Nodle SMS Gateway: Get XLM into the hands of all!
Hey Lumenauts, we’re proud to announce our open source SMS wallet. We’ve been thinking of what would impact humanity most, and how we can help:
- Cleaner and more accessible energy
- Making connectivity more accessible for all (What we’re working on with Nodle)
- And a basic cryptocurrency wallet for feature phones and smartphones.
People may not have smartphones, electricity, internet access, or bank accounts, but they will have access to a feature phone. 98% of humanity is covered by a 2G+ network. Inspired by mPesa in Africa, we decided to build our own SMS wallet for crypto. We chose Stellar because of its culture, openness, speed, and interoperability with other fiats (Anchors).
The Nodle SMS wallet allows anyone to view balance, send, receive, and request Stellar, NODL Coins, or any Stellar assets from a public key or a phone number anywhere in the world. Ultimately we want to incorporate the Stellar Decentralized Exchange, enabling anyone to send money to and from anchors, and exchange virtually any currency they desire. We believe our simple wallet is the first step to enabling basically FREE international remittance, and provide banking to those who need it most.
Now building a SMS wallet does not come without compromise. Based on studies we have done in India with PayTm in villages, and studying mPesa, we must make it as easy as possible for people to use. Nodle will hold private keys in a secure environment, as people without access to bank accounts will generally not be able to manage public key cryptography or keep a seed safe. We have gone through hundreds of iterations to find a simple solution where people can manage their keys through SMS.
To further improve security, we are limiting balances to ~$100 USD (A small fortune in most developing countries). We will allow withdraw to any Stellar public key, and are actively working to find better ways, rightfully so, to give users control over their private keys.
Today, mobile payments, and especially crypto on mobile has a terrible user experience. We want Nodle SMS to be so simple that even children can use it. Through this, we are bringing cryptocurrency to the roughest parts of Earth, and to those who need crypto most.
We’ll be rolling out the Nodle SMS gateway with XLM, NODL Coins over, and Stellar Assets in the next few weeks, and look forward to you becoming a part of the future of crypto! Stay tuned!
-Garrett and the Nodle Team.
