HTC announced last May that it was working on a phone called Exodus, its first blockchain-based smartphone, a security technology that forms the basis of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. On July 11, HTC in Hong Kong officially announced the smartphone, now ready to arrive on the market.
“The current laws on copyright and privacy belong to a bygone era,” said the Taiwanese manufacturer, saying that “with HTC Exodus the time has come when people can regain control over their identity and their personal data “. With the aim of expanding the blockchain ecosystem, HTC has designed the world’s first phone focused on decentralized applications and security.
From Wikipedia: “The use of an update protocol deemed safe by the user community and cryptographic validation techniques generates the mutual trust of the participants in the data stored by the blockchain, which makes it comparable to the registers managed centrally by authorities recognized and regulated (banks, insurance etc.). “
HTC Exodus, a project separate from the business of the main phones of HTC, is a smartphone that allows its owners to store their data and cryptocurrencies privately and to protect them on the device rather than on cloud services, where the information sensitive ones could be more easily compromised and stolen. HTC claims that each phone serves as its own blockchain node, part of the network that helps secure blockchain systems.
Leading the development team at HTC Exodus is Phil Chen, the creator of HTC’s Vive VR viewer, who said on the smartphone with blockchain: “In the new era of the Internet people are generally more aware of the value of their data, which is a perfect opportunity to allow users to regain their digital identity. HTC Exodus is a new starting point because it is an even more personal phone from where all the data related to the user who uses it originates. It is exciting to be the first to offer the opportunity to decentralize the Internet and reshape it in favor of the contemporary user “.
HTC is not the first phone maker to announce a blockchain-based device. Last April, Sirin Labs announced that Foxconn will produce its phone called Finney.
The advent of Bitcoin and the Ethereum network paved the way for the idea of “digital scarcity” and non-fungible tokens (NFT), which is why HTC has partnered with the world’s first and most famous NFT game on the blockchain, Cryptokitties, for its exclusive distribution on selected HTC devices, starting from HTC U12 +. “Smartphones are the most popular mobile devices in history for the use of digital assets and for the development of the potential of dApps (decentralized apps) and for this they will necessarily become their main distributor”, explains HTC, according to which the partnership with Cryptokitties represents “the initial phase of the construction of a non-fungible marketplace and an app store for crypto gaming”.
“We understand the potential of digital scarcity and its uniqueness. With Exodus, HTC aims to be the leading blockchain asset market. We are here to invite all developers to distribute their blockchain and NFT based games through our products. We believe that a paradigm shift is underway and the balance is returning to the right of ownership and the value of the content,” said Phil Chen.
HTC has also announced its partnerships with Animoca, distributor of Cryptokitties, and with Bitmark, a digital property project based on cryptography.
For more information on HTC Exodus, the official htcexodus.com website is online. More details on smartphone specifications will be released in the coming months.
