2024-03-28 08:01:00 +07:00 by Mark Smith
Really interesting episode of Citadel Dispatch with KG about his custodial Bitcoin solution Machankura, deployed in a many countries across Africa. The cool thing is that their solution works with old school feature phones. And it's suprisingly advanced in terms of functionality. In a way, it's simplicity is it's strength. If users can add credit to their phone, then they send/receive/store bitcoin.
They even have a way to pay for groceries directly in stores via lightning, and a way to buy bitcoin annonomously using cash via gift cards or directly over the counter in participating stores. It's really very impressive.
I wonder if he could open up his solution to other developers via an HTTP API?
I'm also wondering how easy it would be to add a feature phone interface to an existing web2/3 app. What is the min app for a feature phone interface app?
Personally I quite like the idea of using a simple device to do bitcoin transactions because it minimises your attack surface. Of course you would also have a smart phone for surfing the web, but keeping these devices seperate might be a good idea. Also should you loose all your belongings, it's a lot cheaper to buy a feature phone than the latest iPhone with 10 cameras and AI photo editing.