SMS Technology Brings Bitcoin to Unbanked, Unplugged Population

From Pan Am Post

Two days before the 2014 Bitcoin International Conference kicked off in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Coinapult joined forces with 37 Coins to launch a new bitcoin transfer service using SMS cellphone messaging. The two companies seek to expand the use of bitcoin to populations without smartphones or access to contemporary banking methods.

Bitcoin users worldwide are now able to send and receive payments, as well as view their transaction history, with a basic cell phone.

“Using good, old-fashioned text message, this service has the potential to impact four billion people worldwide living without smartphones. This is a welcome tool for the remittances market,” explained Coinapult in a press release.

Ira Miller, CEO of Coinpult, claims that people with the least resources will benefit most from this technology. However, as of now, this service runs through a third-party business located in Canada, meaning anyone interested in sending bitcoins must pay international taxes on bitcoin transfers.”

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Mobile payments set to soar in 2010 - Gartner

The number of people using their mobile phones to make payments is set to grow from 70.2 million in 2009 to 108.6 million this year, a 54.5% rise, according to research firm Gartner.

This represents 2.1% of all mobile users, with the fastest take-up of the technology witnessed in developing markets such as Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, driven by the unbanked and underbanked.

In Asia Pacific, m-payment users will surpass 62.8 million in 2010 and represent 2.6% of all mobile owners. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa there will be 27.1 million while in North America the figure is expected to be just 3.5 million, or 1.1% of all mobile users in the region.

SMS remains the dominant mobile payment technology, says Gartner, because of its ubiquity and ease of use although Web and app-based systems gaining some ground in developing markets. However NFC technology has failed to take off, with many banks seeing no business case.

Sandy Shen, research director, Gartner, says: "Developing markets have found the right formula for mobile money services - functions that users want and an ecosystem that can sustain the service. The answer for developed markets, however, remains elusive. The offerings for developed markets will take a different format. Instead of a point offering for mobile payment, the service needs to be built on top of the existing payment behaviour and infrastructure so that users can choose any channel - retail, phone, online or mobile - that suits their context at the moment of payment."

Meanwhile, a separate report from Juniper Research suggests that the number of mobile subscribers who use their phones for mobile banking will exceed 400 million globally by 2013.