How do you check crypto news? Better yet, how do you check how hard your portfolio has tanked overnight? Most likely, you are checking your favorite portfolio app through your phone, whether its an Android, iOS, or some other derivative device. What if you, as the consumer, had the option of purchasing a blockchain-powered phone? What the hell is a blockchain-powered phone in the first place? We take a look at HTC’s new endeavour, Project Exodus.
HTC is no newcomer to the consumer electronics market focusing on cell phones. Based out of Taiwan, HTC first came onto the scene while focusing on Windows Mobile in the early 2010s. After that project had elapsed, HTC moved into the Android market with the flagship T-Mobile G1. This was the first phone on the market to run Android globally and HTC saw huge success in 2014.
After a series of quarters with their market shares being diluted from the likes of Samsung and Apple, HTC decided to partner with Valve to create the HTC Vive, a VR platform. A year later, HTC achieved even more success by selling half of its design and research IP to Google for $1.1 billion in lieu of the Pixel Smartphone.
HTC is no beginner when making drastic pivots and huge risks, so creating a blockchain-powered phone seems to be up in their alley. Phil Chen, an ex-Facebook executive, is returning to HTC to head this project. He posted in a subtle Medium article:
“The HTC Exodus is the first native blockchain phone dedicated to bringing end consumers the best decentralized application (DApp) experiences, including a built-in secure hardware enclave, and helping underlying protocols expand their base of dedicated nodes, thus expanding the total blockchain ecosystem.”
“I want to see a world where the end consumers can truly own their data (browsing history, identity, assets, wallets, emails, messaging, etc) without the need for central authorities. There is a lot of work ahead of us, but I believe the mobile hardware layer can contribute significantly to our new decentralized world.”
Self-coining himself as HTC’s Decentralized Chief Officer, Chen has years of extensive experience in making the HTC Vive a reality and heading ambitious projects.
For Project Exodus, the website makes ambitious claims of supporting multiple protocols, interoperability between blockchains, native DApp support, and having the phone itself acting as a node. The last point is extremely compelling as having more nodes on a blockchain with the possible mass adoption of Exodus could double or even triple the nodes in Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Although no hardware specs are released at the moment, we are extremely curious and will keep our eyes on the development of this phone. The capabilities of blockchain are tremendous and to branch off into the consumer hardware spectrum can vastly disrupt existing markets. Cellular phones are used daily by billions of people around the world. We have also sent a query to reserve a phone for us so wish us luck in getting one!
Cheers,
The Blockchain Musketeers
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