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The World's First Blockchain Smartphone Is In Development (engadget.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the first-of-its-kind dept.

A company called Sirin Labs is developing an open-source smartphone that runs on a fee-less blockchain. "The Finney -- named in honor of bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney -- will be the only smartphone in the world that's fully secure and safe enough to hold cryptographic coins," reports Engadget. The company is launching a crowdsale event this October (date to be confirmed) to support the phone's development. From the report: According to Sirin, all Finney devices (there's an all-in-one PC coming, too) will form an independent blockchain network powered by IOTA's Tangle technology. The network will operate without centralized backbones or mining centers cluttering up the transaction process, using the SRN token as its default currency (only SRN token holders will be able to purchase the device). And it'll all run on a Sirin operating system specially designed to support blockchain applications such as crypto wallets and secure exchange access. The phone comes with all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a device with a $1,000 price tag, including a 256GB internal memory and 16MP camera, plus a hefty suite of security measures.

5 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Isn't the only benefit of a blockchain is to replace a single trusted server with distributed authority. How does that help with a local device (aka a smartphone)?

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    1. Re:Why? by stinerman · · Score: 5, Funny

      It helps because blockchain crypto decentralized cyberpunk. That's why. Blockchain!

      Blockchain!

  2. What makes a smartphone "Blockchain"? by hey! · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And what makes a "blockchain" phone more secure than a "non-blockchain" one?

    Blockchain is an algorithm; or I suppose it could be viewed as an architectural viewpoint. But until someone says exactly what problem they are using blockchain to solve (and how) there's absolutely no reason to believe a "Blockchain Phone" would be any more secure than an ordinary phone running blockchain apps.

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  3. Re:Slashdot downtime by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Probably has something to do with this: "Power meltdown 'fries' SourceForge, knocks site's servers titsup"

  4. /. offline by QuietLagoon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Anyone know why /. was offline for most of the day today?