The creativity of Blockchain entrepreneurs seems to have no limits, but this application is about good old SMS. Many of us have a text-messaging bundle included in their mobile subscription plan, sometimes with an unlimited number of messages. This makes plenty of unused SMS, which we usually don’t even pay attention to.
Canopus Technology Ltd., a startup founded by a Russian team and registered in the Seychelles, sees in these countless unused SMS an asset to leverage, using the Blockchain technology. Canopus has just launched an ICO, aiming to raise no less that $50 million, to develop a decentralized platform on Blockchain to resell unused SMS.
The service, dubbed SMSChain, is touted as “the first decentralized SMS gateway which [will] enable mobile subscribers to exchange their unused or unlimited text messages for a financial reward.”
The platform will connect everyone willing to sell their unused text messages with SMS aggregators; these will in turn sell SMS delivery services to businesses via auction. Each user will choose what type of messages to transmit through the app.
“Anyone in the world will be able to participate and benefit from the system,” says Andrey Insarov, CEO of SMSChain. “Decentralization significantly increases the efficiency of SIM gateways, allowing networks to be easily scaled up at a low cost and providing global coverage, which is impossible to achieve with current solutions.”
Legal risks
However, SMSChain will not take responsibility for whether the service runs afoul of users’ contracts. “Certain mobile network operators may block SIM cards which transmit extremely high volumes of SMS traffic. This critical amount of text messages varies based on the network and country,” the startup concedes in its white paper.
“They are basically penetrating your account to send messages,” Nick Lane, chief insight analyst at Mobilesquared, said in a phone interview with Bloomberg. “The fact it is an enterprise-based message probably would contravene your agreement with mobile operator,” he warns.
To mitigate the risk, users will be shown their corresponding safety level, according to SMSChain. “The fewer text messages transmitted, the less likely it is that SIM blockage will occur.”
Users will be advised to “to check the terms and conditions of [their] mobile network operator in order to determine whether your service provider can block your SIM card or not,” since sending A2P messages from SIM cards is not allowed in all countries.
A $70 billion market in 2020
In this market segment, growth is favored by the expansion of mobile coverage around the world, especially in emerging markets.
“A2P [application-to-person] SMS is widely used in banking and marketing activities, as well as in mobile payments. For example, such companies as Google, Uber, Facebook use SMS messaging to ensure security and other essential features of their web services,” the company explains.
The A2P SMS market is expected to reach some $70 billion by 2020, according to a recent report by Zion Market Research.
“We truly believe that the A2P SMS market crucially needs technological disruption. Blockchain opens incredible opportunities for all the parties involved. It allows users to generate revenues from their unused text messages, [while] businesses will solve key issues relates to SMS delivery — all this being easily deployed at the global scale with reduced equipment and maintenance costs reduction,” adds SMSChain COO Oleg Makarov.
Canopus will issue its tokens, called SMSTO, in October and November. The tokens will be for sale on SMSChain’s internal exchange, as well as external exchanges.
Oleg Seydak, CEO of Blackmoon Financial Group, which raised $30 million in an ICO last month, is an advisor for SMSChain.
