Valora, the self-custodial crypto wallet built to make sending crypto as easy as sending a text, today is announcing plans to integrate Self Connect’s interoperable phone number mapping. Self Connect, powered by proof-of-human and identity infrastructure provider Self, unlocks seamless phone number mapping and Sybil resistance.

The integration is also a significant milestone in Self’s continued growth as the leading provider of identity and proof-of-human solutions, with Valora joining a roster of tech and crypto industry leaders, including Google Cloud, Aave, and Velodrome that use Self for humanity and identity verification.  

This marks the first integration under Valora’s new leadership. Following the Valora team’s acquisition by Stripe, wallet development is led by Celo Core Co.–– the engineering team that has grown Celo into the #1 transport layer for USD₮ and the leading Ethereum Layer 2 by Daily Active Users.

Self Connect is already a core architectural component of MiniPay, the global stablecoin wallet built by Opera on Celo with over 14 million users. Using Self Connect, MiniPay ties each account to the largest social network of all: phone numbers. This allows the MiniPay team to verify that wallet holders are, in fact, real humans with cellphones. In the age of autonomous agents, phone numbers are exceedingly difficult for bots to replicate.

How it Works

The identity primitive verifies that a user owns their phone number, then registers that attestation onchain on Celo, without ever storing the number in plaintext. The result is a privacy-preserving, tamper-resistant record that any app in the ecosystem can verify.

Since Self Connect is customizable to each wallet protocol’s needs, it also serves as an interoperability layer between wallets. Valora will develop its own registry, connecting users with phone numbers associated solely with Valora wallets, but it can also bridge Valora users to registered MiniPay users by linking registries.

Self has already established the standard for phone number-based identity in self-custodial wallets. Valora's integration brings that standard to a new set of users and cements it as the foundation for wallet interoperability on Celo and throughout the blockchain ecosystem.