According to the customer development/lean startup model, a firm grasp on “market type” (i.e. creating a new market or entering an existing market) is central to any startup companies success or an incumbent company’s efforts with innovation (or self-cannibalization to stay ahead of external disruption).
How will Elon Musk’s vision of X handle the already existent market traction of Signal, Telegram, and Paypal in what is emerging as the synthesis of social media apps and financial payments systems in the future of money (ie. the creation of new value exchange mechanisms, value creation and value storage systems – and the role trust will play in the design of these new monetary systems)? Details here.
The Future of Encrypted Social Media Platforms and Crypto Payment Systems
In light of the recent decimation of the the global brand equity and brand awareness of Twitter (which was one of the most recognizable company logos and platforms in the world) when it was turned into X – how will the growth of X play out relative the already deployed platforms in the emerging social media app-based crypto and payments ecosystem?
Elon Musk says X will offer an ‘entire financial world’ in the coming months
“In light of Twitter’s rebranding, Elon Musk says users can expect to conduct their “entire financial world” via the X platform in the coming months.”
Back in August, Cointelegraph reported on Musk’s vision for the future of X: “Elon Musk shared an update for users with more information on Twitter’s rebranding to X, saying it’s part of a larger plan to incorporate financial services on the platform. On July 25, Musk tweeted that his X Corp enterprise acquired Twitter in the name of freedom of speech and to advance the development of his ‘everything app,’ also to be called ‘X.’ He hinted that in the coming months, users can expect to conduct their ‘entire financial world’ on the platform. He also mentioned the addition of ‘comprehensive communications’ together with the financial services and extended posts did not fit the original ethos of Twitter and, therefore, merited the name change. The platform’s branding lost its blue bird and shifted over to an ‘X’ symbol on July 24. In an interview, Musk said that if executed correctly, X has the potential to encompass ‘half of the global financial system’ with plans for banking, payments and more. Some have likened the potential of the X app to be akin to China’s WeChat.”
Signal’s Cryptocurrency Feature Has Gone Worldwide
A beta “payments” feature now lets users of the popular encrypted messaging app send MobileCoin around the globe.
As reported by WIRED on January 2022: “In the Spring of 2021, the encrypted communications app Signal announced that it would add a payments feature in beta for its users in the UK, testing out an integration with a relatively new, privacy-focused cryptocurrency called MobileCoin. But a much broader phase of that experiment has quietly been underway since mid-November [2022]. That’s when Signal made the same feature accessible to all of its users without fanfare, offering the ability to send digital payments far more private than a credit card transaction—or a Bitcoin transfer—to many millions of phones. MobileCoin founder Josh Goldbard confirmed the timing of the rollout, and says that it spurred massive adoption of the cryptocurrency, which now sees thousands of daily transactions versus just dozens before the global beta release…referencing reports of Signal’s total download numbers. To avoid that blockchain-based tracing of user finances, MobileCoin deploys techniques that have been pioneered in older ‘privacy coins’ such as Monero and Zcash. Those include a protocol called CryptoNote and a feature called Ring Confidential Transactions, which hides the amount of payments and makes them hard to trace by mixing them up. MobileCoin also uses a form of mathematical proof known as Bulletproofs that can guarantee a transaction has occurred without revealing its value.”
Signal takes a quantum leap with E2EE protocol upgrade
“Many organizations and companies are getting ready for the post-quantum era.”
Signal has announced an upgrade to its end-to-end encryption (E2EE) protocol to protect its users from encryption-breaking attacks through quantum computers. Although Quantum computers are not yet powerful enough to be perceived as a threat for public-key cryptography, this does not mean they will not become a one in the future. Many organizations and companies are getting ready for the post-quantum era. To advance quantum resistance for the Signal Protocol, Signal upgraded its Extended Triple Diffie-Hellman (X3DH) key agreement protocol to the Post-Quantum Extended Diffie-Hellman (PQXDH). The new protocol is already available to Signal app users in the latest versions. Both chat participants must update to the latest Signal software to enable this feature. This is said to elevate them far above all secure messaging apps.
Telegram adds self-custodial crypto wallet worldwide, excluding the US
“The benefit of having a crypto wallet in Telegram is the potential to introduce a substantial number of users, many of whom are unbanked populations in developing countries, to digital assets.”
As reported by TechCrunch in early September 2023: “Telegram, the popular chat app with 800 million monthly active users, is getting a self-custodial crypto wallet. The move is set to solidify its presence in the vibrant crypto community that has emerged from its chat platform and can potentially help drive the masses into the crypto space. Telegram and TON Foundation jointly announced the new self-custodial wallet, called TON Space, on Wednesday at Singapore’s Token2049 crypto conference, which boasts more than 10,000 attendees. Ever since the FTX implosion, the crypto community has undergone a great reckoning, realizing the need for self-custodial wallets over centralized ones where users have no control over their digital assets.
It’s worth noting that the wallet wasn’t built by Telegram itself, and the fact that it was a joint announcement brings attention to the history of its complicated relationship with blockchain. In 2020, the messenger abandoned its Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain project after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued it over a massive initial coin offering. A group of open source developers and blockchain enthusiasts subsequently founded The Open Network Foundation (TON Foundation), which is now supporting the development of The Open Network (TON), the blockchain powering a growing number of applications on Telegram, including the self-custodial wallet. The wallet is the brainchild of a company called The Open Platform (TOP), which includes a wallet development team and a venture-building division, the TOP Labs, that works closely with the TON ecosystem and has a portfolio of TON-based apps. Starting in November, TON Space will be available to Telegram’s global users without the need for any wallet registration. The feature is an extension to the existing custodial version of the Telegram wallet, which has amassed three million registered users so far. The self-custodial wallet has excluded certain jurisdictions for now, such as the U.S., which has launched a series of crackdowns on the crypto industry and promoted many crypto apps to geofence users from the market.”
Not-so-private messaging: Trojanized WhatsApp and Telegram apps go after cryptocurrency wallets
“ESET researchers analyzed Android and Windows clippers that can tamper with instant messages and use OCR to steal cryptocurrency funds.”
ESET researchers have discovered dozens of copycat Telegram and WhatsApp websites targeting mainly Android and Windows users with trojanized versions of these instant messaging apps. Most of the malicious apps we identified are clippers – a type of malware that steals or modifies the contents of the clipboard. All of them are after victims’ cryptocurrency funds, with several targeting cryptocurrency wallets. This was the first time we have seen Android clippers focusing specifically on instant messaging. Moreover, some of these apps use optical character recognition (OCR) to recognize text from screenshots stored on the compromised devices, which is another first for Android malware. Prior to the establishment of the App Defense Alliance, we discovered the first Android clipper on Google Play, which led to Google improving Android security by restricting system-wide clipboard operations for apps running in the background for Android versions 10 and higher. As is unfortunately shown by our latest findings, this action did not succeed in weeding the problem out completely: not only did we identify the first instant messaging clippers, we uncovered several clusters of them. The main purpose of the clippers we discovered is to intercept the victim’s messaging communications and replace any sent and received cryptocurrency wallet addresses with addresses belonging to the attackers. In addition to the trojanized WhatsApp and Telegram Android apps, we also found trojanized Windows versions of the same apps.
PayPal launches PYUSD stablecoin backed by the US dollar
“The shift toward digital currencies requires a stable instrument that is both digitally native and easily connected to fiat currency like the U.S. dollar…”
As reported at The Verge in August 2023: “PayPal is launching its own stablecoin: PayPalUSD (PYUSD). The company says the cryptocurrency token is “fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits” and can be bought or sold on PayPal’s app or website at $1.00 per PYUSD. With PYUSD, you can make person-to-person payments, fund purchases with the currency at checkouts, and transfer PYUSD between PayPal and other outside wallets. PayPal says that you can also convert the currencies supported by PayPal to and from PYUSD as well. Stablecoins take their name from the fact that they’re centralized and backed by existing government-supported currencies like the US dollar or the Euro. The US government is still hashing out how to regulate stablecoin and other forms of cryptocurrency. After all, stablecoins aren’t always that stable, as we saw with the collapse of Tether and TerraUSD. PYUSD is launching today and will become available “in the coming weeks” to customers in the US with PayPal Balance accounts. It’ll also be available on the PayPal-owned Venmo app ‘soon.'”
Jimmy Soni on Why PayPal Was Successful
In this OODAcast, we talk with Jimmy Soni, the author of the book “The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley“. The Founders was one my Top 10 Security, Technology, and Business books of 2022, and is one of the few books I read last year that qualifies for each category. Jimmy takes a deep, historical look at the founding story of PayPal with detailed analysis, interviews, and access that you won’t find in any other telling of the PayPal story. PayPal is a fascinating company to look at, not only to examine the PayPal business, but in looking at what emerged out of the PayPal founding team in the future. A list of companies that includes the likes of SpaceX, Tesla, Affirm, LinkedIn, YouTube, Yammer, Palantir, Kiva, Yelp, and Yammer! In the OODAcast we discuss:
- PayPal’s founding history
- The unique cast of characters and the importance of understanding their origin stories
- Key moments in PayPal’s success
- How PayPal is ultimately a hacker success story.
Additional Resources
Technology Convergence and Market Disruption: Rapid advancements in technology are changing market dynamics and user expectations. See: Disruptive and Exponential Technologies.
Bitcoin’s Momentum: Bitcoin seems unstoppable due to solid mathematical foundations and widespread societal acceptance. Other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum also gain prominence. The Metaverse’s rise is closely tied to Ethereum’s universal trust layer. See: Guide to Crypto Revolution.
“What is the Signal social media application payment feature and how does it work with Mobilecoin?”
(Generated using OpenAI’s ChatGPT 3.5)
Signal, a secure messaging application known for its strong focus on privacy and encryption…announced a payment feature that integrated with the cryptocurrency Mobilecoin (MOB). Here’s how the Signal payment feature and its integration with Mobilecoin worked at that time:
Signal Payment Feature: Signal introduced a payment feature that allowed users to send and receive payments within the app. This feature aimed to provide a simple and private way for users to transfer funds to their contacts.
Integration with Mobilecoin: Mobilecoin is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency designed for use on mobile devices. Signal’s payment feature was integrated with Mobilecoin to facilitate secure and private transactions within the Signal app. Here’s how it worked:
1. Setting Up a Mobilecoin Wallet: Users who wanted to use the payment feature would need to set up a Mobilecoin wallet within the Signal app. This wallet allowed them to store and manage their Mobilecoin tokens (MOB).
2. Funding the Wallet: Users could fund their Mobilecoin wallet by purchasing Mobilecoin tokens (MOB) through supported exchanges or services.
3. Sending and Receiving Payments: Once the wallet was funded, users could send Mobilecoin payments to their contacts who also had Mobilecoin wallets in Signal. They could do this by selecting a contact, entering the payment amount, and confirming the transaction.
4. Privacy and Security: Signal’s integration with Mobilecoin aimed to maintain privacy and security. Transactions were designed to be private and not visible on a public blockchain. Signal’s commitment to user privacy extended to its cryptocurrency integration.
5. User Control: Users had control over their funds and transactions. They could manage their Mobilecoin wallet and decide when and how to use it.
It’s important to note that the integration of cryptocurrency features within messaging apps like Signal can vary over time, and there may have been updates or changes to the features and supported cryptocurrencies since my last knowledge update in September 2021.
“How does Mobilecoin use blockchain technologies?”
Mobilecoin is a cryptocurrency that utilizes blockchain technology to enable secure and private transactions. While it emphasizes privacy and efficient mobile usage, it still maintains some elements of a blockchain-based cryptocurrency. Here’s an overview of how Mobilecoin uses blockchain technologies:
1. Consensus Mechanism: Mobilecoin employs a consensus mechanism called Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP). SCP is a decentralized consensus algorithm designed for fast transaction validation and consensus in a distributed network. It enables Mobilecoin to confirm transactions quickly while maintaining security.
2. Blockchain Ledger: Mobilecoin maintains a distributed ledger, which is essentially a blockchain. This ledger records all transactions made with Mobilecoin tokens (MOB). It includes information about sender addresses, recipient addresses, transaction amounts, and other relevant data.
3. Privacy Features: Mobilecoin incorporates advanced cryptographic techniques to enhance user privacy. While the blockchain ledger records transactions, it is designed in such a way that transaction details, including the sender, recipient, and transaction amount, are encrypted and shielded from public view. This provides confidentiality for users.
4. Ring Signatures: Mobilecoin uses ring signatures to enhance privacy. Ring signatures allow transactions to be signed by a group of users, making it difficult to determine which specific user initiated a transaction. This adds a layer of anonymity to the network.
5. Stealth Addresses: Stealth addresses are used to obscure the recipient’s address in transactions. When someone sends Mobilecoin to another user, the recipient’s address is hidden from public view, further enhancing privacy.
6. Scalability: Mobilecoin aims to be highly scalable to accommodate the needs of mobile users. It uses a simplified payment verification (SPV) mechanism, which allows mobile devices to verify transactions without having to download the entire blockchain.
7. Economic Model: Mobilecoin has a fixed supply of tokens, similar to Bitcoin. This means that there is a limited number of MOB tokens that will ever be created, which can help maintain the value of the cryptocurrency over time.
Mobilecoin’s approach is designed to offer a balance between privacy, security, and usability, with a particular focus on enabling mobile users to participate in secure and private transactions. While it shares some characteristics with traditional blockchains, it also incorporates specific features and optimizations to make it well-suited for mobile devices and emphasize user privacy.
