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Vitalik Praises Signal's Phone-Number-Free Accounts, Says Privacy Still Falls Short

Ethereum co‑founder Vitalik Buterin praised Signal's new option that lets users create accounts without providing a phone number, but he said this change does not fully solve privacy shortcomings.

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What happened

Ethereum co‑founder Vitalik Buterin praised Signal’s new option that lets users create accounts without providing a phone number, but he said this change does not fully solve privacy shortcomings.

Confirmed

Global impact / market context

Signal’s phone‑number‑free accounts could make the app more attractive to privacy‑focused users, including crypto participants, while Vitalik’s critique highlights that additional safeguards are needed to protect user data from tracking.

Analyst inference

Privacy‑focused messaging services are gaining attention as regulators examine data‑collection practices, and crypto communities often favor tools that limit personal identifiers, influencing user adoption trends and potential partnerships with blockchain projects.

Analyst inference

What to watch

  1. Growth in Signal’s user base for phone‑number‑free accounts, indicating whether the feature attracts privacy‑concerned individuals and crypto users. Analyst inference
  2. Regulatory developments on digital privacy that could pressure messaging apps to adopt stronger anonymity features or limit data sharing. Analyst inference
  3. Responses from other crypto‑related platforms or projects that might integrate or endorse Signal’s privacy‑enhanced option, affecting ecosystem collaboration. Analyst inference

Affected assets

  • ETH — Ethereum

Evidence