Bitcoin Mobile SIM Card Top-Ups Now Available in 136 Countries
Sobit was jointly developed by Japan’s leading reward site operator, Ceres Inc and the Tokyo-based bitcoin and blockchain venture company, Janom LLC.
Ceres has already partnered with other prominent bitcoin companies including Bitflyer, Bitbank, Coincheck, and Breadwallet, on other cryptocurrency projects. Janom launched a Bitcoin remittance service called Cointip in November 2016 and the company also partnered with Keepkey LLC to obtain exclusive distribution rights for Keepkey products in Japa. Ceres Inc recently announced the launch of Sobit:
With Sobit, you can charge your prepaid SIM card using just bitcoin. You don’t need any accounts, credit cards, etc. Just a wallet with available Bitcoin. Sobit supports prepaid SIM cards from over 600 operators in almost 140 countries.
Using Sobit
Users first enter their phone numbers to use Sobit, even though the system should correctly detect the operator of each phone number most of the time, the company conveyed. Once the right operator is selected, the user can check the rates, choose the desired top-up amount, type in their email address, and send Bitcoin through the QR code provided or via their Bitcoin wallets. The company states:
We will charge your phone as soon as your Bitcoin transaction gets one confirmation, which may take up to 10 minutes (it depends mostly on your Bitcoin wallet and fee settings).
Users will also get an email confirmation with their order details. While “you should get your top-up immediately,” for some countries or operators, “there may be significant delays, even up to 24 hours,” Sobit cautioned.
Currently, only payments equivalent to $100 maximum per day will be accepted “due to technical reasons,” the company added.
On Sobit’s website, 136 countries are listed. In the U.S., supported operators include Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, H2O, and Net10.
In the UK, they include Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and Vodafone. In China, they are China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom.