Moxie Marlinspike has stepped down as CEO of Signal

The image is by Alex Castro.

In a post on Monday, Moxie said he was stepping down as CEO of the company. Brian Acton will be acting CEO until a replacement is found.

I want to bring in someone with fresh energy and commitment to make the most of the potential that Signal has. I now feel like I can replace myself as CEO based on the team we have.

Over the last few months, the company has met with several CEO candidates.

One of the most trusted and robust apps for messaging is Signal. The service has more than 40 million monthly users. The company is not supported by advertising or app sales, instead relying on donations and a recently launched sustainer program.

The app saw a rush of new users in early 2021, but the success wasn't without controversy. Workers within Signal were concerned that the company's refusal to maintain content policies could lead to potential misuse of the service. Concerns have been raised by Signal's recent efforts to incorporate cryptocurrencies through MobileCoin.

After leaving Signal, Marlinspike gave no indication of his plans, although he has published a number of satirical NFT experiments on his personal blog, including a derivatives market for NFTs and a token that turns into the poop emoji when viewed from a personal wallet.