It's time for a better Venmo/PayPal...

One that is globally accessible, makes you money and takes a cut of the profit instead of screwing you with fees and bad conversion rates

I made the iOS + web app and I'm handing it to you

Send USDC via email

Btwn Friends is an open-sourced PayPal/Venmo alternative that let's you send stablecoins to anyone's email without them being on the app, having a wallet or knowing about crypto.

Here's how it works

Every P2P payment app makes you create an account, save 12 words, link to a wallet app, KYC, transfer gas tokens...

It's intimidating and too much work

Your friend just wants their $20 back. They don't care about "decentralization"

Here you sign in with your email and a one time use password (OTP)

That's it.

You just logged into your wallet or created one. no wallet app, chrome extension, seed phrase, or crypto knowledge.

Your wallet is created automatically by Coinbase Developer Platfrom

To send money, you just need an email address.

Not a wallet address or an ENS name. Just an email. Enter: friend@example.com → $25 USDC → Send

That's the entire flow.

The recipient gets an email: "John sent you $25" They click the link → Sign in with email → Funds appear.

They don't need to: - Set up a wallet - Have ETH for gas - Know what a blockchain is - Copy/paste addresses

If your friend is on the app → money goes straight to them

If they're not → money goes into an escrow

When they sign in with email & OTP, they prove they own that email.

Escrow releases funds automatically. They see their balance before the dashboard loads.

You can build onchain apps without forcing users to "learn crypto"

Between Friends is built on Base (Eth L2) using a basic escrow smart contract and is powered by Coinbase Developer Platfrom's Embedded Wallets (smart accounts) and Paymaster

I've done most of the job for you and left notes on what's left.

Coinbase Developer Platfrom's Embedded Wallets already give you ~%4 rewards on balance out the box

You can make more for yourself & your users leveraging onchain tools like @MorphoLabs, @MoonwellDeFi, @superformxyz...

→ Web app: https://btwnfriends.com

→ iOS testflight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/aZCPAjwZ

→ Repo: https://github.com/Must-be-Ash/btwnfriends

Show HN: Send USDC via Email