World Mobile officially launched Bitcoin Mobile in partnership with Cuentas (CUEN) at a virtual press conference on 5 May 2026 (details about the conference here).
Bitcoin Mobile is an innovative new mobile service launched in the United States, offering nationwide 5G coverage, built-in privacy, quick eSIM activation, and up to 8% of every bill returned in Bitcoin to the customer’s self-custody wallet.
This is a product built for the next generation of mobile users: with Bitcoin rewards embedded into the customer experience.
Cuentas leads the consumer brand. World Mobile powers the network behind it. Together, we are bringing reliable mobile connectivity, Bitcoin rewards, built-in privacy, and decentralized, onchain telecom infrastructure in one offering.
This is the kind of network World Mobile was always built to carry.
A mobile plan built around shared rewards
Bitcoin Mobile is designed to be simple and accessible.
Customers sign up to a phone plan and gain 99% USA population coverage. They can activate their eSIMs within minutes and access a mobile bundle that includes voice, text, data, VPN, and built-in security features.
Most importantly: every customer gets up to 8% of every bill returned in Bitcoin.
That Bitcoin is sent to a digital wallet owned by the consumer, keeping the model focused on user ownership from the get-go.
The proposition is simple: enjoy a reliable connection, pay a transparent price, and receive a percentage back in Bitcoin.
The market was ready for a better model
The United States is the largest and most profitable wireless market on Earth, worth more than $300 billion annually. Yet, the average American telecom customer experience leaves millions dissatisfied.
“Roughly one in four American households today say their phone bill is too high. Millions of people, disproportionately from rural communities, immigrant communities, underbanked customers, and price-sensitive households, often pay premium prices for services that were never designed to give anything back.” - Charles Barnet, Chief Business Officer, World Mobile
Bitcoin Mobile enters this market with a different idea.
In the same nation, more than 50 million citizens today hold Bitcoin and crypto. This is not a niche anymore. It is a large, mainstream consumer base that understands digital ownership and is ready for products that make Bitcoin even more useful in everyday life.
Bitcoin Mobile brings those two markets together: mobile connectivity and Bitcoin ownership.
Why Cuentas leads the brand
Cuentas brings the brand and the expansion strategy behind Bitcoin Mobile.
Our relationship with Cuentas did not begin with Bitcoin Mobile. In February 2026, World Mobile Group acquired 18.5% of Cuentas Inc., moving from creditor to major shareholder. This was a significant shift from short-term positioning to deeper alignment, strengthening the framework behind our expansion in the USA.
Bitcoin Mobile is the first major expression of this alignment.
Shalom Arik Maimon, CEO and Founder of Cuentas has spent more than two decades in telecommunications, with a tried-and-tested approach to entering large markets by winning a focused share of demand.
Cuentas is not building a product for a narrow crypto audience. It is building a wireless mobile service for everybody, built around a simple idea: if people already pay for mobile service every month, that service should return value to them.
This idea makes World Mobile the perfect partner for this product.
The decentralized network powering Bitcoin Mobile
World Mobile is the network and infrastructure partner of Bitcoin Mobile.
We provide the network, tools, blockchain, ecosystem, and privacy layer that Bitcoin Mobile can run on, supported by our network of AirNodes, Operator community, network partnerships, telecom-grade blockchain, and a model that connects coverage growth with public participation and ownership.
For CEO Micky Watkins, the fit between Bitcoin Mobile and World Mobile is clear.
“World Mobile was built for this. Bitcoin and World Mobile stand for very similar values: ownership, decentralization, putting users first.” - Micky Watkins, CEO, World Mobile
That mission is important. Bitcoin Mobile is not only about coverage or cashback. It sits inside a wider objective to reshape telecom as we know it.
Legacy telecom has been built around opaque systems, customer lock-in, and value extraction. World Mobile has always built, and backed, a different model: one where connectivity is built with communities, infrastructure is owned and operated by participants, and value can flow back through the network to the people expanding coverage.
Bitcoin Mobile brings that philosophy into a consumer offer.
Cuentas leads the brand. World Mobile powers the layer beneath it. The customer gets a mobile plan that does more than connect them. It returns value back to them, and makes them part of an ecosystem built with people at its center.
What this means for the World Mobile ecosystem
For the World Mobile community, the significance of this launch is simple and powerful: Bitcoin Mobile brings new activity into the ecosystem, which improves everything.
Every new Bitcoin Mobile customer increases World Mobile network usage. More usage creates demand for coverage. Greater coverage demand strengthens the case for more infrastructure, more participation, and more utility across the World Mobile network.
Chief Investment Officer Emmanuel Gratch describes this best:
“Every Bitcoin Mobile subscriber brings real economic activity into the ecosystem. More users drive demand for coverage, which leads to more AirNodes being deployed, more EarthNode participation, and all that flows through WMTx as the core utility layer.” - Emmanuel Gratch, Chief Investment Officer, World Mobile
Bitcoin Mobile does not replace the existing drivers of the World Mobile ecosystem. It adds another engine: recurring mobile usage connected to a consumer product people understand and need.
Bitcoin Mobile is also built to function alongside World Mobile phone plans, not against them. That is the strength of the model.
In telecom, multiple distinct brands have the space to serve the same large market while sharing distribution, infrastructure, and operational standards beneath the surface. One brand may be more attractive to Bitcoin holders. Another may speak to DePIN enthusiasts. Both can grow the total network, increase usage, strengthen infrastructure demand, and bring more people into the same ecosystem.
This is coopetition in practice: distinct consumer brands, aligned infrastructure, shared upside.
What happens next
Bitcoin Mobile is being rolled out in a phased format.
The waitlist is now open to join, with early-bird features planned for initial participants. Subscriber onboarding at scale is expected over the next two to three months.
A new mobile service built for the next generation of mobile users
Bitcoin Mobile is a signal that World Mobile infrastructure can power consumer telecom brands with active users, innovative reward structures, and growing network demand.
World Mobile has spent years building the foundation: decentralized infrastructure, a telecom-grade blockchain, a strong Operator community, network tools, privacy features, and an ecosystem designed to scale beyond the limits of traditional telecom.
Bitcoin Mobile now puts that foundation to work in one of the most important wireless markets in the world.
Cuentas brings the brand. World Mobile brings the network. Together, we build the future of mobile.
