New HTC smartphone will have the capability to run as a full Bitcoin node

HTC’s decentralisation chief Phil Chen has revealed a new low-cost version of the firm’s blockchain smartphone, which will also have the capability to run as a Bitcoin node.

Speaking on Saturday at the Magical Crypto Conference in New York, he announced that the $300 device will be capable of acting as a full node for the Bitcoin network, meaning customers will be able to store the entire blockchain’s data to verify the state of the network on their fully self-sovereign device.

The Exodus 1S is a cheaper, more sophisticated descendant of the Exodus 1 launched last year. It will be the first smartphone capable of running a full Bitcoin node out of the box. By making it easier for more people to validate Bitcoin transactions and blocks, the phone has the potential to increase the resiliency of the Bitcoin blockchain.

The company will also provide a software development kit (SDK) available for its crypto wallet app Zion Vault, and has plans to eventually open source the code behind its social key recovery mechanism.

Chen went on to tell the conference that the company is aiming to release the new flagship handset by the end of Q3 this year.

Part of a decentralised and censorship-resistant world

Forbes reported that HTC’s Exodus 1S could mark the biggest step yet toward a solution that involves reinventing the internet from the ground up.

Chen told Forbes that “running a node is maybe the most important part of the blockchain as it helps secure the network. Every one of them acts as an authoritative verifier of every single transaction of the block.”

“For Exodus customers, we’re building technology for the open, neutral, borderless, decentralised, and censorship-resistant world.”

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