How Silent.Link Solves SIM Swapping Risks and Roaming Problems for Bitcoiners on the Go
Silent Link, a native Bitcoin SMS and mobile data company, has quietly grown into an international service provider for privacy-conscious users around the world, at competitive rates. But how can a small company compete with the mobile data giants?
Born out of the Bitcoin industry, the brainchild of cypherpunk thought leaders like Matt Odell, Silent Link is a modern mobile data and SMS company that challenges the complex and centralized customer service of telecom service providers around the world.
The founding member of Silent Link, who asked to remain anonymous, and thus we will call Bob, told Bitcoin Magazine in an exclusive interview about the story of the genesis of this company that solves one of the common pain points of the international and travel-savvy Bitcoiner, receiving data and SMS confirmation messages anywhere in the world. The company provides eSIM services only worldwide, without the physical support of a sim card, making it a completely digital business. Its traditional design of Bitcoin shows its prices, which Bob says have fallen over time, already falling by 20% by 2026.
Bitcoin Native and Privacy Focused
Born during the COVID-2020 shutdown, Bob recalled attending a Matt Odell podcast where he was inspired to run his own BTCPay Server instance. He realized that if he added a digital business that earns Bitcoin, he would have a solid approach to the stack that lives directly in defense.
After setting up basic payments common to many Bitcoin companies, built on BTPay servers, an open source stack with lightning support, full invoicing and back-end accounting, Bob realized that he now needed a product. It wasn’t long before him, and his growing team realized that providing a modern data and SMS service could be the perfect product.
Today, Silent Link offers users global data rates that are competitive with phone service providers, as well as the incoming SMS texts that are often needed to authenticate legacy companies like banks, and many online web platforms. The company does not provide outgoing texts, nor does it support standard calls. Bob explained that these are malicious protocols, fully monitored by governments around the world, and his audience uses more secure and sophisticated messaging apps anyway.
So, Silent Link is the first Bitcoin privacy company. Instead of linking your phone’s services to your personal information, which in many countries ends up being deeply integrated into the financial system, even showing up in credit scores, Silent Link offers valuable services in the digital age, while not collecting personal information from its users. Bob added that “even the local carrier doesn’t know your phone number”.
Silent Link eSIMS can be purchased without giving the company an email. Bob explained that if you don’t have user information, there is nothing to hack and no honeypot to follow, adding that so far they have received “empty requests for user information” from governments. In addition, it aligns incentives between the company and its users, rather than turning user data into a product to be sold to third parties. According to Bob, the company is also fully self-funded and profitable, another critical decision that he feels is aligned with the incentives of its users, adding that “you can’t serve two masters”.
Users get a special link when they buy an eSIM, a code that they can back up in the same way as they would keep 12 names in their Bitcoin wallet, and this simple secret information acts as their key and verification of their eSIM service. Bob added that this authentication model eliminates the infamous “sim card swap” attack, which has cost the industry millions of dollars over the years.
Navigation and Navigation is Automatic
To further polish the user experience, clearly designed to provide an audience that is always on the go and sensitive to cybersecurity risks, Silent Linkautomates and hides decisions related to navigation when users move from one country to another, be it for tourism or otherwise. Bob says users can expect the same phone number to work in multiple countries, without having to worry about getting a local temporary sim card, buying roaming access, being overcharged, or talking to customer service to make a special purchase at all. Silent Linksimply connects to data providers in the local network and draws from the balance in user accounts, reducing friction and staying competitive on price.
According to Bob, Silent Link can bypass state firewalls, including the Chinese firewall, and users report that they can use WhatsApp from Dubai, which has restrictions on Voice over IP (VoIP) protocols. The eSIM model actually has a lot to do with this anti-censorship quality enabled by Silent Link.
The data sharing hotspot features are also untouched, essential for perpetual travelers and those Bitcoiners who hop from conference to conference around the world as they work online.
