Introducing the Dial Crypto Alpha
USSD-Enabled Bitcoin & ETH Wallet and Payment System
Hello world! 🌍
Today we are excited to introduce the Dial Crypto Alpha!
Dial Crypto is a digital currency wallet and payment system that allows people to transfer Bitcoin and Ether instantly between phone numbers. It uses the same technology as mobile money products (USSD) and is compatible with basic feature phones and smartphones.
By applying the familiar technology UI of mobile money products to crypto, we aim to increase access to digital currencies by making it convenient, accessible and practical to use and own them.
The Dial Crypto Alpha is live on the Bitcoin test network and Ethereum’s Ropsten testnet. We need your feedback to get it ready for public launch!
Sign up to become an alpha tester here 👨🏾🚀🚀
What can you do with Dial Crypto?
The first version of Dial Crypto is made up of two products, a USSD-enabled wallet and a web application.
The Web app allows you to interact with external wallet addresses and send crypto to phone numbers. From the Web app, you can:
- Deposit test BTC and ETH from an external wallet
- Transfer test BTC and ETH to a phone number
- Withdraw test BTC and ETH to an external wallet
The USSD app works on both feature phones and smartphones and allows you to send BTC and ETH between phone numbers. From the USSD app, you can:
- Transfer test BTC and ETH to a phone number
- View your available balances
- Request your BTC and ETH deposit address be sent to you via SMS
Our Background Story
Dial Crypto first began at the ETHCapeTown Hackathon in South Africa in April 2019 as the USSD For All submission. The project won a prize from the MakerDAO judges. More important than any prize, there was a ton of interest from the audience about the potential for it to make crypto ownership more accessible and practical in Sub-Saharan Africa.
From this, we decided to continue buidling the USSD crypto wallet so that we could eventually make it publicly available. In July, we enrolled in Y Combinator’s Startup School to mature the idea. Dial Crypto officially graduated from the 10 week course in September!
Today we are excited to announce that the alpha is live and ready for more testers to try it out!
Why did we decide to continue building Dial Crypto after EthCapeTown?
We believe in a future where everyone has equal access to financial sovereignty and inclusion.
We believe that cryptocurrencies enable people to retain more of their wealth by reducing fees and friction experienced with traditional financial products.
We believe that sending a critical remittance to family members in another country should be easy (for both sender and receiver) and that fees should not eat up a large percent of the transfer value.
We believe that the most marginalized often pay the highest prices.
We believe in the potential of Bitcoin and ETH.
We also believe that more needs to be done to make ownership of crypto accessible and practical to use on a day-to-day basis. We built Dial Crypto to help increase ownership of digital currencies and as a result, enable more people to be able to retain their wealth.
Curious?
Sign up to become an alpha tester
The Dial Crypto Alpha was launched on the Bitcoin test network and Ethereum’s Ropsten testnet privately earlier this month. After a few rounds of testing, we’re looking for more people to try it out and give us feedback!
Sign up to become an alpha tester here 👩🚀🚀
We hope that Dial Crypto will help improve access to digital currencies for many people and your feedback will help make that possible!
Say hi at Devcon 5 or the Ukiyo Conference 👋 🇯🇵 🦄
We will be attending a couple upcoming conferences in Osaka and we’d love to chat (especially if you are interested in testing Dial Crypto)!
If you will be at the Ukiyo Conference on Oct 7 or Devcon 5 between Oct 8–11 and want to meet or learn more, please reach out to us at alpha@dialcrypto.com!
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DialCryptoHQ
Visit our website: https://www.dialcrypto.com/
Become an Alpha tester: https://airtable.com/shrhtlPcKUG0Br0Ak
