Debit Card w/ Apple Pay

UpBanking with Apple Pay

Downloading App: 1 minute Setting up Account: 2 minutes Ready for Mobile Payments: 1 minute Adding funds with PayID: 1 minute

The account-making process requires submitting the standard KYC information, but validation is fast. The account is ready once KYC is done. 2 minutes is fast, but hey, I had all my docs ready. Registering with Apple Pay requires a number of additional steps, but can be done within a minute.

Funds were sent in from another bank account using PayID (a fast intra-bank payment solution for Australian Banks). Logging in, sending to the PayID registered, and receiving in the Up account took about a minute.

In total, a new user can expect to be up and running with funds (with information prepared) inside of 5 minutes. Not bad for 2019.

Wallet of Satoshi

Downloading App: 1.5 minutes Setting up Account: 3.5 minutes Ready for Mobile Payments: immediate Adding funds with PayID: 1 minute

WoS is not yet on the main Apple App Store since it is still in beta. It is available through the Apple TestFlight App, which requires a separate download. This is an interim problem only, and only took an extra 30 seconds to do.

Wallet of Satoshi does require KYC in order to buy with fiat, but like Up, uses an online identity validation service so it is done practically immediately. There were a few extra steps than Up, since verification is done from a mobile browser. Again, I had all my docs ready.

Once verified, a unique code is attributed, allowing you to use PayID to send in fiat. This again was fast, and involved sending funds from my other bank account.

All up the set-up process was about 5 minutes — comparable to Up.

BlueWallet

bluewallet.io

Sovereign Version

This was substantially tech-heavy, since it required setting up a LNDHub instance. I already had a Bitcoin and LND node running, so deploying a new LNDHub was about 20 minutes. Even using NodeLauncher to deploy a full node set up (4 hours minimum, usually 12 hours), or using a Casa Node (2 hours). I would say this is beyond the ability of most users right now, although I’m very interested to help get these set up times down with more drag and drop interfaces and automation. Neutrino may also help in future. Pierre Rochard is unstoppable and has promised us it will be down to 3 minutes this year!

For now, fully sovereign Lightning Wallets on mobile is out of reach, but I’m happy with the tradeoffs with custodial Lightning Wallets like WoS and BlueWallet.

Custodial Version

Getting a Lightning Wallet open with BlueWallet using their custodial solution is much faster. Many options to fill:

On-chain bitcoin can be sent in after three confirmations~30 minutes Off-chain bitcoin can be sent in by sending from WoS — instant On-chain bitcoin can be sent in from buying off CoinMama with a credit card ~ 10 minutes. This requires KYC. It then needs to be moved to the channel ~ 30 minutes.

To be fair to this comparison, custodial Blue Wallet will always be slower than just using Wallet of Satoshi in Australia, but for international readers this may be the only option (for now).

Bitcoiner Builders: we need more ways to dump fiat for Bitcoin faster!

Summary

In summary, Wallet of Satoshi offers a comparable onboarding experience and speed as the leading mobile bank in Australia, with a setup time with funds in-channel of 5 minutes. Unfortunately non-custodial wallets are out of reach for mobile currently.

Now to payments!