Novi started with a simple question: why does sending $1 online feel harder than handing someone a dollar bill? In real life you just pass the cash and it’s done. But with most digital payments, especially crypto, people deal with wallets, addresses, apps, and gas fees. Novi was built to remove that friction and make sending money online feel as simple as handing someone cash.
Novi lets a sender create and share a secure digital dollar in just four taps. The sender types an amount like $1, adds a short note such as “for coffee,” and shares a clean card link through iMessage or any messaging app. When the receiver opens the link, they see a digital card that says something like “Ethan sent you $1 for coffee.” They press and hold the card, it ripples open, and the dollar appears. They enter an email to secure the funds and their wallet is created automatically behind the scenes.
We built Novi as a fast mobile web app. It connects users to email-based Smart Wallets while a Paymaster abstracts gas fees so users never see blockchain costs. The value is wrapped into a secure digital asset (A = Enc(V, r)) where (V) is the value and (r) is a random nonce that protects the asset.
The biggest challenge was hiding blockchain complexity while keeping everything secure and fast. We’re proud we reduced the experience to four taps and created a fun “press and hold to open” moment. Next we want to expand Novi to support more currencies and everyday payments.
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