Gliph, a mobile app that works as a secure messaging platform and a Bitcoin wallet, received $200,000 in funding from Boost VC and will relocate to California.
The Oregon startup had previously secured $65,000 in funding elsewhere.
Gliph allows users to send and receive Bitcoins securely and also to message with the same safety. CEO Rob Banagle initially designed the app as a way to conceal one’s identity on the internet.
He said sites such as Facebook and Google+ had perhaps overreached with their treatment of digital IDs — with Google requiring real names, for example — and first conceived of his app as a solution.
Gliph lets users pseudonymize their email addresses with throwaway handles, send encrypted messages and — this seems to be the add-on — access Bitcoin wallets for money transfers.
The idea was to give users the chance to transact anonymously, like when users sell something on Craigslist through the random email address that site creates for you. But this way, even phone numbers would never have to be revealed, and the payment could be made entirely in the app.
Then, the pseudo-address is discarded, severing any ties to the transaction.
Bitcoin support was added in May.
The app interfaces with existing wallets on Blockchain.info, Coinbase or BIPS or lets users create one on Coinbase that is not hosted on the mobile device.
This means Bitcoin transfers can only take place between users, not user to address. Banagale believes QR codes and wallet address, though, will soon become a thing of the past as user experiences are refined across the Bitcoin platform.
One thing potential users should watch out for, though, is the fact that encryption keys are centrally stored. But if users opt not to use a password reset service, Gliph would be unable to decrypt communications, even if Banagale or his team wanted to.