TLDR: Zippie ID aims to make blockchain and Web 3.0 easy to use for anyone with a smartphone. In less than 20 seconds, you get a digital identity and a cryptocurrency wallet which you can use to send payments and access Dapps. What’s more, the Zippie Card ensures that only you can move your funds.

Today, using cryptocurrencies or any related services such as Dapps is a horrible experience for the non-techie and crypto crowd alike.

You’re required to install a desktop browser extension or a Dapp browser, write a dozen words on paper and hide it in several places, and send payments with strings like 0xfB6916095ca1df60bB79Ce92cE3Ea74c37c5d359. The tremendous promise of cryptoassets has no chance to scale to the masses unless it becomes easier to use than this.

The most user friendly interface to use blockchain today (source: MetaMask GitHub)

Wanted: simple blockchain experiences on mobile

For crypto to go mainstream, the barrier of entry needs to be as frictionless as possible for everyone.

Firstly, we need to offer blockchain experiences which are built natively for mobile. The people who would benefit the most from the emerging peer-to-peer economy — such as the underbanked — often have only mobile phones and no laptops to access these services.

Secondly, we need to offer easy onboarding to Web 3.0. No plugins, no installations, no complex blockchain addresses, and no setting of “gas” or “gwei”. Just simple payments and Dapp experiences, which even your grandma could use.

Enter Zippie: your easy entry to crypto

Our end goal at Zippie is to empower 7 billion people with the superpowers of cryptocurrencies and other decentralized technologies.

This objective drove us to release Zippie, your digital identity and easy entrance to the decentralized world. In simple terms, you can think of Zippie as the MetaMask on mobile for everyday people.

To begin with, Zippie consists of two elements:

Zippie ID

Zippie ID is your digital identity, which includes information such as your name and cryptocurrency wallet address. Zippie ID enables anyone with a smartphone to send and receive cryptocurrency transactions and interact with Dapps without needing to create an identity or wallet for each service separately.

The Zippie Card

The Zippie Card is a credit card-sized smart card to complement the Zippie ID. The card acts as a 2-factor authentication for your large cryptocurrency transactions for added security, and as a recovery card in case you lose your Zippie ID powered smartphone.

Zippie ID and the Zippie Card

How does Zippie work?

So, what’s under the hood and how is this all possible?

Split the private key and make it invisible.

First of all, Zippie doesn’t store your private key. Instead, Zippie splits your private key to several pieces with Shamir’s Secret Sharing: one piece is kept in your phone and other pieces in secure/distributed cloud storage. These pieces can be put together only by you through your phone’s biometric identification or other chosen security method, and optionally by tapping the Zippie Card to your phone for added security. As a Zippie user, you don’t even have to know what a private key is; you simply confirm transactions with your phone or Zippie Card.

Use a purely a web-based solution

Anyone with a modern web browser, which means more than three billion people with a smartphone or higher-end feature phone, can access Zippie. Using Zippie is as easy as opening a website. No app or browser extension installations are needed. This is the power of combining Dapps, IPFS and PWA.

Create a crypto-jargon free user interface.

No end-user should need to see wallet addresses or terms such as smart contract or gas. They simply want to send funds or other data to certain people.

Use a banking-industry-proof smart card.

The Zippie Card is made using industry standard smart cards and is not custom hardware. Similar cards are used by banks, for example, as credit cards. The technology is proven and widely used, which also significantly lowers the card’s price.

Enable recovery without revealing secret data.

Zippie Card can do recovery through somebody else’s NFC enabled phone; or a NFC-enabled automat, without revealing the secret data to the helper. This is useful, for example, in environments like Kenya or India where mobile money agents can help users to recover their ID. Moreover, this approach lowers the need of trust of the security device. It can be handed out en masse.

This is the Zippie ID and Zippie Card in a nutshell. We believe it has the potential to change the world. If you want to join us turning this vision into reality start by ordering the Zippie Card, joining our Telegram, and following us on YouTube, Twitter and Reddit. If you really want to make a difference you can even become an Alpha tester. We look forward to having you on board!