What is the best way to join Bitcoin apps? [VIDEO]

July 31, 2021/Rafael LaVerde

After the Bitcoin civil war of 2017, BCH immediately sprang up, followed by BSV, to continue the tradition of building on the Bitcoin blockchain as opposed to the limited store-of-value or “digital gold” mindset of mainstream Bitcoin.

When we started The Crypto Vigilante (SUBSCRIBE), Jeff Berwick and Ed Bugos tasked me with building a team of all-star analysts. I intentionally sought out the best in the field, not necessarily those with whom I agree most, so it’s important to note that my views do not always represent those of our diverse team of analysts. 

With that said, let me reiterate that I admire entrepreneurs who are creating on Bitcoin SV right now. 

Alex Agut is the CEO of HandCash, which takes advantage of building applications on the Bitcoin blockchain. HandCash is a wallet that is also a portal to many Bitcoin startups and applications on the BSV blockchain. As a technology, HandCash embraces the computational power of Bitcoin as Satoshi idealized it in the original Bitcoin design protocols.

HandCash started from the simple idea of sharing contact information by simply tapping phones together. Then they asked, what if you can do that with money and transactions? Crypto, in its early stages, complicated things and was a very geeky thing. Now, HandCash aims to bring normalcy and make crypto popular by focusing first on user experience. 

Whatever tech works best is what HandCash aims to use, and in our interview, Alex told me that he believes BSV was the best choice for his company. Here’s an example of how HandCash goes against the grain… It was the first wallet without transaction confirmations. In case you missed it, the original Bitcoin whitepaper did not talk about confirmations. 

Also, instead of addresses, HandCash uses @usernames as social networks do. Mr. Agut explained that most people want to send and receive money from and to people, not addresses.

HandCash specializes in nano-payments, which are even smaller than microtransactions, and since they handle millions of those, fees would be very high on another blockchain. Alex details why this is important in their choice of BSV over Ethereum or BTC.

HandCash is notably known for its games on its platform. Because of its gaming ecosystem and nanopayments, they ‘coined’ the Duro, which is not a new token but essentially a way of counting satoshis into batches of 500. Gaming companies, such as those in the esports space, are interested, and for developers, HandCash provides an SDK to integrate apps with it. 

When it comes to security and privacy, HandCash is non-custodial, so any hacks on the HandCash platform itself will not let hackers access the crypto. Yet, it is also keyless. Alex Agut explains the details of that in the video below. 

However, he does point out that HandCash, since it specializes in small payments, is not meant to be used as a bank of any sort, even though he believes it is very safe as it has multiple layers of security. 

Enjoy our full discussion:

Watch on: Odysee | BitChute | YouTube

In the interview above, Alex also lists what they aim to do with HandCash in the future, including investor funding rounds and new features such as direct fiat ramps for easy fiat conversions. 

Alex says he wants to stay focused on not overcomplicating things. He underscores that his app’s target audience is not Bitcoiners but ordinary, everyday people.  

Here at The Crypto Vigilante (SUBSCRIBE), we just returned from meeting with 2500 extraordinary freedom-lovers at FreedomFest in Rapid City, South Dakota. 

I hosted a breakout session that had so many attendees, they could not squeeze any more people into the room. Then I shared the main stage with George Gilder for the crypto entrepreneurship panel, and I also did a talk on privacy coins for the Pirate Chain luncheon. Videos are coming soon! 

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Rafael LaVerde

Rafael LaVerde has a background in private equity and venture capital. He discovered Bitcoin in 2012 while volunteering on Ron Paul's presidential campaign. He served as board member of a Libertarian Super PAC while doing post-graduate work in economics, and was also a member of the University of Texas’ Mises Circle. His formal education includes graduate degrees in continental philosophy and psychology. He has been a Bitcoin miner since 2014. Rafael also managed investor relations for the BitAngels Network, which helped finance the vast majority of early Bitcoin startups, and was also part of the DApps Fund team that revolutionized funding structures that eventually became known as ICOs and STOs. He was also the founding partner of what became one of the very first Bitcoin venture capital funds.