Introducing HandCash Connect: It’s time to build better BitCoin apps!

BitCoin for the rest of us

That short sentence summarizes what we are all about. We at HandCash have earned a reputation as the leaders in usability and accessibility with our beloved mobile wallet app. HandCash has been the most popular and fun way to introduce new people to our young and exciting industry.

We provide a safe and easy way to pay in online and retail stores, and to send money instantly to anyone in any part of the world — with emojis! 😜

But there are two things missing here:

• Our users are craving for new ways of using HandCash. The BitCoin ecosystem is thriving with all kinds of micropayment based apps, and they want to be part of it right from their HandCash accounts.
• “… the rest of us” does not only include users. We, as a team of mostly developers, understand how complex and time consuming learning and building BitCoin apps can be, and it gets worse the bigger you get!

So the way forward was obvious: we need to help developers and startups build better BitCoin apps and experiences with the fewest amount of friction possible, and offer those to our always growing and loyal user base right from the app!

How are things done right now?

There are two main ways to build a BitCoin app nowadays:

• Buttons: while they provide time savings for apps that don’t require login, you are stuck with an off-brand slider widget that takes time to load and only works in web browsers. For more complex apps that require login or custom BitCoin operations, the time savings go to waste as you now have to implement a backend using DIY Protocols.

Typical setup for UI buttons acting as copy and paste paywalls for websites that don’t require login

• Do-it-yourself Protocols: they offer you more UI freedom — if you ever mange to learn and understand all the BitCoin jargon involved. Often times multiple protocols are required, and for them to fit together, is even more work. The biggest drawback though, is having to build a complex custom wallet infrastructure to manage your users’ keys. Maintaining thousands of keys from thousands of apps just does not scale.

In short: by using current app toolkits, most BitCoin apps have a clunky user experience, are hard to build and expensive to maintain.

We came up with a new way!

It was obvious for our team that we didn’t want to build another button, nor complex low-level APIs to access our infrastructure. We aimed for the biggest time savings for developers, with no compromises to the user interface.

HandCash Connect will save you time while allowing you to build exactly what you have in mind

How did we accomplish it?

Connect is our BitCoin App SDK. It is the fast and flexible new way of building BitCoin apps.

We packaged in just one toolkit the six basic components every BitCoin app needs, and reduced each to simple code snippets in plain English. Just call the APIs and our Cloud will do all the heavy lifting for you.

All the pieces you’ll ever need, in plain English, combine them as you need!

We want you to focus on your business and customers instead of worrying about BitCoin, we’ll take care of it for a fraction of the cost. Create great apps and services, and get visibility through our app. It’s a no-brainer.

Your first MultiSend payment with HandCash Connect. Flexible and understandable to any developer.

Key Benefits

You might be wondering: “Ok, cool, I get it, it’s much easier and flexible than what’s already out there, but what can I build with it?”

Platform independent

As HandCash Connect is a backend solution, instead of a frontend like the buttons, you can build your apps and games in any platform you want. Be it mobile, tablet, desktop, web… or even for a smart fridge!

Modular, simple and flexible — feels like playing with LEGOs!

Modular backend in NodeJS

HandCash Connect empowers developers with the most used features in the BitCoin app ecosystem. It provides you an abstraction over Identity, Instant Payments, Payment Channels, Data Ownership, Data Encryption and Data Storage. Take advantage of all the powerful properties of BitCoin without any complex BitCoin jargon to learn or infrastructure to maintain.

You decide what you need to build exciting BitCoin apps and games!

Custom user interface

Never compromise again on the kind of experience you can offer. Pay-per-minute for a reliable WiFi network, Tinder-like cards that perform actions when being swiped or even make money for killing zombies in VR.

HandCash Becomes an App Ecosystem

Our vision for HandCash is to create an integrated experience of connected apps and games that’s exciting, friendly and open to everybody.

Introducing the HandCash App Store

With the intention of bringing you more utility and fun through HandCash, we are adding the HandCash App Store, one place where you can see all the apps you can connect to make money, get better content and have fun!

Many companies have already agreed to either integrate Connect or build apps entirely based on it, but expect the following to be the first batch of apps that will allow you to have a deep integration with HandCash very soon.

Get started!

You can already enter our website and request access to join our pre-launch integration program! Just click here to start building the next big app and get free exposure to our thousands of enthusiastic users.

NOTE: Pricing information and release dates to be announced shortly.