> These “govcoins” are a new incarnation of money. They promise to make finance work better but also to shift power from individuals to the state, alter geopolitics and change how capital is allocated. They are to be treated with optimism, and humility.

Not sure I would describe a power transfer from individuals to the state as a cause for optimisim, but hey, this is The Economist.

The motivation presumably is that if people start using Signal, but half their messages don't arrive because their contact is using a half-baked third-party client that hasn't kept up with Signal's development, then that's a great way to lose potential users.

I'm using telegram-foss and it definitely works better than Signal's first party Android client.

I've been using this as the data source for a Matrix bridge for the better part of a year now. I'm thrilled with it so far! The only worry I have is Signals hostility towards analogous projects, but for the meantime it works for me as this is helping me wean off Signal. Maybe one day regular people will use Matrix...