MobileCoin builds privacy-protecting, near-instant payment infrastructure for phones, aiming to let users transact with greater anonymity than typical blockchains. The protocol uses a federated byzantine agreement rather than energy-intensive proof-of-work, which the company says reduces environmental impact. Signal integrated MobileCoin as a payments feature for UK users, and Mixin Messenger also supports MobileCoin transactions. Its token began trading in December and has appeared on exchanges including FTX, Bitfinex, BigOne and HotBit, with notable price volatility since. The company is four years old, based in San Francisco, has 40 employees and is hiring aggressively. MobileCoin recently added its first head of compliance and, separately, suffered the unexpected loss of its head of engineering. MobileCoin is a cryptocurrency designed for privacy-protecting, near-instant payments on mobile phones. Its protocol emphasizes private transactions and a wallet recovery feature the company says allows users to recover funds without entrusting a provider with private keys. The project received early technical guidance from Signal creator Moxie Marlinspike, and founders envisioned integrations with chat apps like Signal or WhatsApp. MobileCoin launched its token on the FTX exchange in early December. The MobileCoin Foundation has stated the project is not available to U.S. users or persons in other prohibited jurisdictions. The company also faces mobile-crypto risks (for example, loss of funds if a phone is compromised) and broader regulatory uncertainty that has challenged other messaging-app token projects. The team is led by founder Joshua Goldbard. MobileCoin is developing a fast, private, and easy-to-use cryptocurrency intended for deployment in resource-constrained mobile environments. The project emphasizes user privacy and aims to avoid third-party custody of keys while simplifying the user experience. MobileCoin plans integration with mobile messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Signal and published a whitepaper in December describing that vision. Transactions will synchronize to the network using the Stellar Consensus Protocol to achieve scalability and speed. The team includes advisors Moxie Marlinspike, Joshua Goldbard, and legal counsel Shane Glynn, and the project is actively recruiting engineers with experience building very large systems. MobileCoin is in very early stages, has initial funding, and faces regulatory and product-positioning challenges against mainstream payment services.

Total raised

$107M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Aug 2021