Very welcome: Vitalik Buterin responds to Signal's no phone number registration

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is back on the privacy wagon, with his latest post on X commending the “very welcome” news of Signal’s early work on letting people create accounts without listing a phone number.

Buterin, a known supporter of multiple privacy initiatives, has often thrown both his money and stature behind platforms and tools with a mandate to protect users’ content and the metadata around it.

Why is Buterin weighing in on a messaging app?

Buterin has been very vocal in his support for privacy. He has made it a priority also for Ethereum. 

In his April 2025 essay, “Why I support privacy,” Buterin stated that whoever holds information holds power, and that concentrated data collection has to be resisted in the digital realm where it is most practical to do so.

Buterin donated 128 ETH each to Signal and SimpleX Chat in November 2025. He praised both platforms for pushing open account creation and stronger metadata privacy. 

In that same round, he highlighted the same problem Signal is now trying to solve, noting that Sybil and denial-of-service resistance on the user side is harder to get right without leaning on phone numbers.

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