USSD is the dominant technology and interface used to make mobile payments in Africa. 90% of mobile money transactions were completed via USSD in Africa in 2018. We are applying the familiar USSD interface to crypto so that anyone can own Bitcoin or Ether. Dial Crypto works on feature phones and smartphones and does not require internet to access the service.
During the hackathon, we built an MVP of the USSD app and web app that are now deployed and live on the Bitcoin Test Network and Ropsten testnet for Ethereum. We are testing it with a handful of invited users who meet our target user profile to gather feedback. It is not yet available to the public and we are not promoting it publicly at this time.
Some early feedback we’ve received from testers: “Easy transfer of BTC from one person to another by just entering the recipient’s phone number.” “Dial Crypto can open a new range of possibilities for people to easily transfer crypto funds and even buy and sell services with crypto.”
Dial Crypto has two interfaces to start. First, the web-app is where a user can deposit and withdraw crypto to or from an external wallet address to their account. Second, the USSD-based service allows a user to dial a code from their phone to access their funds. When they use the USSD service, they can send crypto to a phone number, view their available balance, and receive their BTC or ETH deposit address via SMS.
What can an end user do with the Dial Crypto MVP? - deposit and withdraw BTC and ETH to and from external wallet addresses - access BTC and ETH in their account from their mobile phone by dialling the USSD code - transfer BTC and ETH between phone numbers (registered and unregistered users can receive crypto via their phone number) - transfer BTC and ETH from web to phone number
We aim to take this product to market in East Africa to make owning cryptocurrency more accessible.
SEEKING ADDITIONAL ALPHA TESTERS: We are in search of alpha testers for the product! If you are interested in trying it out - please sign up to become an alpha tester here :) http://bit.ly/2k0pXU8