TL;DR
Ultimate Digits turns your mobile number into your crypto wallet. We're taking on two massive challenges: reshaping digital identity by prioritizing phone numbers over domains, and bringing financial inclusion to the unbanked billions through phone-based crypto transactions. Imagine making payments, receiving alerts, or verifying transactions all through your phone number!
What is the core problem you are solving?
Challenge 1: Not everyone owns a domain. However, almost everyone owns a phone number. Phone numbers are already the largest social graph - there are 5.8 billion phone numbers compared to 320 million domains. So, why isn’t your phone number your primary web3 username?
Challenge 2: Over 2 billion people in nine countries are unbanked, but 2 out of 3 of these people use phones. Why not provide financial inclusion using crypto for these individuals without relying on conventional banks?
What is your company's solution? Please describe your product or business and what it does / will do.
With Ultimate Digits, we make your real-world phone number your wallet address and provide you access to features like decentralized VOIP and Web3 transaction alerts over text messages. For the privacy-conscious, we also provide virtual Web3 phone numbers as NFTs that can also be used across the Ultimate Digits platform. With auto-created self-custodial wallets (ERC4337) whose addresses are linked to our Web3 phone numbers, we use USSD codes like *999# to enable users to send crypto, receive crypto, and view balance, without any app. In Southeast Asia, phone numbers are already used in lieu of bank account numbers for bank transfers, and in Africa, products like M-Pesa have popularized hash key-based money transfers without apps. To solve the cash-to-crypto onramp, we will use the telecom industry's approach of selling scratch-off vouchers at retail locations.
Founding story
We witnessed the rise of UPI in India. UPI stands for Unified Payments Interface which is a fast, simple, and secure alternative to bank transactions. Earlier, people entered recipient account details, which was cumbersome. Now, they simply select the recipient’s contact from their mobile, enter the amount they wish to send, and the recipient gets the money in the bank account that’s linked with their mobile number. Started in 2016, UPI payments have surpassed credit and debit cards. Over 260 million Indians use UPI, and in January 2023, it recorded 8 billion transactions worth $200 billion. UPI now works in 10 countries, including Singapore and UAE, and the US is developing its own version of it called FedNow. Taking inspiration from this, at Ultimate Digits, we make people’s phone numbers their crypto wallet addresses. When we succeed, users can easily send money to friends, family, and merchants without needing their crypto wallet address, Web3 domain name, or any other information.
Call to actions, questions or suggestions for anyone reading this article?
Join our early access list here: earlyaccess.ultimatedigits.com Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ultimatedigits Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/8y2RkXM9Nz To contact us, write to hey@ultimatedigits.com
How has Firstbase helped you and how can we improve?
As a repeat founder, I really appreciated the simplicity of Delaware company incorporation with Firstbase. I just had to submit a clearly-defined set of documents after which the incorporation confirmation came within the expected timeline.