Vitalik Buterin supports Signal’s phone-free registration

Vitalik Buterin supports Signal’s phone-free registration for privacy, but says true privacy needs message-level unlinkability. He backs ongoing privacy efforts and donates to privacy-focused platforms.

Vitalik Buterin has voiced strong support for Signal’s move to allow account registration without a phone number, highlighting the privacy benefits and reduced reliance on centralized communication gateways. He emphasized that this shift lowers the risk of SIM-swap attacks and makes it harder for platforms to discriminate against users or comply with government censorship. Buterin, a long-time advocate for user privacy, has supported privacy-centric platforms like Signal and SimpleX Chat through both public statements and significant donations. He noted, however, that true privacy extends beyond pseudonymity, as metadata and advanced AI can still expose user identities. According to Buterin, the gold standard for privacy is message-level unlinkability, where only the sender and receiver know about their connection. He acknowledged the challenges of maintaining anti-spam and denial-of-service protections without traditional identifiers, and praised ongoing efforts to develop privacy-preserving solutions.