United Network

People in Nigeria and other frontier markets already keep savings and send remittances in stablecoins, but most hold them with an exchange or a custodial app, so they do not control the money and cashing out is expensive. United Network puts the private key inside the secure chip of an NFC card: tap it against any NFC phone to sign a transaction, with no app required, across Bitcoin, Solana, EVM networks, Tron and more.

Sub-Saharan Africa receives tens of billions of dollars in crypto a year, and most of it is not speculation: it is savings, family remittances and everyday money held in dollar stablecoins because the local currency keeps losing value. The rails around that demand are still poor. The dollars sit on someone else's platform, cashing out can cost a large share of the sum, and the hardware wallets that would give people real custody were designed for a different customer at a different price.

United Network's answer is a card. A bank-grade EMV chip generates the private key and never lets it leave, the user taps the card against an NFC phone to sign, and the web app it pairs with needs no download. The wallet runs across more than ten blockchains, partners can issue branded cards or embed the web app so their own users get self-custody without building hardware, and the next step is a payment applet on the same chip, which is what turns a cold wallet into a cold wallet payment card. Founded by Danylo Rumiantsev, who has built companies with his co-founder since 2015.