Bitcoin wallet not Opening

Coinpip is one of the two payment solutions in Singapore. It also has a presence in Hong Kong, and focuses on Asia. (Coinofsale has just “landed” in Bangkok)

Daniel Tay at Techinasia

The authorities have always feared the unknown, with governments and major banks opposing and seeking to regulate Bitcoin. But enthusiasts seem to remain unfazed. Case in point: Singapore Bitcoin payments system startup CoinPip has just brought US-based 37coins’ SMS bitcoin wallets to Singapore. The Bitcoin point-of-sales company hopes to then expand throughout Asia thereafter, starting with Hong Kong and Indonesia in the next month or so.

I was curious as to why they would choose to go with SMS rather than other more popular messaging options, such as Whatsapp and LINE. Zeall explained that the uptake of 3G phone payments is very slow in Southeast Asia simply because many still use 2G phones. By using SMS as the method of payment, CoinPip will be able to reach out to far more people. “Once people understand that 2G phones can carry bitcoins, I believe the mindset will start to change, ” he said.

However, Zeall revealed that they are currently talking with Telegram about collaboration options. Whatsapp, though, is out of the question as they are not open-source.

Why choose to collaborate with 37coins, then, with so many other Bitcoin wallet alternatives out there? He explained that other wallets run on centralized systems, while 37coins runs on gateways, which can be opened by anyone. In this way, power is placed into the hands of the people – much like Bitcoin itself. “With this in mind, when we need to expand to another country, we just have to open our own gateway. We don’t need to wait for 37coins to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’, ” he added.