Problem we need to solve

People do not understand how to use cryptocurrency. This generally happens because one needs to 1) download and 2) create a wallet, 3) grasp how the system of transfers and addresses works, 4) receive the coins, 5) know where to look for the exchange rate, 6) find out where they can spend those coins or how to send them further. At this point, cryptocurrencies rather complicate transfers for a mass user than simplify them.

Solution we propose

Facilitate the process as much as possible, reducing it to a single click, tap, or QR scan. After that, the only thing left will be choosing the next steps, something everyone in the modern world can understand.

Design 1) a transfer system with no need to 2) sign up or 3) download anything, the one enabling you to 4) pay for the services you are used to, 5) transfer the funds to someone else, or 6) add to your savings.

Before we start

Imagine that your friend or company sends you a message that contains an object, but to view it, you need to A) download a special app and sign up, B) understand how it works, C) figure out how to apply it in your life all on your own. This is the current state of cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based assets: the on-boarding of a new user is extremely hard, and the benefits are unclear. No wonder that the advancement to mass adoption is so slow, and the crypto community is divided into two camps, developers and speculators. The former is focused exclusively on the tech, while the latter is simply trading and often does not even know what that tech brings inside, caring only about hype.

Without the users — and those who have some basic knowledge about blockchain in the first place — this market in general and Minter particularly will have to go a long way toward enjoying mass adoption.

Minter Push product vision

I am confident that our community is able to find a revolutionary solution that will make communication by means of money (coins, tokens, assets) as simple as via SMS (the 90’s) and PUSH (the 00’s), meaning it will require the receiver as few actions as possible to use the funds.

How it works for the receiver

Via e-mail/messenger/website/QR, you are redirected to the simplest page. It has the following fields:

Your balance is 100 NUT (blockchain address balance)

It is worth USD 10 (balance in the national currency of the country detected using visitor’s IP address)

Send (select a transfer option)

Spend (select a purchase option)

Other (something else you would like to tell the user that they would most likely never ask of)

A minimalist page easily adapting to the device that is accessing it, going in line with modern web trends

The interface localized for the device’s language

“Send” and “Spend” open new pages where one can select the transfer and purchase options. This is one of the most crucial elements, which we will discuss in detail below

What else? Anything you would like to communicate to the user that is unworthy of displaying on the first screen

As you understand, these Minter Push screens will most often open right inside the application where the user was sent them, for example, in Telegram or WhatsApp. An example of a mockup is attached below.

The key idea is that the receiver does not need to sign up, deal with exchange rates, look for translations and meaning of words: they get the money and can spend it immediately.

It is worth noting that a member of our team, Alexey Sidorov, has already implemented one-time wallets that can be sent to anyone in his Monke project: https://monke.me. My vision, however, is to have a more functional end product with additional customization and options of making transfers and purchases.

The links are convenient because even if it has been a year or two, you can still open them from any device, and the money will definitely stay there unless the sender decides to claim it themselves, but that would be on their conscience. Moreover, with the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and the number of application use cases, more transfer and purchase options can be added on the page.

If, when sending money via SMS, a person only gets access to the page, then the push functionality of Apple and Android can be configured for quick spending through the extended menu.

But SMS is still a fairly popular communication medium, and it is not difficult to imagine that loyalty points from stores and services that often send you something can be activated immediately by links in messages. “Hi, here are your points for January: https://push…,” and the user only has to follow the link and choose what to do with their points.

We decided to call this direction Push precisely because the products are most similar to the usual push we all know. There is a unit of information with which you can do something fast.

My favorite case of this product is the lightning-fast distribution of rewards in mass competitions, where hundreds of thousands of people participate. After completing all the tasks, the user enters an e-mail address or phone number and gets a link using which they can spend their money at their own discretion. The e-mails are free, and sending an SMS around the world will cost you a few cents, which is several times cheaper than any other transfer system. This will come especially handy with rewards worth just a couple of dollars!

By the way, the page itself can be designed as a full-fledged message to the user, including balance activation upon clicking the “Read, understood, and agreed!” button or even entering additional data should you want to conduct a survey or some feedback of sorts.

Transfer and purchase

Since the wallet is aimed at the simplest use case possible, we must be very careful with the first and, hopefully, last step on the page: where to spend the money?

Let us once again break down how it will all look to the user:

A friend or service sends them a link (shows a QR) opening a balance with the coins, the value of which, to be honest, the user does not understand much.

We help them by showing the equivalent amount in local currency.

If this interests the user, they will have only one question: “How to spend?”, which can be immediately split into two paths, Transfers and Purchases.

Transfers mean that you send the money somewhere, and as a result, you receive the money. We are indifferent to whether the user wants to make a transfer to a friend or to themselves, let them just choose the most suitable option.

Purchases mean that you send the money and receive goods or services. For example, in the modern world, a universal purchase is the top-up of a mobile phone. But with the development of the market, various options are added every day: take, for example, Apple Music or Xbox Live gift cards, food ordering, or hotel booking.

Perhaps a small part of people will want to plunge into crypto, and then the “Other” section will come into play, but I would not bet on that. Our task is to help people spend what they received from their friends or services.

Here the most interesting thing begins, and it is exactly the reason why this is a hackathon rather than a product developed by the team: it is up to everyone to decide how to spend or transfer their money, so there can be dozens, if not hundreds, of Minter Push implementations. For example, game devs will distribute coins with their design and pre-sets for actual transfers and purchases. And we are not talking about simple customization of the type of wallet. We also allow a very special on-boarding. The more accurately wallets match the style of the audience they target, the more actively they will be used.

Do not forget that with the launch of Minter 2.0, we will get the opportunity to send coins like Bitcoin or Tether within the network and services. That is, users will be able to manage non-Minter assets, and again, all through such a simple wallet as a Push one-pager.

Technical side

The page contains a private key generated from the seed, which the user is not offered to unload. This key will allow you to sign all outgoing transactions. The user is shown the balance of the address but not the address itself — they simply do not need it.

The page may be password-protected. The crediting of the balance may be processed either before opening the page or after, by cheque activation. For example, once the user follows the link, they are asked: “Ready to receive the money?” If “Yes,” the cheque is activated. But you can also activate it without a dialog, by simply hitting the link and scrolling down through the loader and the phrase “Wallet is loading.” This approach will allow companies that do e-mail newsletters to reduce their costs and credit funds only to those who eventually signed into the wallet, creating cheques for the expected balance on the fly. In the basic scenario, it is best to instantly open a simple page with the balance.

Security

The security of such transfers is akin to the distribution of any confidential information in the dialog: only the sender and the receiver know the link to the money. Blockchain guarantees the availability of funds and their history. Server protection of services that generate pages with private keys is perhaps the most difficult part, but there are already many successful wallets developed by our community, so you can take their expertise and apply it.

The password can add an additional level of protection if the amount is large, or you just want to play it safe.

What else can be done?

If the wallets are sent by an automated system, the access address can be generated at the time of sending without displaying it in the service’s admin panel. This would serve as protection against employees who might be tempted by large balances.

You can also enforce 2FA by an e-mail address or phone number, which will be linked as wallet owners by the organizers. When you visit the page, you will be prompted to receive a password to your inbox or mobile number. This can be helpful if the user base is massive, and managers credit coins by phone numbers or e-mail addresses.

You can offer the user to set a pin code after signing into the wallet to ensure that no one else can access it and spend the coins.

Terms of participation

The hackathon will be held in three stages:

Core: January 24–31 (we will accept applications until Friday evening)

Sharings: February 2–7

Customization: February 10–14

GitHub open-source projects are accepted.

At each stage, the three best solutions will be selected. Teams can participate at any stage, offering solutions based on products previously created by other developers as well.

Each week, three prizes will be awarded: 200,000 BIP for the first place and 100,000 BIP for the second and third places, totaling at 1,200,000 BIP in three stages. A special prize from POPE for the best solution of the entire hackathon: 50 POPE.

We will make a separate announcement on the channel with all winners at each stage. The winners of each stage will be determined within 1–3 days after all applications have been submitted.

To arrange everything in an eye-pleasing design, use our new service called KIT (alpha version, just released): https://kit.minter.org.

Submit your projects here — https://minter.link/pushhackathon

What do we expect to see, block by block?

Core

Unique wallet address pages

Balance states

Local fiat equivalents

Mx address transfers

Purchase of a product or service in as few clicks/taps as possible

Minimalist, responsive layout

Hosting on a public server

Code on GitHub

Sharings

Objectives will be revealed on January 31

Customization

Objectives will be revealed on February 6

“Hold on a second. This is more of a contest than a hackathon!”

We do not narrow you down to implementing the product in strict accordance with the scenarios mentioned above. In this document, we set the goal “Make a simple wallet” and offer our vision of how to solve the problem “Send the money to anyone so that they can use it at once.” If someone comes up with a more efficient way to address pressing issues, they will secure a guaranteed win even in case the technical implementation is poor. So try to hack the transfer system so that all eight billion people on the planet can access it and comprehend it.

Legal status:

The information contained herewithin must not be deemed investment advice, nor must it be considered an offer to buy or sell any financial instrument, cryptocurrency, and/or digital token.

I hereby reserve the right to refuse participation without explanation.