Paper Hands

SMS Crypto Pump Alerts

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Inspiration

The inspiration for Paper Hands came from the desire to achieve true financial freedom. The type of freedom only cryptocurrency and bitcoin can provide by helping people make money online and hold wealth. In supporting the network, the crypto community can reach enough mass adoption to force government to yield to their citizens whims as they once did. However, in today’s fast-paced cryptocurrency market, opportunities move fast. Many times too fast for both passive and active traders with a busy schedule. Leading to late trades on assets that have pumped and dumped. Earning both novice and experienced traders the name “Paper Hands”, due to anxiety influenced selling of assets too early. We understood firsthand the challenges of monitoring volatile meme coins, bitcoin, and ethereum while balancing a busy lifestyle and the pursuit of passive income. Therefore, a solution that would empower anyone working from home, living as a digital nomad, or building a side hustle was created. The goal was to stay informed about crucial crypto price pumps and market swings without being glued to their anxiety-inducing screens all day. Leveraging advanced blockchain technology, AI-powered crypto trading insights, and real-time notifications via SMS from the browser to enable the optimization of online income from spontaneous investing opportunities. All while maintaining the security and privacy of their crypto wallets. Hence the name “Paper Hands”, for those who want to gain from selling. Our mission is to support the denizens of the crypto movement on their journey toward wealth, success, personal finance growth, and mass adoption. Providing the tools and alerts necessary to thrive in the DeFi and crypto ecosystem. Travel, work remotely, and enjoy life’s adventures without missing out on the next big trend or opportunity in the world of digital assets.

What it does

Our app is a privacy-focused, AI-powered, crypto pump alert platform that lets users set up instant notifications for cryptocurrency assets. Assets include but are not limited to Solana, Sonic, and trending meme coins. Thanks to advanced blockchain technology and Google Cloud AI, the app can automatically track and manage crypto asset activity by uploading transaction receipts in PDF, CSV, PNG, or URL formats. Delivering real-time crypto alerts via SMS, ensuring traders never miss a crucial price movement or market opportunity. Seamless integration of popular payment methods allow traders to easily spend a dollar per receipt to receive a notification. Once the transaction is completed, the receipt is analyzed for details like asset name and price at time of purchase. After information is identified, an alert is set for when the asset doubles in price, according to the cost of the token at time of purchase. The app monitors the price of the asset to confirm target price, and sends an alert via trader’s preferred method of contact to “SELL!” when target is achieved. The user may then manually execute the trade and notify the app via text “sold”. However, if the user ignores, then an alert will automatically be set for when asset triples in price. The app does not handle trading for the user for privacy purposes. We believe “the best way to protect user data is not to collect or store it in the first place. Hackers and Governments can’t steal what you don’t have.” The app engages in healthy privacy practices by:

  • outsourcing the transactions to payment platforms
  • Allowing users the ability to delete information created after each transaction. In addition to the app automatically deleting the data after user confirms sale.
  • No login or account setup for hackers to steal in ever growing market of data breaches.

How we built it

It is built in Next.js 15 with TypeScript, to provide a full-stack framework that handles both our AI-powered receipt parsing and real-time price monitoring systems.

The core architecture leverages Google Cloud AI and Vertex AI for intelligent document processing, automatically extracting transaction details from PDFs, CSVs, and images with high accuracy. Our price monitoring system integrates multiple data sources including CoinGecko, Binance, and Coinbase APIs, ensuring reliable price feeds with automatic fallback mechanisms.

For notifications, we integrated Twilio's SMS API to deliver instant alerts when price targets are hit, while Stripe handles secure payment processing for our $1-per-alert model.

We implemented advanced features like circuit breaker patterns for API reliability, comprehensive error handling, and rate limiting to ensure the platform remains stable even during high market volatility. The entire system is designed with privacy-first principles, storing minimal user data and encrypting all sensitive information.

Challenges we ran into

Our biggest challenge was achieving reliable AI parsing across diverse exchange formats. Each crypto exchange exports data differently – Coinbase uses different CSV structures than Binance, and PDF receipts vary wildly in layout. We solved this by creating a multi-layered parsing system that combines pattern matching, AI extraction, and confidence scoring to handle edge cases gracefully.

Real-time price monitoring presented another significant hurdle. Crypto markets never sleep, and price APIs have rate limits and occasional downtime. We implemented a sophisticated fallback system with multiple data sources, intelligent caching, and circuit breakers to ensure users never miss critical alerts even during API outages. That is a problem seeing as we need to have the complete API keys set up, but we haven't been able to get them all because of logistic issues.

SMS delivery reliability was trickier than expected. We had to handle network delays, carrier filtering, and international formatting issues. Our solution includes retry logic, delivery confirmation tracking, and fallback notification methods.

The user experience challenge was balancing simplicity with power. Crypto traders want detailed control, but newcomers need simplicity. We solved this with progressive disclosure – simple defaults that work immediately, with advanced customization available for power users.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're most proud of achieving 95%+ accuracy in receipt parsing across 15+ major exchanges, making crypto tracking accessible to everyone regardless of technical expertise. Our AI system can extract purchase details from messy screenshots just as accurately as clean CSV exports.

The SMS command system is particularly innovative - users can manage their entire alert portfolio via simple text replies like "SOLD 4x" or "HOLD", making it the first truly mobile-native crypto alert platform.

We built a complete end-to-end system in record time: from file upload to AI parsing to real-time monitoring to SMS alerts to payment processing. The entire user journey takes under 3 minutes, and alerts activate immediately after payment.

Our privacy-first approach sets us apart - we store minimal data, encrypt everything, and never require exchange API access or trading permissions. Users maintain complete control over their information while getting enterprise-grade alert functionality.

What we learned

Building for the crypto market taught us that reliability trumps features. Crypto traders will forgive a simple interface, but they'll never forgive missed alerts during crucial price movements. This led us to over-engineer our monitoring systems with multiple redundancies.

User behavior in crypto is unique - people want immediate gratification but also long-term tracking. Our progressive alert system (2x, 4x, 8x, etc.) perfectly matches how crypto traders actually think about their investments.

SMS remains the most reliable notification channel for time-sensitive alerts. Email gets filtered, push notifications get dismissed, but SMS gets read immediately. This insight shaped our entire notification strategy.

The importance of clear pricing became evident early - crypto users are skeptical of subscriptions and hidden fees. Our transparent $1-per-alert model builds trust and aligns our incentives with user success.

What's next for Paper Hands

Unfortunately, we struggled to deliver a functional prototype for the hackathon, but it is a great proof of concept. For now building a waiting list while creating a fully functional M.V.P. takes first priority. Our roadmap includes enhancing our notification capabilities to advanced email alerts and real-time browser notifications. Upgrading operability with a full command set to enable seamless two-way management of alerts and trades. UX testing designed specifically for traders pursuing a flexible work from home or digital nomad lifestyle. Expanding access to more blockchains, while maintaining the commitment to a level of privacy that ensures personal data is safe and respected.

Built with

Frontend & Framework:

  • Next.js 15 (React framework)
  • TypeScript
  • Tailwind CSS
  • shadcn/ui (modern UI components)

AI & Machine Learning:

  • Google Cloud AI Platform (document processing for crypto receipts)
  • Vertex AI (intelligent data extraction from trading documents)
  • Custom NLP models (crypto-specific transaction parsing)

APIs & Integrations:

  • CoinGecko API (real-time cryptocurrency price data)
  • Binance API (crypto market data and price feeds)
  • Coinbase API (digital asset price monitoring)
  • Twilio SMS API (instantalert notifications)
  • Stripe API (secure payment processing)

Cloud Infrastructure:

  • Vercel (deployment platform)
  • Google Cloud Platform (scalable infrastructure)
  • Edge computing (low-latency monitoring globally)

Security & Privacy:

  • End-to-end encryption (protecting data)
  • Rate limiting (API protection for high-frequency trading)
  • Privacy-first architecture (minimal data storage for users)

Development Tools:

  • GitLab (version control for the crypto trading platform)
  • ESLint & Prettier (code quality)
  • Jest (testing framework for crypto alert systems)

Built With

  • binance-api
  • coinbase-api
  • coingecko-api
  • custom-nlp-models
  • edge-computing
  • end-to-end-encryption
  • eslint
  • gitlab
  • google-cloud
  • jest
  • next.js-15
  • prettier
  • rate-limiting
  • shadcn
  • stripe
  • tailwind-css
  • twilio
  • typescript
  • vercel
  • vertex-ai
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