Topic: Sending Bitcoin through SMS/Text Messaging? (Read 757 times)

There's this system called M-Pesa in some African regions, where you can send money through SMS messaging, but I don't know if that's possible for crypto.

I know some startups are working to make use of blockchain to help the disadvantaged parts of the world, lowering remittances, making transfers easy, quick and borderless. MAMA App is a prototype example. We'll see how&when, but I feel like this is what crypto made for.

Use SMS to send a bitcoin risk will not increase, and if there will be transaction records. No network payment miners can not work, get additional remuneration. However, it is still possible to consider how to pay bits without a network. This is a question worth thinking.

That's the point of this one, to be traced and probably make things much more difficult for potential scammers to use crypto as a means to use bitcoin for something really bad, the scammees that uses SMS though, there's a way to probably stop them from faking stuff that benefits them.

It's hard to do this right now because most online transactions need Internet and SMS hasn't advanced in a long time so it's hard to do that not to mention that we also have to understand that we need to connect the SMS transactions to blockchain and prepare some security measures.

There should be some sort of confirmation if you're worried that it can be abused or used for malicious purposes, it need not to be developed, it's a good concept and it's been tested in different countries before.

i think this will revolutionize the world or trading cryptocurrency, but unfortunately this type of transactions are easily tracked and can be a way of scamming people with it due to sms don't have security keys. but if they find a way to improve the security of this kinds of transactions then this will certainly be a game changer in the world of cryptocurrency

I am not aware of anything like that possible right now, but people have talked about this often times. I think anything about decentralization works best on the internet. You can’t send text message without your network provider, so I don’t know if that is really decentralized. But I think there are apps that allows you to send cryptocurrency when you’re offline, with the help of a Wi-Fi connection between the two parties. Then you can, maybe, send them private keys, although this one doesn’t seem like a good choice for me. And by the way, I think I saw a news that Visa is working on something like this, but not SMS, although they only working with USDT for now.

Well its right there in previous page
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.53903610

I don't have an idea yet on how it can be possible to send Bitcoin through SMS, although it is possible to send an invoice of your transaction and track your transaction using SMS, it is actually simple in that way, however, if you are to send Bitcoin through SMS, I guess it's possible as long as you have mobile data to back your wallet up and use SMS, I think it's possible, apologies for quite an unclear idea of mine.

SMS may not be the number 1 messaging utility used today because of how advanced we are that everyone uses mobile data and internet instead of using SMS, but if this gets implemented, it's actually a good idea for those who prefer SMS over online transactions.

https://rusnak.io/how-to-send-bitcoin-transactions-via-sms/

As they always say, "where there's a will, there's a way". If the need arises for people to send/receive BTC transactions over SMS/Text messaging in a decentralized manner, you could expect developers to work heavily on the subject. There are many ways to do this limited to one's imagination. As a suggestion, developers could create some sort of "bot" that would communicate with the Bitcoin blockchain via the Internet or using a satellite. Neither the sender or receiver of the Bitcoin would need Internet access whatsoever except for the bot itself which serves as a gateway between the Bitcoin blockchain and the SMS/Text messaging protocol. If something like this ever gets implemented in the future, it'd be a nice alternative against mesh networks, satellites, and even radio waves.

Since it's only possible to send/receive Bitcoin over SMS/Text messaging through a third-party service, our options are limited when it comes to achieving full decentralization/censorship-resistance. Sending raw transactions might work if the other end has an Internet connection to broadcast the transaction to the BTC blockchain. It'll be quite a challenge to send Bitcoin to people worldwide with lack of Internet access (especially people living in third-world countries) using only the SMS/Text messaging protocol. I'm sure that as Bitcoin grows in terms of development and innovation over time, someone will figure out a way how to do this properly without the need to rely on a middleman ever. Just my opinion

Although at first sounds nice and interesting I'm not sure about that idea. It looks too risky to me, without enough security and many possibilities to abuse. But it has potential to be further developed.

Immediately I read this, I felt the possibility of it. To me, I believe it is 100% possible to create some sort of automation that can send people bitcoin through text messages. The wallet must be linked with the phone number and I believe, the phone number would send some set of codes which gives a go ahead for the transaction.
Since internet connection is to be eliminated. A system that can used the text message fee charge to replace the internet connection would be employed..... I'm just saying tho.. But I really believe it's possible.

As per my knowledge, there is jot such service available. However, if such services were available, that would have been a great addition to the crypto community. I can only think about a way.

Create a lite wallet from any provider where you don't need to download the entire blockchain. Load that wallet with required number of bitcoins. Copy the seed words or private key and send that through sms to the recipient. That's the most decentralized way of sending bitcoin through sms that I can think off.

I'm aware that Bitcoin can sent through radio waves, but not everyone will be able to afford the necessary tools or equipment to perform this task. This applies especially to third-world countries where most people are poor with little-to-no-access to technology. A featurephone or basic phone is more accessible as they come in cheap for everyone to use. Maybe in the future, a cellular network company like T-Mobile, AT&T or even Verizon will be able to provide crypto services to their customers using SMS/Text messaging? If people will be able to send/receive Bitcoin through this method in a safe and secure way, the barriers or limitations of a limited budget or lack of Internet access with be a thing of the past.

In my case, I'd prefer to use radio waves for sending/receiving Bitcoin than SMS/Text messaging because it's much more secure. But it'll be a difficult task sending Bitcoin to a person in a third-world country using radio waves because of the aforementioned reasons. Still though, it's a great alternative to the Internet that could further decentralize the pioneer cryptocurrency. We now have satellites, mesh networks, and radio waves for sending/receiving Bitcoin without the need for an Internet connection. But adding SMS/Text messaging in a decentralized manner could be ideal for increasing the widespread usage of Bitcoin in the mainstream world.

So far, sending raw transactions through SMS/Text messaging seems to be the safest (and most affordable way) to send Bitcoin to anyone in the world. The only downside is that the receiver would need to have an Internet connection to broadcast the BTC transaction to the Blockchain. I hope that sometime in the future, developers would find a way to send/receive Bitcoin safely through SMS/Text messaging without requiring an Internet connection on both ends (sender/receiver) in a completely decentralized manner. Just my opinion

This is a wonderful and very innovative concept. I think if this will be really pursued, it will address some of the major concerns of the participators and spectators of Bitcoin. Foremost, I agree with the idea of others that this shall start with the mobile network providers. Network providers are the point persons in making SMS/Text Messaging Bitcoin transactions possible because they will be the one who will design the feature to be incorporated with their services and thus dictate how the transactions would take place. The convenience of cryptocurrency will be up to another level and would benefit not just the privileged users, who have electricity, computer and internet, but those people in deep rural and remote areas. And by then, I guess it would be the start of mass adaptation.

This will be good especially to the remote areas where they don't have access to internet but I haven't heard yet a service that will do this trick. I would love to know also if there are any services like these that are secure and we can assure that our money will reach to our target receiver in just a short period of time.

Because this maybe the solution to the problem of digital payment system as the people who will be having problem in using the digital payment will be those areas who have no electricity and no internet access. So having a phone will really help them to send any payment at any time, the government will just provide them a generator so they can charge their cellphones then they are good to go in using digital payment.

Seriously?
 Technical it is also possible to use morse code or CB (Citizens band) radio.

I heard there are services that offers just that. I hope in our country there would be such a thing. If it would happen then the law should be amended so that it would further protect the sensitive information shared in their platform. This would be great to those people who have no internet access but have a good connection with their telecommunication provider.

At times where you have no internet access at your home or workplace, after typhoon, when landline wasn't paid, and especially at remote areas where waves have a hard time reaching their towers, it is important to have a way to send BTC. Let's admit that though many of us are familiar with how it works, some are still crossing the gap between stable and readily-available internet connection. SMS/text messaging might be a good way but it has disadvantages. Sender might have the error to replace the number of his/her receiver. Also, these text messages can be controlled by the service provider or a third party.

If you are not yet informed, high-frequency radios are now used to send BTC. It doesn't require internet to broadcast their transaction and thus, using a certain application or frequency, Bitcoin can now be sent. I suggest you try this.

I can hand over a paper wallet, like give cash.

I have never heard that we could send and receive Bitcoin without the internet. Transacting Bitcoin through SMS will still be a big help especially for places without internet access but I don't think we will be able to withdraw and process the Bitcoin that we'll be receiving offline. However, cryptocurrency is developing continuously so we can expect changes like this in the future.

This is possible but I think it will take a very long time to create such program. SMS/Text messaging are offline while the bitcoin and the other cryptocurrency are online. It is very hard to create a program that can do a transaction without relying on the internet. If such thing is possible, it will be very convenient to people.

For anyone wanting access to the stash the password is "1" .   You now have full control, can prove its your coins.

This is the only way to send BTC safely through SMS/Text messaging. Depending on third-party services to do that, is not an option for those looking for complete decentralization over their BTC transactions. I believe that SMS/Text messages are the most accessible method for people in the mainstream world. After all, not every country of the world has access to the Internet. With SMS/Text messaging, people will be able to send/receive BTC in a truly P2P manner without middleman. Something like a bot which handles BTC wallet functions would be a great to implement on a decentralized SMS/Text messaging service. The bot would communicate with a Bitcoin satellite in order to obtain the latest transactions from the blockchain, check balances, broadcast transactions, and more all through SMS.

I'm sure that once developers find a way to do this, Bitcoin's adoption within the mainstream world will soar like never before. As it's said out there: "when there's a will, there's a way". If there's demand for truly decentralized BTC transactions through SMS/Text messaging, we'll see it become a reality in the future. Otherwise, people in third world countries will find it hard (if not impossible) to interact with Bitcoin transactions. The Blockstream satellite helps, but I believe it's much more expensive to build a transceiver to communicate with it directly than just using SMS/Text messages. Just my thoughts

It did not goes to my mind about this about sending bitcoin in SMS or text , I do not know if it's possible but maybe they have people can discover that process but the chances is very low for sure.

My country have slow internet connection but it still okay to sending bitcoin so I don't see any problem but for the other country I think it is a big problem for them but using bitcoin did not need fast connection because even slow connection you can use it but takes time.

AFAIK There are currently 4 main centralized services doing that :

• Coinapult https://coinapult.com/

• Cointext https://cointext.io/en/

• Lite.im https://www.lite.im/

• Crypterium https://crypterium.com/

And only one decentralized :

• Samouraï Wallet : https://www.samouraiwallet.com/offline

It sends your signed raw transaction by SMS to a relay phone number which broadcasts the transaction for you, so neither you nor the receiver needs an internet connection





Note : For all these services(centralized and decentralized ones) you will have to pay an international SMS sending communication if there is no phone number dedicated to your country.

Just sent the private key and forward the password whichever way you like
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.53903610

This application can function as a «secret key store» to decrypt transactions and make them readable. The problem here is that the sender is the only one who needs to have access on the internet.

Thanks for sharing. This would work wonders when either the sender or receiver don't have access to the Internet to send/receive Bitcoin. I'm not sure how secure this would be since it relies on an unencrypted protocol (SMS), but at least the idea/concept is there. For complete peace of mind, it's often best to send raw transactions yourself over text messaging. But the only downside would be that the receiver needs to have internet access to broadcast the transaction to the BTC blockchain.

Still though, online services (like the one mentioned earlier) are great for sending Bitcoin to people who don't have a BTC wallet. It's a convenient way to send money without the need to remember complicated addresses. A phone number would be all you need to send/receive BTC (or any other crypto) in a P2P manner. Considering that it's now possible to send Bitcoin over satellites, mesh networks, and even radio waves, I believe that it might be possible to send Bitcoin through SMS/Text messaging in a completely decentralized manner (no middleman) sometime in the future. Once it's discovered how to do this securely without compromising Bitcoin funds in a completely offline manner though any phone, people in third world countries could adopt the pioneer cryptocurrency in mass.

Nonetheless, it's good to know the various ways of sending Bitcoin through SMS/Text messaging. So far, one of the sides (either sender or receiver) needs to have an Internet connection to be able to interact with BTC transactions. But maybe sometime in the future, a developer comes up with a decentralized solution that would allow people to perform transactions securely using this method in an offline manner. It would be truly revolutionary since not everyone has access to the Internet. Enabling offline BTC transactions over SMS/Text messaging would increase the pioneer cryptocurrency's adoption within the mainstream world. Until then, we'd have to rely on centralized services (with middleman) that would require access to an Internet connection. Just my thoughts

This is a Venezuelan development but it works for other countries, it is called Cointigo. They work through Twitter and SMS. I have used the service before and it works exceptionally.

Why do I recommend it? It was the only Bitcoin wallet that kept working no matter how difficult the communications were when the power went out in Venezuela for 3 days.

This is its twitter handle.

https://twitter.com/CoinTigoDev

And this is its website https://www.cointigo.io/

That could work. Since there's no proven encryption for SMS/Text messaging, sending a raw transaction through the phone would be the wisest thing to do. The only issue would be that the receiver needs to have an internet connection in order to broadcast the transaction successfully to the Bitcoin network. If there was a way to send BTC transactions offline using SMS/Text messaging, then it would've been a blast. After all, not all countries of the world have internet access. The Blockstream satellite helps, but the user still needs an internet connection in order to broadcast transactions over the Bitcoin blockchain.

Maybe someone decides to create a relay/gateway server that would connect to a landline and provide BTC wallet functionality to phone users? Users would interact via a bot over SMS/Text messaging (similar to how it's done via Telegram) with a set of pre-defined commands. The bot would then communicate to an SPV Electrum server to manage key pairs, create wallets, etc. At least, the idea is there. But making it a reality is another story.



Interesting. Never heard about this before. If the service works as intended, people will be able to send BTC transactions over SMS/Text messaging. The only downside is that the one sending the Bitcoin needs to have an Internet connection to access the service. Personally, I wouldn't mind using this service for P2P BTC transactions using a featurephone. But I would've loved a way to send BTC transactions offline using this method too. If made possible, Bitcoin's adoption within the mainstream world would grow like never before in third world countries. After all, not everyone has access to the Internet these days. But I guess that developers are focused on other important things for the improvement of the Bitcoin blockchain besides this.



Very nice observation. Thanks for presenting different scenarios about how sending BTC over SMS/Text messaging works. Honestly, I'd wish there was a way to send/receive BTC transactions without middleman in a safe and secure way using any phone. This would allow people who live in areas where there's no Internet access to easily interact with the Bitcoin blockchain. But achieving this via an unsecure protocol, seems very unlikely. With other ways to send BTC transactions without middleman in an offline manner (satellites, mesh networks, radio waves, etc.) there might be no need for something like this. Still, the idea is there. It's up to someone to come up with a decentralized solution that would fulfil said purpose.

We can make from any Text message a brainwallet. Isn't a good option for security reasons but it's possible to do it.

For example, let's say the message is the next one:


Then with https://brainwalletx.github.io/ we will get the public and the private key:


If we send the coins to that addy then anyone who has the message should ve able to get access to those coins.

This is just an illustrative example, for security reasons it shouldn't be done this way.

I see technology has become more sophisticated and now there are many chat platforms that are easier and simpler such as telegram or whatsapp, the technology was created to make things easier at first that looks inefficient, if you still use SMS it will incur credit charges and the cost of sending SMS to everyone, whereas if you use WhatsApp or Telegram you don't need to use credit anymore and it's easier and the cost will be cheaper.

so in conclusion I prefer to use more advanced technology such as telegram and combined with blockchain technology.

If possible, I do not know where I read about it, but it can be done through a registration protocol, where of course you have to solve a KYC and be the transfer of Bitcoin through your identification number or ID, amount and confirmation (It is a speculative way). If there is already the way studied to make transactions with Bitcoin using radio waves, due to the problem in Venezuela of Internet and electric service, a group of Venezuelans are very advanced in it.

I've seen quite the similar of these platforms before in Messenger, except that it is centralized and it is using only local currency that was made digital. The speed of the transaction seems questionable though, like how much credits from your network carrier is required so that you can send these transaction?.
There should be different rates if SMS and the transaction was sent overseas or locally.

Why not sent this:
6PnYYQefG5g4otFwJgWdzYrSXdRoWgQykNqx8qtPELEj62C8mrYCALAXuN
Encrypted Private Key (Password required) and pass the password on a separate phone call (or sms)

I was thinking,
If it is possible to receive a text message without any usage of internet connection, then this is also possible.
However, this might result to transparency or there should be a certain company/ies that will serve as a nationwide service provider for this to become possible. They are the one that will provide the tool that we will be using and the service assistance we need as a consumer.

In our country, there hasn't been any platform of offered services of this way. I must say that this idea is brilliant and can be very beneficial for everyone especially if developed into a secure and accurate transaction. However, the integration of an online based originated procedures and transactions into an offline mode could be really challenging due to the signal, recipients' response and recording of transactions. As per the mediator, the only difficulty that would be possibly encountered is the reliability and trustworthiness of the intermediary.

I think it is really possible, it is indeed a problem if we want to do a transaction if there is no adequate signal and cannot make a transaction
this will be a problem going forward, maybe the developer needs to develop a device that allows users to make transactions offline

I see but bow about those platform (altcoins) have some direct usage of sending message thru contact can broadcast a real time transaction on the network? I dont kniw if your familiar with status netwrok. Ive seen they can work on sending funds thru messages.



So this platform might not be also secured but can see that many users have downloaded the app. But this platform works on eth network but I know that bitcoin is same cause when it comes to network so I dont think it isnt possible.

few posts above you explains it all here.

that means yeah it is possible and i am very interesting trying this but with only small amount of currency because the way Omega explains it is the risk is really indeed and they can shut down the service and all your bitcoin are gone,this needs total trust for the service provider and also the Risk of losing is there.

I haven't heard of any project doing or working on this kind of stuff but it's kinda interesting tho, although I don't think if it is possible for all we know that bitcoin trasactions are done online (or are there any other way to do so, idk). If it is possible, well it will be convenient for most of us who do not like to pay high transaction fee and those who wants faster way of transaction.

After reading through some comments, I feel like there is a lot of confusion about the subject. This is due to the fact that many people don't understand how Bitcoin works on the technical level. I will try to explain why Bitcoin can't work in an offline environment for now at least... Let's start with the basics.

Bitcoin is a ledger, this ledger is kept on thousands of PCs ^{( nodes )} around the globe. These nodes make up the Bitcoin's Network. This network can't exist if there is no consensus between the nodes. This consensus is only achieved if every one of them is running the same version of the bitcoin ledger... With thousands of transaction which are made every minute they need to be synced across the network to reach a consensus, hence why we have a block time of 10 minutes... Syncing takes time. If some nodes disagree with the majority they can split the chain creating a new coin like Bitcoin Cash etc... Even if it's a single transaction, the network will split, So given that's the case, Everybody can't be running a version of their own ledger, It has to be the one which the majority agrees upon. The current medium to sync the ledger is via the internet.

The issue with syncing the ledger with SMS is, for a person to make a transaction they will have to broadcast it every single miner/mining pool out there and same will be the case for the miners, they will have to broadcast the same version of the ledger to every user who wants to run a full node, which is something impossible at this point. The cost doesn't make sense given the international data rates and is an inefficient way to run the bitcoin network... so @Sanugarid there is nothing the developers can do about this.

@Yatsan Quantum entanglement will be a faster way to sync the Ledger. Quantum entanglement is basically the transfer of information instantaneously between two locations so syncing the ledger of become a lot quicker once we have the technology to do so. Read more into it.

The only secure way, for now, to send bitcoins via SMS is to send a message with your Signed Transaction to service which will broadcast it over the network for you. That's the closest you can get to transfer bitcoins via an SMS...

I think it is hassle if sending bitcoin requires a load just like a normal text messages. I think it is better to send a bitcoin using internet connection and we should settle at the set up. It is really hard to perform sending bitcoin just like a text messages because of the signals, and text messages are more difficult to send because of the barriers via satellite. Mobile data and internet signals are more easy and reliable to use to send bitcoin, as our technology is advancing, I prefer to use the things that we have now just like the Wifi or internet.

I think it is really possible in which you can send bitcoin through sms and there would be just a code that will send to your email or mobile number in where your wallet was connected and the code will be sent as a one time password and has a timer in which if it doesn't use, the code will eventually not available just like what is happening on the mobile banking in which you just need a confirmation from the user to process the request of sending money or in the case of it sending money through sms.

if im not mistaken i  think i already seen simillar like this before . it was a local payment solution where you can send and recieve money and yes you can do them via sms/text message .  it was a centralized kind too  but it does not matter at all and people dont care that time if they will be using centralized and decentralized system but what important the most is the convinience . in the case of bitcoin and in crypto i do think its possible also where they will only use a third party to process the transaction online

Yes, maybe this sending bitcoin through the used of sms or texting will be worked somehow on the near future because right now I think it would be not possible because if it will be just through sms or texting the sending of the bitcoin then probably there would be some problem when it terms to its security because texting message was very easy to use even though if someone gets your phone they can eventually transfer bitcoin by just sending an sms to the another user. But I hope that it may happen on the near future as part of a advancement of crypto.

That is the reason we will be needing a medium or a third party to do it.

Text Messages is an offline way of sending messages while doing a transaction, for example, sending Bitcoin or receiving Bitcoin needs to be online. Maybe those texts can be of confirmation for that medium to send Bitcoins to this wallet. That would be hard since, with a lot of scams going over cryptocurrencies, it is hard to trust a party who will be doing that. What I know is this one though,

https://news.bitcoin.com/how-to-send-bitcoin-cash-via-text-messages-to-anyone-with-a-mobile-phone

I've heard of this in the past, maybe around 2015-2016 when I was still new in crypto.
Regarding your question whether if its possible to have a decentralized way of sending SMS,, I don't think there is, just like the internet, we need telcos in order to use it and therefore we also need a telco on this one, however, I think this idea might be realize in the future due to advancement of the technology.

Indeed, there are some things that sim cards have maybe that transaction using sms or text messages is not yet possible as of now. That could haopen if they innovated the security of the sim cards. There's no doubt that there is some projects will try that to make it possible.
upThat is really the main problem. I can say that sending bitcoin is not yet possible. Using sms is an offline transmission wherein you are sending message to a particular number, hiw coyld your wallet be updated. Maybe that is the problem that the developers will do if they want that to happen.

I don't mean a transaction broadcast on the blockchain by 'transaction', but simply a buy & sell agreement between 2 parties. It is not possible for them to move a bitcoin by sending a text unless it contains signed raw transaction details and then somebody published it through the network (or any communication channel that the miner/node use). Which is why one of the possible scenarios is probably a private key exchange as mentioned above. Another workaround exists but some are not decentralized or has more risk.

Is not bitcoin the solution to middle-men? most likely the banks? Or if so, then using text messaging to send bitcoins eill not be done offline at all since there will be an online middle-men for them but I'm still clueless not even a single idea on how to send bitcoin in offline mode. I thought of a QR code to be scanned with specific amount. And I don't think quantum computer can't do that for some reason. Aside, if this happen sending bitcoins would be a lot more risky and prone to sending to incorrect recipient. Not a fan of this idea.

Still private keys are involve wherein the risk is higher than using it conventional. Eliminating the middle-men, bitcoin can even without this, just imagine people starts to use crypto which is decentralized than stocks and banking. This would be a lot more complex.

As suggested by @LoyceMobile, you have Sat2.io (using the lightning network). I've used the service in the past, and it works just fine. But keep in mind that:

- The service is not decentralized. If they shut down, your funds are lost.
- The receiver must have a lightning network wallet in order to receive the funds (I believe only Bluewallet is supported).
- You can send up to 0.0425BTC (LN limit). If you try to send a higher amount, you'll get an error.

Right, We all know that sim cards have weak security and can be easily stolen by someone. I think it is an unsafe way of sending bitcoins and it can also produce a new way of hacking that can make sim users very open for the threat of hacking.

But if this happens. If someone attempts this to make possible, This can be an innovation to the technology of blockchain. Thus I think it won't be marketized by people.

So the idea of OP isnt safe and secure. But to be honest, that's a great one if we can do tha tranasaction offline. How come the bitcoin cant move as transactions already initiated already?


So this platform uses sms for bitcoin transactions? I will check it and see hows the process. I really into the idea of OP. This will be a good innovation if someone can do or improve the blockchain transaction without any use of internet.

If you want to send bitcoin without internet access,just print some paper bitcoins and send them via post mail.I think this is way more secure than SMS/Text Messaging.I've never heard about a crypto service that allows sending cryptocurrencies via SMS.Maybe there are some to be launched,but I doubt that they are effective and working without any technical issues.If you ever send BTC to a guy that doesn't have intrnet connection,how could this guy use those bitcoins to buy anything???He doesn't have internet.Have you ever thought about that?

The only way I could see this possible is when you completely trust the third party whom you will send the SMS to send the bitcoins you have over a transaction. In addition, it is unsecured when it comes to mass transactions as they need to expose their account or even their private key to the third in case, they could use a local application that is regulated and allows authorization through Mobile simcard. This will enable small scale transaction to be processed when really needed, though, it isn't secured.

So far, the invention of a better internet facilities and structures should be implemented to support easier connection to internet and transact using it in the very best possible way.

That was a great idea that makes process of sending bitcoin through sms/text message, but I think it is not possible because if we are talking about cryptocurrency it is talking about online process and all of the transactions are connected into each other like we have known it is blockchain that every purchase is collected and we called those as a block and chain because it is connected. In sms, it is an offline method of sending through other services with the use of frequency to receive into other party. If we are trying to connect those kinds of action, it is not suitable, but we can use the SMS to make a message like sending of address into other parties to make it secured.

you can't not need a third party in such a design. lets take a look at two situations:
1. sender doesn't have internet but receiver does
this is a much safer situation. all sender has to do is receive his transaction history from a third party using any other method like on a floppy disk! then he creates a new transaction sending bitcoin to the receiver, all offline and signs it. then sends the signed raw tx using SMS. then the receiver (having internet) broadcasts it to be mined, he can continue monitoring the situation with his tx and know when it confirms, if it is valid,...
worst case scenario in this case is if in first step the sender doesn't receive all his UTXOs or receives wrong ones. in any case he won't lose any money.

2. sender has internet but receiver doesn't
this case is very different from the last one. the sender has a much easier time since he has access to internet and can create the tx and broadcast and monitor it. but there is no need for him to send the raw tx through SMS to the receiver since he doesn't have internet and won't do him any good. all he needs to do is to send them the txid (hash) and maybe the block height.
now the receiver has a much harder time because he has to find a way to verify if the txid is real. what they can do in order not to rely heavily on third party is to receive block headers and the merkle root of the same block height that the txid is in. they can receive it through snail mail in a USB disk or burnt on a CD/DVD. since block headers can't be faked without spending billions of dollars worth of hashrate and merkle root can't be faked thanks to SHA256 they can be more sure about honestly of the transaction they received.

I don't know if it would be great but isn't Blockchain holds the record of every transaction.
And it would be hard to verify if the transaction has been confirmed if it would just be an offline transaction.

It would have been a great and helpful idea but looking at the nature and design of bitcoin i don't think this is possible. How would the transaction even be sent to the network for miners to work on? There are so many questions that would come off with regard to this use case and i don't think most of them can be answered.

If your intention is to make transaction faster then people should learn how to save wallet address the very first time they use them in transactions so that in subsequent cases he/she would not have to copy the address all over again. i have heard cases where a copied address can be changed by hackers and if care is not taken you will end up sending the money to the wrong person.

There was one service that existed like this way way back, I believe, though it did not see any full recognition from the community as there were several vulnerabilities in doing such. It was aimed mostly on African countries, similar to the M-pesa system they had there but it never really got any real traction and development main concerns include easy MITM attacks among others, though to our present technology that vector of attack can now be prevented.

Sending bitcoin to a friend via SMS while offline I have never heard of it because I know that every time a bitcoin transaction has to be connected to the internet, we can send bitcoin to our friends.
I don't think we can do it because I never know what happens if via SMS, all digital currencies must still be connected to the internet to do whatever you want.

The transaction may happen but the bitcoin is not moving at all on the blockchain, so what you're trading is mostly private key or a raw transaction as mentioned above. It is a bad idea as the sender can easily create a copy of the private key and then move the money first when he get internet access. You need something like opendime if you want to be safe, but obviously you can't do it through sms.

If btc is not design to send an offline transaction how you think this would be possible? Because if it were am sure lots of people would have been using that feature by now instead of paying high transaction fees to send,
I only know of one coin who support and have display this feature which i have seen, although i haven't try it out but from the video tutorial everything went smoothly from one device to another and the transaction was found on the block explorer, it was pretty cool.

I don't know how much decentralized Bitbucks is, you can send receive BTC with your mobile number through Bitbucks. It works same as any other custodial wallet service. There's no fee other than while loading your wallet. A lot of good features are there which I personally liked.
https://www.bitbucks.io

This idea is really good. Hear is a chance to reduce transactions fee of Bitcoin. It's helps lot for so many members. Who have not aware in exchanges their coins, this type of service really helpful to them. Hear we can do peer to peer transactions very easily when we need.

But now this type is service not available, in fiat currency we can transfer, but in crypto it take time to get this service. Because lot of countries not accepting cryptocurrency.

You are trying to connect an offline world into an online one... You need a medium to do it. The whole point of bitcoin is to have a synchronized ledger which is distributed around the globe on different nodes, which at the end of the day you are trusting because the bitcoin's code says so, you are not just trusting the middle man but the middlemen while you use the Bitcoin network, Middlemen aren't necessarily always evil...  I don't think it can happen without us achieving quantum entanglement of sorts and rewriting the bitcoin code...

However, this can be done on an individual scale without much hassle... All you need to do is set up a server which will check for incoming messages on a sim ^{( you can find plenty of guides around on how you can receive SMS on your PC by connecting your sim )} and then broadcast it for you... All you need is to have a basic knowledge of python. You can simply run a coroutine which checks for received messages every minute, an hour or whatever you want the duration to be and broadcasts the signed transaction in the SMS via an API. You can find plenty of APIs which you can use to broadcast Signed Bitcoin Transactions, Basically eliminating the middleman in this case. however, I don't see how it can harm someone even if it's being run centrally... This doesn't need to be a centralized service where you let an X organization share your private keys or own them all together but simply a service which pushes your signed transactions...

I guess it's cointext doing this but you need to trust them first (never used them so do it with risk), and having said that without relying on third parties is a different thing.

IIRC, a few years ago there was this way people could steal your identity and your most important & valuable accounts by calling AT&T or whoever you've got your SIM card from and telling them you'd like to swap sims. I believe there are also other methods to do this that do not imply calling the mobile company you're working with.

Therefore, launching a service that lets people use BTC through SMS would make scammers turn their focus over this new crypto sending method and vulnerabilities will more than sure be found one way or another.

One idea I think of, although I'm not a programmer so it could sound stupid as well, is there could be an open-source app like Signal created specifically for purpose where these transactions or private keys could possibly be encrypted and compressed and somehow all parties transferring money to you and receiving from you via SMS would have the secret keys to decrypt these messages. The app could serve as a "secret key storage" in order to decrypt the transactions and make them readable.

However, I'm not sure how reliable this kind of app would be. Signal relies on a centralized server AFAIK, so unless there's a way an app serving this purpose could be created and be open-source & completely decentralized, there's probably no way you can send a transaction or basically any sensitive information through SMS in a trustless and secure manner.

Did you mean sat2.io ?
I haven't tested it by myself, so obviously use at your own risk.

As we look into Bitcoin's feature, it is only applicable to online transactions. I don't think that it works like this knowing that a certain place hasn't an internet connection. I'd find that hopeless of having crypto, having a key or anything that could give them away to access our wallet cause it still doesn't have a chance to open it. A thousand people having this case and it seems to be impossible that crypto will work with them and could adopt the technology as well.


Unless if that person allowing his friends or relatives to control over his/her wallet. But I don't think it was possible.

 

I still can't look for a service like this. Honestly, this is a good idea and might be useful in the future when everyone can easily send bitcoin through sms.

The manual method that I can think of is by sending the qr code to the sender and have him scan it. The thing here is that the sender is the only one that needs to have access on the internet.

And the other way around was mentioned by MysteryMiner.

Depends on trust level. Raw transactions or sending private keys is two options that come to my dumb mind at the moment.

SMS is plaintext and insecure by default, so sending private key is idiotic idea from beginning that just might work.

Well I do think that you are already aware of the fact that bitcoins were already being used by people over the radio with the help of ionospheric transmission.
There are many people who have done that and many researchers have even worked towards that .
So I do think you can actually try that if you want to avoid the internet.
I am not aware of any service which is sending and receiving BTC through text messages but if you are focusing on decentralized sending and receiving try finding stuff about sending bitcoins through radio.

I'm looking for a way to send Bitcoin to people in countries which lack Internet access. After all, being able to send Bitcoin in a safe and secure way over SMS/Text messaging would prove to be extremely convenient for "offline" transactions. For once, I've heard about a crypto service which allowed people to send Bitcoin over SMS/Text messaging. But I can't recall its name. Still though, it relies on a central operator/middleman. I'd prefer a solution that would allow me to send BTC though SMS/Text messaging in the most decentralized way possible.

Do you think it's possible to do this? Are you aware of any methods to sent BTC through SMS/Text messaging without relying on third parties? If it cannot be done in a decentralized manner, I'd still like to know if there are mainstream companies offering such possibility to Bitcoin users. Thanks in advance.