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The World’s First Blockchain Smartphones Are Coming This Fall

August 20, 2018 by Eric C. Jansen, ChFC®

Two new smartphones could help make blockchain technology more mainstream this fall. The HTC Exodus and Sirin Labs Finney, both slated for release in the coming months, are promising everything you already love in your smartphone plus cryptocurrency-friendly features like cold storage for your coins and seamless token exchange.

Sirin Labs Finney Phone

Swiss company Sirin Labs used an initial coin offering for its token, SRN, to raise money for the Finney phone. It is named after the late developer and cypherpunk Hal Finney, recipient of the first bitcoin transaction.

The phone will cost $999, but consumers can only purchase it using the equivalent amount of SRN, which was issued in an initial coin offering and is now available through several exchanges. The token is valued at $0.074245 and has a market cap of $17 million at the time of writing. Anyone who preorders the phone by depositing 50 SRN will get a 10 percent discount; 25,000 phones have been preordered.

Besides its use for purchasing the phone itself, the SRN token will also be useful for purchasing decentralized apps (dapps) from the Finney’s community-run app store, for sharing excess phone power with other Finney users, and for earning SRN by using the phone to host a WiFi hotspot.

The phone’s open-source operating system, Sirin OS, is based on the most recent Android operating system (Android 8.1 Oreo). The phone will have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, a six-inch screen with an 18:9 display, 6 GB of RAM, a 12-megapixel rear camera, an 8-megapixel selfie camera, and 128 GB of built-in storage with the capability to add up to 2 TB more via SD memory card.

Each Finney phone will serve as a node in an independent, lightweight blockchain that doesn’t require mining and will facilitate fast, fee-less payments between network members. This blockchain will use IOTA’s Tangle technology. Sirin Labs says on its website that the phones are designed to prioritize security and compatibility with the crypto-economy.

Smartphone Cold Storage

The Finney will serve as a cold wallet for digital currencies through a physical switch that will instantly make the phone “wirelessly inaccessible,” ComputerWorld explains. A phone (or other device) needs to be completely offline—inaccessible via cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth, and NFC—to keep sensitive data such as private cryptocurrency keys secure. The phone’s crypto wallet will be compatible with the most common cryptocurrencies, not just with SRN tokens.

It will also use three-factor authentication for security. Users can protect their phones by requiring iris and fingerprint scans for access. The Finney also has a behavioral-based Intrusion Protection System. The phone even has an ideological purpose: to provide “true security, while maintaining excellent user experience,” instead of trading away security in favor of user experience like existing phones do, “at a huge cost in fraud and cybercrime.”

One of the phone’s unique features is its dual-screen design. While the phone looks like any other smartphone, it also has a two-inch rectangular second screen that pops up from behind the main screen. This safe screen’s dedicated purpose is to make cryptocurrency transactions. It runs on dedicated firmware, separated from the main phone with a firewall to prevent hacking.

Token-Friendly Features

The Finney phone will be designed to make crypto transactions more consumer-friendly by making automatic token conversions through its Token Conversion Service. This service will facilitate online purchases in that consumers won’t have to take the extra step of visiting an exchange to get the crypto they need, and they’ll be able to seamlessly exchange the phone’s native SRN tokens for more widely used currencies such as bitcoin. While it’s already possible to do this with an app on a regular smartphone, having this functionality built into a new phone could encourage cryptocurrency use among people who don’t know how to set up an existing phone to use cryptocurrency. And with this phone being specifically designed for people who use cryptocurrency, it should also provide greater security.

The question is how effective the phone will be in attracting new cryptocurrency users given that people will need to figure out how to acquire the SRN tokens needed to purchase it. Those able to visit a new Sirin store in the United States, Tokyo, or London, at least, can get help with this task from store employees. They can also join in-store activities to learn more about cryptocurrency and meet like-minded people in the community.

HTC Exodus

HTC is withholding many of its phone’s details for now, but here’s what we know. The HTC Exodus will offer interoperability among different blockchains with initial support for bitcoin, lightning networks, ethereum, and dfinity and possibly later support for other distributed ledgers. Each phone will act as a blockchain node, which its creators hope will double or even triple the number of nodes on the bitcoin and ethereum networks, though it is questionable whether enough people will buy the phone to make that possibility a reality. Its price is expected to be around $1,000, in line with the Finney and the iPhone X. Standalone cold-storage devices such as the Ledger Nano S and Trezor are about one-tenth of the price of these phones.

Users’ identity and data will be stored on the phone itself instead of in the cloud to provide greater security and privacy, in theory. The Exodus will also include a cold-storage wallet to keep users’ cryptocurrencies safe. And HTC will be the exclusive mobile distributor of the popular cartoon cat-breeding dapp, CryptoKitties. The Exodus may also come with developer tools for dapps.

A big question with both phones is, what happens if you lose or irreversibly damage your phone? With your cryptocurrency in the phone’s cold storage, will those assets be lost forever? And is the same true if you lose your private key and your seed phrase, the string of random words that lets you recover your private key? HTC says its phone will have a wallet recovery feature, though it hasn’t released information on how it will work. Sirin Labs says there will be no way to recover private keys and their associated cryptocurrencies for Finney users who lose their phones and seed phrases.

Conclusion

The first two blockchain smartphones will be niche products, to be sure, and first-generation devices aren’t always a major success. But just as the Diamond Rio and Creative Nomad Jukebox MP3 players helped pave the way for the iPod, the Exodus and Finney, even if imperfect and not widely adopted, could pave the way for future blockchain smartphones. Still, the HTC Exodus and Sirin Labs Finney represent interesting steps forward in crypto, and it will be exciting to see whether consumers embrace them.

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Eric C. Jansen, ChFC

Fun Facts About Me

When he is not researching the next great stock to add to client portfolios, you can find him travelling frequently with his family to Jackson Hole Wyoming.

  • Hometown: Chicago, IL
  • Birth Month & Year: November, 1964
  • Favorite Hobby: Goldmining in Nome, AK
  • Favorite Food: Steak at Charley’s Steakhouse in Orlando FL
  • Can't be interrupted when: Watching the Discovery Channel
  • Hidden Talent: Finish Carpenter
  • Something on bucket list: Obtain Helicopter Pilot License
  • Family Pet: Goldfish

Steven C. Johnson, ChFC

Fun Facts About Me

Steve would tell you that one of the best parts of the day is spent talking to clients and relationships that result from it. When away from the office, he loves to travel the back roads of New England enjoying all the great sites that can be found off the beaten path.

  • Hometown: Townsend, MA
  • Birth Month & Year: December, 1967
  • Favorite Hobby: Playing Hockey
  • Favorite Food: Chicken Caesar Salad
  • Can't be interrupted when: Watching the Bruins
  • Hidden Talent: Cooking – Makes a great Thanksgiving turkey
  • Something on bucket list: Travel to Italy and Greece
  • Family Pet: Max – our Pomeranian

Frederick M. Lane, ChFC, CASL

Fun Facts About Me

When not managing client portfolios, Fred can be found relaxing with family and friends.

  • Hometown: Nutley, NJ
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  • Can't be interrupted when: Listening to Pink Floyd
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  • Something on bucket list: Space Flight - Tourism
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Catherine M. Gareri

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When not caring for her clients Cathy enjoys relaxing in her yard at home.

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  • Hidden Talent: Dog Whisperer
  • Something on bucket list: Spending a couple months on the Almalfi Coast
  • Family Pet: In Between Mastiffs now so a little blue fish “Willy”

Katie E. Moore, CLTC

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When Katie is not busy taking care of her clients, she spends her time being a mom to her two little ones, Owen and Isla.

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  • Favorite Food: Mexican Food
  • Can't be interrupted when: I'm cooking
  • Hidden Talent: Climbed Yosemite's Half Dome, twice - no fear :)
  • Something on bucket list: See the Northern Lights and Potty Train my 2 year old
  • Family Pet: Caddy and Sierra – our two cats

Hesper Duval

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Loves spending time with 2 daughters and enjoys participating in 5k obstacle races throughout the year.

  • Hometown: Charlton, MA
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  • Family Pet: Charlie and Nora, both black labs from the same litter

Donna Fournier

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When not cheering for the Patriots, Donna spends her free time travelling throughout the United States looking for new haunted places to explore. She loves to wear her cowboy hat and boots when travelling out west.

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  • Favorite Hobby: Exploring haunted locations
  • Favorite Food: Pizza
  • Can't be interrupted when: Eating my pizza
  • Hidden Talent: Rollerblading
  • Something on bucket list: Travel to Australia
  • Family Pet:  Had a pet skunk

Danielle Drew

When Danielle does not have her head in a book studying to expanding her financial planning knowledge, she enjoys anything active and outdoors, including visits to the beach and hiking.  

  • Hometown: Dennis, MA
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  • Favorite Hobby: Working out, concerts, and exploring wineries
  • Favorite Food: Lobster pot pie, cheeseburgers, BBQ, the list goes on...
  • Can't be interrupted when: Working out 
  • Hidden Talent: Country line dancing
  • Something on bucket list: To hike the 48, 4000 footers of New Hampshire
  • Family Pet: none, hopefully a big dog someday

Jay Willwerth, ChFC

Fun Facts About Me

Jay’s days are spent helping clients achieve their financial goals, followed by nights and weekends typically watching his daughters play competitive volleyball.

  • Hometown: Melrose, MA
  • Birth Month & Year: September, 1959
  • Favorite Hobby: Golf
  • Favorite Food: Anything at a Patriot’s Tailgate
  • Can't be interrupted when: Watching the Patriot’s Game
  • Hidden Talent: Competitive Volleyball Watcher (Mostly his 2 daughters)
  • Something on bucket list: Play a round of Golf at Pebble Beach
  • Family Pet: Bella, our Shih-poo
 

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