Moxie Marlinspike Rises As CEO of Signal

Moxie Marlinspike, designer and developer of a well-known dating program The sign, is set to resign as chief executive of the company this year but wants to name a successor in the coming months.

Signal, which offers end-to-end coverage and is considered one of the safest, most secretive social media sites available, was launched by Marlinspike (whose real name is Matthew Rosenfeld) in 2014 as a free, open platform. Since then, it has become very popular – now it claims like many 40 million users. The company, Signal Messenger LLC, discontinues donations to the Signal Foundation, a non-profit organization of which it is a part.

Marlinspike, who has run the company since its inception, tweeted announcing his change on Monday, in conjunction with a statement explaining his decision:

Marlinspike says he will step down next month and will be replaced by Signal Foundation board member Brian Acton, a longtime CEO. Acton here is the Executive Chairman of the Foundation and is also the founder of WhatsApp, a saved chat platform purchased by Facebook (now Meta) in 2014. And while socializing with a former Facebook member may cause concern, Acton has remained quite a critic of the company since its departure in 2017. Marlinspike said he was “absolutely confident” in “Acton’s commitment to the task and ability to lead the team so far.” While Acton has been acting leader for a while, Marlinspike is looking for a permanent replacement.

It is unclear what Marlinspike intends to do next, although the manufacturer is determined to remain on the Signal board and will remain “committed to helping showcase Signal work from this position,” as he put it.

We have also recently seen Marlinspike show interest in cryptocurrency and web3 tech through the smallest work jokes, skeptic blog post industry research, and perhaps most importantly, the global establishment of Crypto payments via Signal.

“After 10 years or so, it is difficult for me to say that Signal is very important to me, but now I feel good to replace the CEO with the team we have, and I believe it is an important part of enhancing Signal success,” said Marlinspike. in a blog post on Monday. “I’ve been talking to candidates for the past few months, but I want to open up the search with this ad to help find the best person for the next ten years of Signal. Please post if you are!”

In other words, no one is supposed to do the job but Marlinspike is taking the application. If you are looking to use one of the best privacy products around, maybe try getting into Marlinspike DMs? Maybe he wants to hear from you.