Coinbase CEO Interested in Developing Wi-Fi Access Point That Accepts Crypto

Coinbase logo on a phone screen.

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, took to Twitter a new business idea for entrepreneurs in the crypto community.

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, took to Twitter a new business idea for entrepreneurs in the crypto community.

Coinbase, one of the largest crypto platforms on the market, is a digital currency exchange headquartered in San Francisco, California.

The company was founded in June 2012 by Armstrong himself along with Fred Ehrsam.

Coinbase offers a safe way to buy, sell, store and transfer cryptocurrency. They aim to assist people to convert digital currency into and out of their local currency.

Armstrong wrote a small thread on Twitter around the idea of a Wi-Fi access point that accepts cryptocurrency.

He began with a simple question and started developing his proposal while advising the community to use the concept to make money.

Series of Tweets Discussing Armstrong’s New Business Idea

It all started with a tweet by Armstrong asking whether anyone has tried to create a Wi-Fi access point that accepts crypto as a means of payment.

Further on, he explained that many of the apartments in a multi-story building or dense housing are within reach of multiple access points.

Even though they are all password protected, during the week they are probably used only 1 percent on average.

Armstrong wrote that if someone is persistent enough and pays attention to details, such as integration with numerous low-level operating systems or firmware, they can create a paywall for the protocol—thus the start of a potentially valuable business.

He noted that it is not an easy task, but it isn’t impossible.

Mixed Feelings About the Proposal on Twitter

Wi-Fi signal on a tablet.

It all started with a tweet by Armstrong asking whether anyone has tried to create a Wi-Fi access point that accepts crypto as a means of payment.

The series of tweets received some backlash, and a few eyebrows were raised by people who were wondering where the idea came from.

Users questioned if their assets are safe at Coinbase and whether the need for differentiation evolved from the company not making enough profit.

One user claimed that the idea can be realized in a day, but that free and open Wi-Fi networks are being used more and more every day.

Someone else replied to that tweet, agreeing that the days of paying for the internet are gone.

People also pointed to projects that have a similar concept such as Skycoin Skywire, the world’s first global peer-to-peer decentralized mesh net with almost 10,000 Skyminer hardware nodes.

Antennas are expected to be released this quarter, which will allow nodes to connect directly via wireless connections, or to act as a Wi-Fi hotspot. Some other projects mentioned were Althea, OpenGarden, Helium and Substratum.

One of the more sarcastic responses to the Twitter thread was a user telling Armstrong to slow down and to try and get Bitcoin accepted at Starbucks for starters.

Ammbr Might Be the First Company to Get There

After his thread went viral and received many mixed responses as well as various company suggestions, Armstrong proceeded to create a Twitter poll where he asked which one of the mentioned companies that work on Wi-Fi access points has the best shot at this.

Ammbr cryptocurrency.

Ammbr buys and sells bandwidth using its native cryptocurrency, AMR tokens. It is the only payment method accepted on the network.

According to the responses, winning 63 percent of the total votes was Ammbr—a wireless mesh network built on blockchain technology could potentially be the answer to Armstrong’s initial question.

The company has developed a product that can deliver internet connection to places that are lacking it.

Ammbr buys and sells bandwidth using its native cryptocurrency, AMR tokens. It is the only payment method accepted on the network.

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