Cryptocurrency has been gaining popularity in recent years, but the barrier to entry is still high for many people. One of the biggest obstacles is understanding and managing the complex addresses used to send and receive digital assets.
Phone Number Service
PNS is a protocol that aims to make crypto more accessible to the general public. PNS maps addresses, something we are all familiar with: Phone Numbers. This means that instead of having to remember long, complex addresses, you can send and receive crypto using a phone number or a contact.
PNS is creating a protocol responsible for mapping phone numbers to machine-readable identifiers such as Ethereum addresses or other cryptocurrency addresses and resolving these phone numbers to addresses.
With PNS, you can register a Phone Number, such as +971 54 755 6243, and link it to a crypto address. Anyone can send crypto to +971 54 755 6243 instead of having to remember a long, complex address. This makes sending and receiving crypto as easy as sending an email or a text message. We are bridging the gap between web2 and web3 by making it easier for everyone to onboard into crypto easily.
Preserving Identities on-chain
One of the major concerns with PNS is managing the privacy and identity of phone numbers, as phone numbers are somewhat personal information and shouldn’t be open because of a myriad of security problems that would pose.
PNS has an identity management system in charge of obfuscating user phone number hash, thus creating a secure one-way mapping of the phone numbers to wallet addresses while maintaining user privacy and identity.
The phoneHash is a recursive process that can generate a unique hash for any valid phone number - for example, '+12064563043’ is “41b6985126332a27cd0f18ad9db7f638cb6ef0e58367a8bc09284b805f7eb553” This is achieved by utilizing a combination of sha3- family cryptographic encryption and leveraging BLS scheme.
PNS is committed to meeting the privacy needs of its users and is heavily invested in researching multiple ways to achieve decentralized identity while maintaining privacy.
PNS as a Notification Protocol
PNS Notification Protocol is a decentralized notification protocol that abstracts the data layer utilizing your mobile number to enable sending notifications to both decentralized and centralized carriers.
The PNS protocol is designed to provide users with a secure and convenient way to receive notifications about their web3 and DeFi activities. The protocol allows users to receive notifications on SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. Defi users will be able to stay up-to-date on their web3 activities ( wallet transfers, governance, trades etc.) and never get liquidated on their Defi positions.
With PNS Notification protocol, DeFi Protocols and wallet services will be able to send Important notifications and messages to your protocol users. e.g( Escrows, renewals, Lending / Borrowing, ENS expiry, Airdrops etc)
Additionally, the PNS protocol allows users to receive notifications even in areas with no internet access. Never miss another important notification, Unlike emails which you rarely check.
PNS as a peer-to-peer Chat protocol
The PNS Chat app is an end-to-end encrypted messaging platform that introduces the privacy mechanism on the PNS registry to enable users to message each other privately using their phone numbers
Chain Support
The PNS protocol will be deployed on the Ethereum Blockchain and Layer 2 chains. Although, users will be able to link their wallet addresses on other chains to their phone numbers via the PNS Manager Dapp
Pricing
Detailed below are the current pricing for the PNS protocol ( these are subject to change as new implementations come up)
Registration fee = Phone Record Creation Fee + annual fee + Gas
PhoneRecordCreationFee = $9.99
Annual Fee = $5.99
Conclusion
The launch of PNS is a promising development in the ongoing effort to make crypto more accessible and user-friendly. With its ability to map addresses to contact books, PNS is reducing the barrier to entry and making it possible for more people to participate in the crypto economy. We are excited to see how PNS will evolve and contribute to the crypto ecosystem's growth.