I already posted this in another topic thread, but feel it should be in its own thread.
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BitPiggy is getting ready to launch some basic banking features + a mobile payment system. This means you will be able to buy/sell goods with BitCoins, while walking around the streets with just your mobile, in pretty much any country in the world. The payments are also essentially instantaneous. At this stage the details are still being ironed out, but as an outline:
Setup/limitations are as follows:
- Buyers and sellers both need a Twitter account.
- Buyers and sellers must be following @bitpiggy on Twitter.
- Buyers will need an account with BitPiggy (currently it is not possible to create an account- this is coming), with some BitCoins in their account.
- Buyers need to register their mobile phone number with BitPiggy.
- Sellers do not need an account with BitPiggy, but will need to notify BitPiggy (via a secure method) their BitCoin receiving address.
The process:
Again this is still being ironed out, but the current workflow is:
1) Buyer uses any twitter client (e.g. on their phone) to initiate a payment. They do this by writing a specific direct message to @bitpiggy. The format is:
"D bitpiggy pay
For example, to pay @matholroyd, you would write:
"D bitpiggy pay matholroyd 1.5 BTC"
2) Seller is notified of pending payment via twitter. This helps ensure the buyer typed in the correct twitter handle name.
3) A random PIN number is sent to the buyer's mobile phone number, which the Buyer types into Twitter to ensure they do want to make the transaction. The format of this is:
"D bitpiggy
4) BitPiggy debits the buyers account, sending the BitCoins instantly to the seller.
5) Both seller and buyer are notified of the successful transaction.
Summary
The setup is somewhat restrictive, in that Twitter is required by both buyer and seller. That said, it would work from any smart phone, whether iPhone, Android, Windows mobile, etc, and does not need any extra software installed. In theory, the same interface can be used by 3rd party developers to build nicer interfaces on top of BitPiggy's underlying service.
Note the specifics are still up in the air, but that is the rough cut at the moment. The time frame at the moment is to have this up and running within the next 3~4 weeks (end of July/start of August).
We also have a bunch of improvements up our sleeve, but that's the essentials for the moment. Let us know what you think.
Cheers,
Mat