HTC Exodus Crypto Mining App Could Help Decentralize Networks via Mobile Devices
- The HTC Exodus 1S is being marketed as a smartphone that can mine crypto while charging
- Midas Labs are the ones developing the mining app, and it is expected to roll out within the Q2 of this year
- While it isn’t showing much promise so far, the HTC Exodus app could herald an age of mass mining via mobile devices
On April 11th, 2020, the Daily Chain reported that the HTC Exodus blockchain smartphone would soon usher in its own mining application in order to mine Monero (XMR) via the “DeMiner” App developed by Midas Labs.
Due to growing concerns that cryptocurrency mining activity involves high energy consumption, and therefore high costs, HTC’s attempt to ensure that these levels can be reduced by transferring work to mobile devices is noble.
Unfortunately, in the field of cryptocurrency mining, only absolute computing power can guarantee absolute income, and many people in the crypto space, including Ethereum CEO Vitalik Buterin, are not optimistic about mobile-based mining applications.
Indeed, using an HTC Exodus 1S smartphone can only mine $0.0038 of XMR per day, so the mining app cannot turn the phone into a pure money-making machine, as noted by the Daily chain.
Could Mobile Mining Build a More Decentralized Network?
As more and more mobile devices are added to mining, it will be able to spawn a more decentralized network to avoid being monopolized by giants with 51% of the computing power, such as the typical attack suffered by ETH last year.
Phil Chen, Decentralized Chief Officer at HTC was quoted saying:
‘The crypto world is under threat from the domination of the hashrate by giant mining pools. The most effective way to eliminate this problem is to make mining accessible for the masses. And that is through mobile.”
Of course, no one is going to be buying an Exodus smartphone as a mining tool; they’re buying it to use as a phone that can also mine a little crypto while it’s charging. What’s significant about the new HTC mining app is that it demonstrates that a smartphone’s relatively energy efficient processor consumes less as it mines.
Although the tech is still in its early stages, crypto enthusiasts can look forward to a time when apps such as the “DeMiner” make smartphone mining cost-efficient, giving incentives to individual miners and helping create a decentralized crypto network.
What Does this Mean For HTC?
As previouslyreported by The Daily Chain, the Exodus 1S additionally comes with the Bitcoin (BTC) full node functionality – which is software program that permits users to confirm blocks within the Bitcoin community, thus allowing users to maintain a complete BTC ledger.
Dubbed The Exodus 5G Hub, the device will also feature other key integrated decentralized features including ProtonMail email service, Brave web browser, and VPN incognito, and is expected to launch between April – June 2020.
This all means that the Exodus smartphones are likely to remain niche gadgets for crypto enthusiasts. Being able to mine cryptocurrency or run a Bitcoin node is a nifty development, but HTC’s ailing smartphone division needs a lot more than that if it’s going to turn itself around.