Jack Dorsey and several Bitcoin developers are urging Signal to add Bitcoin payments through the Cashu protocol. The new campaign, “Bitcoin for Signal,” aims to facilitate private transactions directly within the encrypted messenger app.
Dorsey reposted a message on X from Cashu, the pseudonymous Bitcoin developer leading the initiative. The post called for Signal to adopt Bitcoin integration. According to the Bitcoin for Signal website, this move would enable Bitcoin to be used within Signal’s secure environment.
“Bitcoin belongs in Signal,” the campaign website declares. It describes Cashu’s “Chaumian Ecash” protocol as a method for processing private Bitcoin payments within the app. Supporters claim this setup would let users send and receive Bitcoin globally without banks or intermediaries.
The campaign highlights how Signal’s 70 million monthly users could soon transfer money securely and instantly. They also argue that Bitcoin could make the platform financially independent since Signal relies mainly on donations and grants.
Bitcoin developers Peter Todd, Calle, and Pavol Rusnak have expressed support for integrating Bitcoin into the Signal messaging app. Todd criticized Signal’s current payment system, MobileCoin, calling it inaccessible and overly centralized.
“I’ve been wanting to try MobileCoin. But it’s such a failure I can’t even buy any,” Todd said. He added that Signal should “accept reality and just add Bitcoin support.” Signal first introduced MobileCoin payments in 2021, but many have questioned its centralized nature and the limited size of its validator network.
By integrating Bitcoin through Cashu, advocates believe Signal can preserve privacy while expanding usability. The proposed “ecash” tokens would represent BTC without leaving a trace on the public blockchain. These tokens would allow users to transact without revealing their addresses.
If the campaign succeeds, Signal could become one of the largest peer-to-peer Bitcoin payment platforms worldwide. The move could also align with Jack Dorsey’s view that Bitcoin should be used for everyday transactions, not just as a store of value.
Despite growing enthusiasm, several privacy advocates have raised concerns about linking Bitcoin with Signal. They argue Bitcoin’s transparent blockchain contradicts the app’s privacy goals.
Aztec Network engineer Jose Pedro Sousa was also skeptical about the concept, and he wondered why Signal was employing a full public blockchain as a privacy chat. Opponents feel that privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies would serve such integration more effectively.
Digital rights group Techlore threatened that the addition of Bitcoin would expose user data through blockchain analysis. On the same note, other developers have observed that it is open to everyone to trace Bitcoin transactions with the help of the internet. They implied that the coins that have a zero-knowledge proof technology would be more appropriate for the mission of Signal.
Nevertheless, the Cashu team justified its design. They elaborated that users would secure BTC-backed ecash tokens privately in the app, and their transactions would be concealed on a public blockchain. This, they argued, would give it privacy and preserve the decentralized nature of Bitcoin.
One question still remains regarding the debate, and that is whether or not Bitcoin can combine privacy and transparency on the same global platform.
The campaign is called Bitcoin for Signal and is supported by Jack Dorsey and the core developers of Signal, requesting that Signal implement Bitcoin payments using Cashu, a protocol. The project will include integrating privacy, decentralization, and universal reach into a single encrypted messaging platform. Although this raises the transparency question to critics, Cashu claims that the eCash tokens guarantee privacy to users.
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