BTC transfer with SMS and Email

[doolittle]

Hello all, I am trying to summarize the different options of sending bitcoin with the help of SMS and Email. Can anybody help me to get an overview? Using SMS is often mentioned as a way to get Bitcoin going in the remittances market. However, as far as I understand all the solutions so far are based on centralized solutions and online wallets. Basically two people need to have an account at the same online wallet like coinbase, blockchain.info, ... and then they can easily move the money from one of the accounts to the other.
Is this right? In any case, what are the different technologies, and companies who offer these services?

[1714805922]

1714805922

[jonald_fyookball]

Assuming we're not using something centralized like coinbase...

Email, phone, and bitcoin are 3 different networks.  At the heart of it,
You could send me a payment request email with your bitcoin address,
And I could send you coins through the blockchain, and then send you
An email saying that's it been paid. 

Now imagine this all rolled into 1 app on your phone.

The app could perhaps have a contact list of emails and corresponding
Bitcoin adresses.  So you pull up your friends name, enter 1.3 BTC,
And it sends to their adress and also sends an email.

Alternatively, if the app couldn't access the blockchain, it could
Create a signed transaction and just send that and it would
Be up to the recipient to broadcast it to the blockchain.

[doolittle]

Thanks for the insightful answer. I know I am asking for a lot, but do you have an overview on the different companies who provide services like that? I am asking not because I want to use any of these services, but because I may be interested as an investor.
I also want to better understand what all these "interface" services are really good for.

[jonald_fyookball]

Sorry, I do not.

Sounds like a great app just waiting to be developed! 

But I don't know if anyone has done so or how good they are.
You'd have to research it.

[jonald_fyookball]

You also might want to look into Dogewand. 

I read something about Dogecoin having an
app that lets you send coins to anyone with
an email address.

[removebeforeflight]

Try coinapult, its been around for ages http://www.coinapult.com/sms-wallet

[jonald_fyookball]

Looks cool but it appears it may be centralized as OP didn't want?

[Dogtanian]

Looks cool but it appears it may be centralized as OP didn't want?

You mean the company sends the coins to people as opposed to users directly doing it?

[bountygiver]

this requires a company everyone absolutely trust to handle all the information.
They'll be holding coins when the recipient has no public address and associating each SMS/email with an address and promise not to meddle with them.

I think sending directly to public address is easier.

[LiteCoinGuy]

maybe this?

https://gli.ph/

[jonald_fyookball]

Thanks litecoin guy.

Gliph looks very cool, integrates with coinbase or blockchain, which is probably the most user friendly way to do it.

Still not what the OP asked for, but it is becoming apparent there is trade off between user friendliness and control of ones own keys.  Personally, for funds I would keep on my phone, I think using a trusted wallet provider would be fine.

[jabo38]

It is theoretically possible to make a system where people send bitcoin via a text, but..... it would take some really big players cooperating that aren't right now.  If Coinbase teamed up with the telecoms, they could make it happen.  A person would have to send a text to a center number in a certain format saying to what address they will send to, how much they will send, and then something like a short 2FA code (google authenticator) at the end to verify that they account holder is indeed the person sending.  Systems like this do exists in other countries where people send money with texts.  It exists in the Philippines and in Africa and probably other places.  In Kenya sending money via text has over 50% of the economy. 

[jonald_fyookball]

There exists electrum for android.  It could be possibly extended to provide the features I mentioned in my original reply.

[doolittle]

Interesting. Thanks for the replies. I am asking because people bring up this idea again and again when talking about emerging and developing markets. I had identified coinapult but that was it ... So it got me asking myself if this was all a big hype or not.

[bryant.coleman]

Already multiple threads here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=594130.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=594480.0

But IMO, security will be definitely an issue. Hackers are breaking in to BTC-E / Bistamp accounts as well as emails to steal money. There is no guarantee that similar incidents won't happen with a SMS-backed service.

[ShakyhandsBTCer]

blockchain.info has an option to allow people to send via SMS and email. The recipient can claim their funds using a shared private key (shared between you and the recipient) to sweep funds to their blockchain wallet (they create one if they don't have one)