A Swiss company responsible for the development of LiteIM, a new type of SMS cryptocurrency wallet for Litecoin (LTC), has officially released a fully working version for the US market.
Zulu Republic, the Switzerland-based startup behind the SMS crypto wallet project, made the announcement on September 15, at the Litecoin Foundation’s First Annual Litecoin Summit held in San Francisco, California.
What is LiteIM?
LiteIM is a Litecoin-focused wallet developed to work over messaging platforms. It started as a proof-of-concept on the popular Russian messaging app Telegram back in August 9, and its reason to be is simple: to bring the cryptocurrency experience to anyone around the world that has access to a mobile phone and cellular signal.
Envisioned to serve as a Litecoin wallet interface working on the old, yet still widely used Short Message Service (SMS) platform, LiteIM allows users to check their LTC balance, reveal a receiving address for incoming transactions, and send funds to anyone with a mobile phone number, Telegram account, or Litecoin address.
How does it work?
Text commands such as “send”, “receive” and “balance” will activate backend API functions that will return the user with a set of instructions to further execute any operation, just as if someone was interacting with a regular crypto wallet for smartphones.
In regards of private keys and other security measures, Zulu Republic asserts that these are RSA encrypted with the user’s password, and they remain completely on the client’s side. This mean that neither the company nor any third party has access to them. Additionally, the wallet makes use of 2FA for even more security. Of course, it also works via SMS so there is no need for an Internet-enable mobile device.
Furthermore, if a user wishes to export their keys into another wallet, they can do so by sending the right text command, and the private key will then be decrypted and displayed.
Crypto technology for everyone
Currently, 2/3 of the global population does not own a smartphone, while half of them has no internet access. Yet, a 64% does actually own a SMS-enabled mobile device.
Taking this into consideration, Zulu Republic saw an opportunity to contribute with mass adoption of cryptocurrency by focusing its development on a platform that almost anyone has access to, and making it user-friendly for even the most technologically adverse.
As of this moment, those who are in the US are not only the first to use LiteIM’s SMS feature, but also the only. However, there are plans to roll it out to other countries, such as Africa.
