Blockchain doesn’t make sense to many people but with the introduction of this phone the concept will be easy to understand and develop further
It’s a less than stellar time for blockchain, as well. Cryptocurrency prices are low, and last month, bitcoin was tied to price manipulation in a report. HTC first announced that it was working on a blockchain-powered smartphone called the Exodus. The news came as one of the company’s more intriguing projects after a difficult start to the year.
Envision of your own phone
HTC envisions a phone where you hold your own keys, you own your own identity and data, and your phone is the hub. A phone where you can own your identity is a little further in the future, while the one coming by the end of the year will be a phone with a wallet and a partnership with CryptoKitties. Details on the device’s specs are yet to be announced.
Exodus will have global availability once released and the company states that it will be available everywhere outside of China as China has different rules, everywhere from regulations to how Android even works in China.
Cryptocurrency on mobile
In the long term, the company hopes to find a more efficient way to mine cryptocurrency on mobile, by consulting with experts under HTC’s employment. Mining on mobile efficiently will take time to figure out, but company is already looking at different consensus protocols that might make that happen and soon a white paper will be released this year with more details.
Initially the idea of a blockchain-powered phone to HTC was raised after watching ethereum and the DAO closely since 2015. The company floated the idea, and by the end of last year, as bitcoin prices were rising rapidly, the idea appeared more attractive and quickly grew into a strategy.
Recently, cryptocurrency mania has died down and the frequency of cryptocurrency scams and hacks has become a cautionary tale. A partnership to be the sole company to bring digital cat trading to mobile and for users to hold their own cryptocurrency wallets could potentially fall or at least appear to fall into the category of scams and gimmicks.
There are claims that the phone with a cryptocurrency wallet will be a secure hardware wallet. It also hopes that trading virtual cats will encourage gamers and people who are less familiar with cryptocurrency to try out the Exodus phone. Gaming is the most approachable thing on mobile, for the non-crypto crowd said one of the officials.
Blockchain doesn’t make a sense to a lot of people. With the Exodus, HTC is hoping that they will get people to be each node, as each Exodus device will form one node in the blockchain. But the problem is, does anyone want to be in that chain?
