Bitcoin on Signal: Privacy, Custody, and Feasibility

Show Notes

Can Signal integrate Bitcoin without compromising its core principles of privacy and simplicity? This episode explores the practical and philosophical tensions behind “Bitcoin on Signal,” covering Cashew, Lightning, and other integration paths, the regulatory challenges of running a mint, and what true self-custody could look like for a messaging app with hundreds of millions of users. The discussion spans Signal’s original payment criteria, the rise and limits of MobileCoin, privacy versus compliance, and the broader question of whether open, Bitcoin-based payments can coexist with mainstream messaging platforms. Timestamps 0:00 – Introduction and origins of “Bitcoin for Signal” 04:18 – Signal’s payment criteria: privacy, custody, and UX 07:05 – Mobilecoin’s experiment and lessons learned 10:14 – Open vs closed networks and the internet analogy 12:58 – Cashu integration proposal and the mint problem 17:04 – Legal, custodial, and UX constraints 30:38 – Future paths: AI-operated mints and proving viability outside Signal 🎧 From the PBJ podcast recorded at 📍Presidio Bitcoin 🔗 Full episode: https://youtu.be/ESPiivspKsU 🌐 Learn more: https://www.presidiobitcoin.org/