by federal prosecutors to ban SBF from contacting current or former employees of FTX or its sister trading firm Alameda Research.

In particular, prosecutors alleged on Jan. 15 that SBF had attempted to “influence” the testimony of FTX US general counsel Ryne Miller via the encrypted messaging app Signal.

why does SBF sound like he’s reaching out to an ex gf in his email to Ryne Miller pic.twitter.com/htmDeCagWj
— Tiffany Fong (@TiffanyFong_) February 6, 2023

On Jan. 30 it was also asserted that SBF had contacted FTX CEO John Ray to discuss ways to access company funds tied to Alameda wallets.

As it stands, a Feb. 1 ruling dictates that SBF is prevented from communicating with current or former employees of FTX or Alameda Research “except in the presence of counsel” in order to remain on bail until his trial.

SBF has been under house arrest in Palo Alto, California since late December and his criminal trial is scheduled to begin in October in a Manhattan United States District Court.

Meanwhile, bankruptcy proceedings for FTX are moving forward in the District of Delaware. In a court testimony on Feb. 6, the FTX CEO Ray recounted how difficult it was taking over the reins of the company in November.

Ray claimed that “not a single list of anything” relating to bank accounts, income, insurance or personnel were to be found at FTX, causing a chaotic scramble to hunt down information.

On the day he began guiding the firm through its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, FTX was hacked.

“Those hacks went on virtually all night long [...] It was really 48 hours of what I can only describe as pure hell,” he said.

US prosecutors seek to ban SBF from Signal after alleged witness contact

January 28, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Caroline Ellison

It’s alleged that the former FTX CEO attempted to arrange a “constructive relationship” with the current General Counsel of FTX US, Ryne Miller.

Federal prosecutors have requested that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's (SBF) bail conditions are modified to prevent further alleged attempts at influencing witnesses’ testimonies.

Court documents filed on Jan. 27 revealed that The Department of Justice (DOJ) have asked U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan to ban Bankman-Fried from communicating with “current or former employees” of FTX or Alameda.

The prosecutors have requested this after they alleged that Bankman-Fried had reached out to Ryne Miller, the current General Counsel of FTX US, over Signal and email on Jan. 15 attempting to “influence” Miller’s testimony. The document quoted:

“I would really love to reconnect and see if there’s a way for us to have a constructive relationship, use each other as resources when possible, or at least vet things with each other.”

The prosecutors also requested that Bankman-Fried is banned from using encrypted communication applications.

“The defendant shall not use any encrypted or ephemeral call or messaging application, including but not limited to Signal.”

The document further alleged that Bankman-Fried’s use of Signal is consistent with "a history" of using the application for obstructive purposes.

It was previously reported in December 2022 that Bankman-Fried denied any involvement or knowledge of a “Wirefraud” group chat on Signal, hours before his arrest by Bahamian police.

The group chat reportedly included members of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle, including FTX co-founder Zixiao “Gary” Wang, FTX engineer Nishad Singh and former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison – who allegedly used the group to send secret information about FTX and Alameda in the lead-up to the collapse.

This comes after lawyers representing FTX in the bankruptcy proceedings had reportedly argued on Jan. 26 that Bankman-Fried’s immediate family should face questioning regarding any financial benefits they may have received from the exchange.

Hours before his arrest, SBF denied being part of ‘Wirefraud’ chat group

December 13, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Alameda

SBF’s last tweet before his arrest for reportedly committing wire fraud was dispelling his involvement in a group chat purportedly called “Wirefraud.”

Merely hours before news of his arrest by Bahamian police, Sam Bankman-Fried took to Twitter denying his involvement or knowledge of a secret group chat named “Wirefraud” — which allegedly involved former FTX and Alameda ranking executives.

In a Dec. 12 response to a report from the Australian Financial Review (AFR), Bankman-Fried used Twitter to deny involvement in or knowledge of a “Wirefraud” group chat on messaging app Signal, which reportedly included members of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle, including FTX co-founder Zixiao “Gary” Wang, FTX engineer Nishad Singh and former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison.

The AFR report said the chat was used to send secret information about FTX and Alameda's operations in the lead-up to its failure.

Bankman-Fried however said on Twitter that if the group chat was “true” he “wasn't a member” and was “quite sure it's just false” as he had “never heard of such a group.”

If this is true then I wasn't a member of that inner circle

(I'm quite sure it's just false; I have never heard of such a group)
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) December 12, 2022

Sam Bankman-Fried was, until very recently, expected to appear remotely before a United States House Committee hearing on Dec. 13 to explain the collapse of the FTX exchange, but was taken into custody by Bahamian authorities on Dec. 12 with extradition to the U.S. likely to follow.

Committee Chair Maxine Waters on Dec. 12 later confirmed that it “will not be able to hear” his testimony at the House Committees hearing due to the arrest.

Bankman-Fried was also requested to attend a separate hearing on Dec. 14 with the Senate Committee on Banking but had never confirmed his attendance, while his lawyers had reportedly refused to accept a subpoena compelling his testimony, according to a Dec. 12 joint statement from Senators Sherrod Brown and Pat Toomey.

Chief restructuring officer and FTX CEO John Ray in written testimony before his appearance at the House Committee hearing said FTX customer assets were “commingled” with Alameda’s.

Ray asserted Alameda “used client funds to engage in margin trading which exposed customer funds to massive losses” and the trading firm's business model required it to deploy those funds to “various [...] exchanges which were inherently unsafe.”

Revealed: Top 4 user complaints about Signal’s new crypto payments beta

April 14, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Signal has published user feedback from its beta integration with Mobilecoin, which saw users complain about the volatility and transaction fees related to MOB.

Privacy-focused messenger app Signal has posted early user feedback from the UK-based beta launch of its payments integration with Mobilecoin’s MOB token.

A blog post by Signal head of growth and communication Jun Harada revealed the top four user complaints about its new cryptocurrency integration so far — with a major complaint from many users about the entire concept itself because “cryptocurrency is the worst”. He reassured such users it was an optional feature.

Signal announced on April 6 that is aiming to extend its privacy protection features to payments in an attempt to replicate the success of Paypal-owned Venmo — a fast and relatively cheap peer-to-peer payment service that is popular in the U.S.

The top MOB-related complaint from users was that the “fees are too high”, with MobileCoin transaction fees currently sitting at around 50p or $0.60. Haranda acknowledged that the amount was “kind of a lot in order to pay your friend for a slice of pizza” and said Signal was working on bringing transaction fees down.

Another complaint surrounded the difficulty of getting funds in and out. Currently, UK-based users have to wire transfer money to exchanges that support MobileCoin, which subsequently incurs extra funding, transaction, and withdrawal fees that compound on top of Signlal’s fees.

Lastly, the firm reported that the price volatility of MOB was a big concern for users. The token currently holds an obscure position in the crypto marketplace. MOB went live in December 2020, with 250 million coins minted at genesis, and mainly trades on FTX with a daily volume of around $20 million. The token has its price, but no market cap listed on CoinGecko.

Haranda said the company had considered alternatives such as Zcash or Lightning. In the case of Zcash, while it was very private, it wasn't fast or mobile-orientated enough. Lightning meanwhile does not have "very strong privacy guarantees." However he added:

These projects are all constantly improving, and we hope are focused on getting closer to being integratable by an app like Signal so that it would be possible in the future.

Signal’s integration with MOB doesn’t appear to have gone as smoothly as first hoped, with some members in the community labeling the token as “shitcoin” and questioning Signal's relationship to Mobilecoin with Signal Founder Moxie Marlinspike, after he reportedly appeared on an early draft of MobileCoin’s white paper as its Chief Technology Officer.

In a Reddit thread on April 8, MobileCoin CEO Joshua Goldbard assured the community that Marlinspike only served as “technical advisor” and never served as an exec on the project.

Translation, Signal isn’t integrating just any random shitcoin, it is integrating Moxie Marlinspike’s random shitcoin. Gee, what a coinkidink. I wonder how much he’s unloaded on suckers already as a result of this pump & dump? https://t.co/bbEpzidw68
— Nicholas Weaver (@ncweaver) April 7, 2021

Others have drawn attention to a suspicious rise in the price of the coin. CoinGecko shows the price surged from $7 on March 28 to around $65 on April 6, before Signal announced its integration with MobileCoin. MOB hit its all-time high of $69 on April 7, which was followed by a crash to $40 the next day. As of today, MOB is sitting at $53.

Signal Mentions Zcash, Lightning As Possible Options

April 13, 2021 The Crypto Briefing

Signal announced last week that it plans to introduce cryptocurrency payments. Now, it has published further details on those plans.

More Than Just MobileCoin?

Last week, Signal announced support for MobileCoin (MOBI) payments. That cryptocurrency was chosen for its privacy and speed, and because of Signal CEO Moxie Marlinspike’s involvement in it.

Today’s post makes it clear that Signal intends to support more than just MobileCoin. Jun Harada, Head of Growth and Communcation, noted that the Signal development team can “include linked support for existing separately built and maintained cryptocurrency wallets.”

Harada first drew attention to the privacy coin Zcash, nothing that though it “initially seem[s] like a great fit,” the blockchain is not fast enough to handle Signal’s high traffic load in its current state.

He also drew attention to the Lightning Network, a second layer network designed to handle Bitcoin payments with greater speed. Unfortunately, Harada says that setup costs and weak privacy guarantees mean that Lightning is an impractical choice for Signal.

Despite those complaints, Signal remains open to new developments. “These projects are all constantly improving, and we hope [they] are focused on getting closer to being integratable,” Harada concluded.

MobileCoin Faces Criticism

Though Signal’s decision to introduce cryptocurrency support was well received, its choice of MobileCoin has been met with criticism.

Harada outlined some of those criticisms in today’s post. He noted that users have complained about high fees ($0.60 per transaction), a lack of simple on- and off-ramps, and MobileCoin’s price volatility. He did not address complaints concerning centralization and alleged code-borrowing that were raised last week.

Regardless of those controversies, it appears that Signal will integrate MobileCoin and address its issues before it moves on to integrating other popular coins with its app.

Disclaimer: At the time of writing this author held less than $75 of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins.

signal