Social messaging applications are playing an ever-increasing role in our daily lives, as we want to be in contact with the rest of the world at any given time. Most everyday consumers have a few different messaging apps on their devices. This growing prevalence of social messaging could be beneficial for Bitcoin adoption. SendChat wants to capitalize on this potential, and has launched a crowdfunding campaign to make its app available for both iOS and Android users.
Also read: SendChat Tightens Bitcoin Security With BlockTrail Partnership
Integrating Digital Currency With Social Messaging
With social messaging becoming more and popular every day, it could prove to be a great tool to push Bitcoin awareness and adoption on a global scale. Several companies are trying to break grounds in that regard by launching various applications that have integrated digital currency in one way or another.
Arguably, the ideal way to go about integrating Bitcoin with social messaging is by building an app on top of an existing platform. However, while most of us would like to see Bitcoin integration for Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, or even Viber, it probably will not happen happen anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean there are no other alternatives available.
One of the more popular social messaging applications as of late is Telegram. Recent statistics indicate their user base has grown from 50 million at the end of of 2014 to over 62 million a few days ago. Hardly any social messaging network is seeing such an impressive growth in a market that is nearing the point of oversaturation.
In addition to Telegram’s growing userbase, the number of messages being sent through the application has doubled since December of 2014. With over 2 billion messages being delivered on a daily basis, Telegram has cemented their position in the world of social messaging.
Several digital currency-related companies have taken a keen interest in the Telegram platform, especially after Telegram’s team open sourced the app for other developers. SendChat took advantage of Telegram’s decision, and has set out to build a platform that allows users to send digital currency to one another on the Telegram network.
SendChat Introduces Telegram Users to Bitcoin
The learning curve involved in Bitcoin generally determines whether or not prospective users are interested enough to commit to Bitcoin or not. Currently, the introduction to Bitcoin can be rather overwhelming, since it is still difficult for many people to obtain their first chunk of Bitcoin.
SendChat hopes to make a splash by smoothing Bitcoin’s initial learning curve through simplifying the process of acquiring digital currency. SendChat plans to integrate the purchase of Bitcoin and altcoins with fiat currency — USD, EUR, GBP, AUD and others — through its internal system.
Sendchat CEO Alejandro De La Torre told Bitcoinist:
“Many products coming to market in the blockchain space are cumbersome, and not very easy to use. Non-technical users often have difficulties completing the most common tasks in such applications. With SendChat, you can send digital currencies effortlessly, and chat with your friends while you do it.”
SendChat also advertises security both in privacy and digital currency storage. The team has partnered with BlockTrail to handle currency storage, and is hosting its crowdfunding campaign on BlockTrust.
SendChat hopes to raise a minimum of 90 Bitcoin through the crowdfunding campaign, which will be used to fulfill development goals, as well as marketing and other ways of engaging customers. As of press time, a little over 8 Bitcoin has been raised. The campaign is scheduled to last until May 20, 2015.
Is social messaging a good way to spread digital currency adoption? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Yahoo! Finance
Images courtesy of SendChat, Telegram, and Shutterstock