Blockchain-Powered Smartphone HTC Exodus Launching Soon

HTC Corporation released a teaser of its blockchain-powered smartphone, called Exodus, on Saturday. The company had announced the blockchain smartphone in May, stating it would be "dedicated to decentralized applications and security,” for which the company partnered with a blockchain based virtual game platform CryptoKitties in July.

The team created a dedicated Instagram account called htc.exodus and posted two teasers of the smartphone. The teasers did not reveal any specifications of the phone but gave a sneak peek into the new phone’s design and also showed 10.22 at the end, suggesting Exodus could be launched Oct. 22.

"Our vision is to expand the blockchain ecosystem by creating the world’s first phone dedicated to decentralized applications and security. With the release of the HTC Exodus we can now make this a reality," the website dedicated to HTC Exodus read.

In May, Phil Chen, the decentralized chief officer at HTC Exodus, said in a Medium blog post: “Through the Exodus, we are also excited to be supporting underlying protocols such as Bitcoin, Lightning Networks, Ethereum, Dfinity, and more.”

PhoneArena reported the new phone could be priced around $1,000. Its software will be based on Android, with added security protocols and apps to “handle the necessary encryption for safe handling of the precious [cryptocurrencies] coins.”

The phone is based on blockchain and enables users to securely send and receive data of all kinds via a new transmission protocol called FXTP. Users would be able to share data online securely via the blockchain, while developers could quickly and easily publish decentralized applications.

Chen, in an interview with the Verge in July, said Exodus would have global availability once launched. “I want to say it will be available definitely everywhere outside of China. China has different rules, everywhere from regulations to how Android even works in China," Chen added.

The HTC Exodus won’t be the first smartphone of this kind in the market. Sirin Labs had finalized in July a dual-screen design for a blockchain-based smartphone it named Finney. The company partnered with handset manufacturer Foxconn to mamufacture the smartphone. Priced at $999, the device could be released in November, according to the official website.

"The vision of Sirin Labs right now is to bridge the gap between the Blockchain economy and the mass market, by basically addressing and resolving these two inherent problems," said Nimrod May, chief marketing officer at Sirin Labs, in July.

Pundi X, a blockchain firm, demonstrated a test phone call using blockchain and the company’s exclusive XPhone device.

"This morning during day 2 of the XBlockchain Summit at the Inaya Putri Bali, we had a public demonstration and made the world’s first blockchain phone call on our latest device: the XPhone," the firm said in its Medium blog Oct. 10.

According to the blog post, unlike the traditional phones that require a centralized mobile carrier, this handset uses the Function X blockchain developed by the company. Function X is also is based on Android OS 9.0.

"The XPhone OS is currently available to phone manufacturers for testing. The detailed information of Function X will be available on functionx.io on October 15th. The Function X blockchain, FXTP, IPFS, and XPhone will be officially launched in Q2 2019," the blog post read.