MobileCoin

MobileCoin is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency developed by MobileCoin Inc., which was founded in 2017 by Josh Goldbard and Shane Glynn.[3] It focuses on transactional anonymity (fungibility), ease of use, transaction speed, low environmental impact and low fees.[4] MobileCoin's mechanics build on Stellar (for consensus) and Monero (for privacy), using CryptoNote alongside zero-knowledge proofs to hide details of users' transactions.[2]

MobileCoin
CodeMOB
Development
White paperhttps://github.com/mobilecoinfoundation/Mechanics-of-MobileCoin/blob/master/Mechanics-of-MobileCoin-v0-0-39-preview-10-11.pdf
Initial releaseDecember 6, 2020 (2020-12-06)
Code repositoryhttps://github.com/mobilecoinfoundation, https://github.com/mobilecoinofficial
Development statusActive
Written inRust
Developer(s)Joshua Goldbard (CEO), Sara Drakeley H. (CTO), Henry Holtzman (CPO), Toby Segaran (Head of Engineer), part of a team of 39 individuals
Source modelFOSS
LicenseGPL v3[1]
Websitehttps://www.mobilecoin.com/
Ledger
Circulating supply250,000,000[2]

Technology overview

MobileCoin is a cryptocurrency focusing on privacy, ease of use, transaction speed and throughput, enabling decentralized payments for everyday transactions.[5] Transactions from mobile devices are possible without the need to store a copy of the blockchain that still preserve user privacy (i.e. no participant of the network can know the identity of the transaction partners, the transacted amount or the blockheight of funds in the blockchain), using a technology called fog.

In technical terms, MobileCoin is a standard one dimensional directed acyclic graph cryptocurrency blockchain, where blocks are consensuated with an implementation of the Stellar Consensus Protocol, transactions are validated in SGX secure enclaves and are based on elliptic curve cryptography using the Ristretto abstraction (a construction of a prime-order group using a non-prime-order on curve Ed25519),[6] transaction inputs are shown to exist in the blockchain with Merkle proofs of membership and are signed with Schnorr-style multilayered linkable spontaneous anonymous group signatures, and output amounts (communicated to recipients via ECDH) are concealed with Pedersen commitments and proven in a legitimate range with Bulletproofs.[7]

Much of MobileCoin's technology comes from previous privacy focused cryptocurrencies like Monero and has been re-written in Rust for MobileCoin. [7][8]

Fog

MobileCoin Fog enables use of the MobileCoin Payments Network in resource-constrained environments such as mobile devices: Fog assumes the task of searching the blockchain for a user's tokens while preserving anonymity, i.e. "the service operator is not able to learn more than approximately how many outputs its users own".[7][9]

History

MobileCoin Inc., the entity behind MobileCoin, was founded in 2017 by Joshua Goldbard and Shane Glynn.[3] Signal's Moxie Marlinspike assisted as an early technical advisor.[10][11][12] The coin is intended to be an accessible form of cryptocurrency with a focus on fast transactions. In May 2018, MobileCoin secured $29.7 million in a funding round led by Binance Labs, in exchange for 37.5 million tokens.[13][14] The foundation raised $11.35 million in venture funding in March 2021[15] and $66 million in Series B funding in August 2021.[10]

Payment and Trading

In-app payments via Signal and Mixin Messenger support MobileCoin for peer-to-peer payments worldwide.[16] Cryptocurrency exchanges FTX and Bitfinex list MobileCoin for trading.[15]

Criticism

MobileCoin has been accused of a pump and dump scheme.[17] The integration of MobileCoin wallets into the popular security messager app Signal received criticism from security expert Bruce Schneier, who previously praised the app. Schneier stated that this would bloat the app and attract unwanted attention from the financial authorities.[18]

References
  1. "MobileCoin". October 7, 2021 – via GitHub.
  2. Greenberg, Andy (April 6, 2021). "Signal Adds a Payments Feature—With a Privacy-Focused Cryptocurrency". Wired. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  3. "About MobileCoin". mobilecoin.com. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  4. Statt, Nick (April 6, 2021). "Signal is testing a payments feature that lets you send cryptocurrency to friends". The Verge. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  5. "MobileCoin raises $66M for cryptocurrency payment platform". August 18, 2021.
  6. "What is Ristretto? - the Ristretto Group".
  7. MechanicsOfMobilecoin. "mobilecoinfoundation/Mechanics-of-MobileCoin" (PDF). github. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
  8. "mobilecoinofficial". github. April 19, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  9. "mobilecoin/fog at master · mobilecoinfoundation/mobilecoin". GitHub. October 11, 2021.
  10. Loizos, Connie. "MobileCoin closes on $66 million in equity in Series B round". TechCrunch. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
  11. Newman, Lily Hay (December 15, 2017). "The Creator of Signal Has a Plan to Fix Cryptocurrency". Wired. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  12. Goldbard, Joshua (April 8, 2021). "Comment". Reddit. Retrieved December 16, 2021. Moxie is not and has never been an employee, he's not an officer, he's not on the board of directors, he isn't a person who has worked day to day on the project, he gave us advice, which we are very thankful for because it was helpful to figure out what to build, but Moxie didn't write a single line of code in MobileCoin.
  13. "MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency advised early on by Signal's Moxie Marlinspike, has raised venture funding". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  14. "New Privacy Coin, called MobileCoin, Launches Mainnet, Might have Ties to Chat App Signal". Crowdfund Insider. December 10, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  15. Loizos, Connie (March 10, 2021). "MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency advised early on by Signal's Moxie Marlinspike, has raised venture funding". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  16. Mixin [@Mixin_Network] (January 18, 2021). "Mixin Network supports the 33rd public chain @mobilecoin, $MOB, that focuses on Building Secure Payment Systems for Mobile. We'r the 1st project connected the its Layer2 network, and also contribute codes for Node in Golang. Deposit & withdrawal are available on @MixinMessenger" (Tweet). Archived from the original on May 3, 2021. Retrieved April 12, 2021 – via Twitter.
  17. "Et tu, Signal?". www.stephendiehl.com. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
  18. "Signal Adds Cryptocurrency Support". Schneier on Security. April 7, 2021. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
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