HTC Breaks Out Mobile Mining With Smartphone App That Allows to Mine XMR

On April 10, HTC disclosed a plan to support its flagship blockchain phone, EXODUS 1s, with a Monero mining feature. This signifies a start of mobile mining, which holds a promise to bring power costs down and make cryptocurrency mining more decentralized.

HTC, a Taiwanese electronics corporation, will develop an app called DeMiner collaboratively with Midas Labs. The app will empower the users of EXODUS 1s, the first blockchain phone model by HTC, to mine Monero using mobile phones. All those who wish will be able to download and use the app starting from Q2 2020.

Mobile mining is a new reality

While using EXODUS 1s and its app, people will be capable of mining the minimum of $0.0038 of XMR, with 50% less energy expenditure. This idea came from the theory that mining activity is costly and energy inefficient when performed from a computer.

Phil Chen, Decentralized Chief Officer at HTC, explained to Forbes:

“Mining on mobile is an important research topic in understanding the development of secure crypto networks. The number of mobile phones in 2020 is approaching 3.5 Billion, which would further decentralize and distribute the hash rate and mining power of such crypto networks.”

The cryptocurrency industry is threatened by large-scale pools that concentrate the whole hash power. The best way to combat this is to disperse mining to broader audiences, and the sole way to do this is through a mobile device.

Next degree of decentralization

Phil Chen considers that the new app will further decentralize the Monero network. While XMR is broadly regarded controversial due to its non-traceability, he hastened to mitigate potential concerns by stating that Monero privacy issues and its high degree of usage for illegal purposes have no influence over its technical specifications. And the specifications of this cryptocurrency are very good to be deployed for mobile mining which can make a real breakthrough.

It was also said that the privacy aspect of Monero does not affect banks’ operations, which can easily trace and carry out KYC and AML procedures even with XMR. Besides, the exchangeability of Monero makes it more “anti-fragile” than other traceable assets.

Last few years marked an increased interest in decentralized applications among smartphone manufacturers, as coinicol.com, a world blockchain news outlet, reported. While Samsung Galaxy S20 phones already contain wallets for storage of BTC and ETH tokens, LG so far only plans to bring a blockchain-based smartphone on the market. Huawei expressed a similar intent back in 2018.