Taiwanese consumer electronics company HTC recently revealed that it wants its customers to have access to the Bitcoin (BTC) network when using its blockchain mobile devices.
According to a presentation on Saturday by HTC’s Chief Content Officer Phil Chen at the Magical Crypto Conference in New York, HTC is planning to release a low-cost version of its blockchain phone called the Exodus 1s, which will have the capability to act as a full node for the Bitcoin network.
For those unfamiliar, full nodes download every block and transaction and check them against Bitcoin’s consensus rules. At a minimum, a full node must download every transaction that has ever taken place, all new transactions and all block headers.
Chen told CoinDesk that the addition of the full node functionality was an integral part of their Bitcoin plans, especially as HTC looks to attract avid cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
“The bitcoin blockchain is about 200 [gigabytes], and it’s growing about 60 gigs per year. And those numbers are reasonable to hold on a smartphone,” said Chen. “Imagine the iPod with 256 gigs… of course, the music fan wants to keep the whole music library but the crypto fan wants to keep the whole bitcoin blockchain.”
While the Exodus 1 currently costs around $700, Chen notes that the 1s will retail for between $250 and $300, with a release date set for the end of Q3. After launch, HTC will likely look to add additional blockchain networks.
