Legendary Monero contributor moneromooo-monero submits PR to remove Cake Wallet from Getmonero.org

moneromooo-monero¹, the legendary² Monero contributor, has submitted a pull request³ to the monero-site⁴ repository to remove Cake Wallet⁵ from the Getmonero.org website Downloads⁶ section:

This is principled removal, on the grounds that the Cake wallet people are squatting the monero.com domain to push a version of Cake wallet they call the “monero.com” wallet. [..] Having worked for the Monero project for YEARS of my life, I feel pretty aggrieved by this dishonesty, and thus I am registering my protest by this patch³

As previously reported⁷, the Monero.com⁸ XMR-only wallet was released in January 2022 and the community also voiced concerns over the domain name back then, but Cake assured everyone that there will be no confusion and, according to Cake Wallet’s CEO Vik Sharma⁹, it will not in any way compete with Getmonero.org.

The issue resurfaced recently, after Justin Ehrenhofer¹⁰’s PR¹¹ to add Monero.com to the official Getmonero.org website was criticised by the community.

Cake Wallet’s new CakePay¹² privacy policy (by Ionia)¹³ only added more fuel to the fire:

In particular my concern is with with the “marketing” and affiliate sections in ionia.docsend.com/view/jaqsmbq9w7dzvnqf [..] As a result of the above I cannot support or endorse Cakepay. This of course has nothing to do with the non custodial functions of Cakewallet (ArticMine)¹⁴

In response, Vik stated that the Cake Labs team will talk with Ionia¹⁵ about the privacy policy, posted a reply on Github addressing Cake Wallet data collection concerns, and agreed to clarify that Monero.com is not the official Getmonero.org website:

We do not ask for or collect any information on the user or devices as stated in our privacy policy. [..] As far as making it more clear on monero.com website, that its not the official thing, yes we can do that.¹⁶

Consult the IRC/Matrix discussion logs¹⁷’¹⁸ and the previous Monero Observer reports⁷’¹⁹ for more context and details about this story.

To engage in constructive discussions and voice your own opinion, comment in PR’s #2007¹¹ and #2013³.

This is an ongoing story and the report will be updated when new information is available.

Update 22/8/9: According to Vik, Monero.com will be putting a banner RIGHT at the top today/tomorrow which will clearly direct people to the open source monero project website²⁰; added context to ArticMine quote.

Update 22/8/10: Monero.com adds frontpage banner linking to Getmonero.org, Cake Labs is open to selling the domain monero.com to the Monero core team at cost [..] under the condition it be used only to redirect to the official site²¹.

Update 22/8/11: Cake Pay’s privacy policy and terms of service have been updated²²; PR was closed.