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Nearby docs.

How the Nearby app is designed to work — sending, receiving, preferences, safety and the network underneath. Nearby is in development, so these docs describe the product as it’s being built.

Overview

Nearby is AirDrop for crypto. You send crypto to someone standing near you by choosing the person — not by asking for, copying or pasting their wallet address. The address, the network and the route stay in the background; you decide who, what, and confirm.

Nearby is an Android app, currently in development; iPhone is coming soon. This website explains the product; it can’t discover devices or move funds.

Three decisions. Who you’re paying, what you’re sending, and confirming it. Everything else is handled by the app.

How a payment works

A nearby payment, from opening the app to settlement:

  • Both people open Nearby. The sender turns on nearby sending; the recipient is ready to receive.
  • The two phones discover each other locally, and people who are ready to receive appear by name.
  • The sender chooses the person they mean to pay.
  • The recipient’s linked wallet and receiving preferences determine where and how the payment goes.
  • The sender chooses an asset and an amount.
  • The sender reviews the recipient, asset and amount on one screen.
  • The sender confirms and signs on their own phone.
  • The transaction is broadcast and its status is tracked through to settlement.

Want to see it? Walk through the flow screen by screen.

Sending

Find the person

Open Nearby and turn on nearby sending. People around you who are ready to receive appear by name and profile. Tap the one you mean to pay.

Choose what to send

Pick an asset and enter an amount — for example, $75 USDC. Nearby only lets you continue with something the recipient can receive.

Review

One screen shows the recipient, the asset, the amount and the network fee once it’s known. Check the person’s name and profile — this is the moment that matters.

Confirm and sign

You approve the payment on your own phone. Until you do, you can cancel and nothing is sent. After you confirm, the recipient, asset and amount never change.

Receiving

Get ready to receive

Sign in, link the wallet you want to receive into, set your receiving preferences, then turn on receiving when you want to be found. You’re only visible while you choose to be.

What senders see

Your name and profile. Not your wallet address — phones nearby only see a short-lived signal and the profile you’ve chosen to show.

When you get paid

Nearby shows an incoming payment as it’s submitted, and confirms it once it has settled.

Receiving preferences

Receiving preferences describe what you can accept and where it should land. You set them once, in advance, and Nearby uses them every time someone pays you — so nobody has to ask “which network?”

  • The assets you accept.
  • The wallet payments should go to. It stays private.
  • Whether you’re currently ready to receive nearby.

Preferences are tied to your verified Nearby session (or another appropriate authentication method), not to whoever happens to be nearby.

Payment status

Both phones show the same status, reported as it actually is.

Signing
Waiting for you to approve on your phone. Nothing has been sent; you can still cancel.
Submitted
Your signed transaction has been sent to the network and is waiting to settle.
Settled
The payment is recorded on-chain. Both phones show it as complete.
Failed
The payment didn’t go through. Nearby says so plainly — it never shows a payment as sent when it wasn’t.

Safety

  • Being nearby is never treated as proof of identity. You confirm the person on the review screen.
  • You always review the recipient, asset and amount before signing.
  • You can cancel at any point before you sign.
  • Nothing about a payment changes after you confirm it.
  • Sensitive wallet details aren’t shared with nearby devices.
  • Private keys and recovery phrases are designed never to leave your phone or reach a Nearby server.

Nearby hasn’t been audited yet. Read the security principles.

Network

Nearby is being built exclusively for Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum layer-2 network built on Arbitrum that settles to Ethereum. Network fees on Robinhood Chain are paid in ETH.

One network means no network decisions: nobody has to ask which chain you’re on, and nobody can pick the wrong one. Nearby doesn’t support other networks.

Robinhood Chain documentation ↗

Assets

Supported assets will be announced once they’re confirmed for the app on Robinhood Chain. The $75 USDC used throughout this site is an illustrative example.

Glossary

Wallet address
The long string a blockchain uses to identify where funds go. Nearby looks it up for you; you never type or paste it.
Receiving preferences
What a recipient has chosen to accept, set in advance. Nearby uses them to prepare the payment.
Route
How a payment gets from the sender to the recipient’s wallet, prepared from the recipient’s preferences.
Signing
Approving a transaction with your wallet’s key, on your own device.
Settlement
The point at which the payment is final and recorded on-chain.
Proximity
Being physically near someone. Nearby uses it to help you find people — never as proof of who they are.

Brand assets

The Nearby mark and wordmark, for press and partners.

Questions? Reach us on X at @tryNearby_.

Tap a person. Send crypto.

The Nearby app is in development. Follow along for the real thing.

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