The XYO Network lets anyone turn their cellphone into an edge node with a proof-of-origin chain and bound witness technology using their partner app, “COIN”. With COIN, users can ‘geomine’ to earn crypto rewards, in exchange for participating in XYO’s decentralized network of devices. XYO describes geomining as the act of exploring and discovering digital items or assets from a real, physical space while sharing relevant location data and interactions with other geominers. In order to earn cryptocurrency, geominers will have to geomine enough in-app ‘COIN’ tokens and then redeem them for ‘XYO Tokens’ or other cryptocurrencies. Recently listed on …

Xiaomi India, the subcontinent’s branch of the major mobile phone manufacturer, is interested in the cryptocurrency industry but needs regulatory clarity from the government. The firm’s managing director, Manu Jain, said in an interview with The Economic Times, “We will want to wait for all the regulatory things. Of course, crypto is an area, which is extremely interesting, and is the biggest buzzword and is doing exceptionally well. But, we would want to understand more on the regulation side.” Jain’s latest remarks come after the company’s financial service business returned to growth in 2021, seeing a 35% year-on-year surge in …

Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi has denied the company's involvement in a move by a Portuguese Xiaomi shop to start accepting Bitcoin (BTC) payments. Mi Store Portugal, a Xiaomi retailer in the country, announced Wednesday on Facebook that it now allows customers to purchase devices using five cryptocurrencies, including BTC, Ether (ETH), Tether (USDT), Dash (DASH) and the Utrust (UTK) token. A spokesperson for Xiaomi subsequently reacted to the news on Chinese social media platform Weibo, stressing that the Mi Store Portugal is not directly related to Xiaomi’s operations. “We are concerned about the information that Mi Store Portugal accepts digital …

Major global cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has launched a mobile crypto trading application in a new move to boost industry adoption in the United States. The company announced Wednesday that its new app is now available for most of the United States as well as other countries around the world for both iOS and Android users. The app allows users to trade more than 50 cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), via smartphones. The move follows a rollout of the Kraken mobile app in Europe this January. “This consumer app is our first major foray into supporting wider consumer adoption …

As mobile devices, cost and the ease of accessing the internet becomes less of a challenge for people across the world, the value of data has become a new highly desired commodity. Governments and companies utilize customer and user data for a vast array of purposes and this has placed added emphasis on how data is collected, priced and of course, there are also privacy concerns regarding how personal data is obtained. Currently, there are several blockchain projects focused on organizing data and enabling users to have more control over what data they elect to share and monetizing some of …

Major Russian mobile network operators like MegaFon and Beeline are considering how the digital ruble will function on their mobile devices. According to a Feb. 16 report by local news agency Izvestia, Beeline and MegaFon proposed to set up smartphone wallets for Russia’s central bank digital currency. The carriers also suggested additional services like linking a digital wallet to a customer’s phone number. This would allow users to store digital rubles directly on their smartphones as well as transfer and pay with the digital currency using smart devices, a spokesperson for MegaFon said. According to Izvestia, both MegaFon and Beeline …

Just like you might think twice about eating chicken nuggets once you see how they are made, you’d likely hesitate about volunteering your personal information once you see how it is used and monetized. Freedom has become one of the world’s most commoditized assets — and over the years, the internet has eroded it. We live in a world where we’re confronted with 5,000 words of terms and conditions when buying sneakers. Crucial details about what companies do with our data is buried in masses of legalese — prompting most of us to click “I agree” without thinking of the …

In a major new partnership, Samsung has announced that the Samsung Blockchain Wallet will be integrated with Gemini, a New York-based crypto exchange. This integration will allow owners of newer Samsung Galaxy phones to not only use their devices as cold storage wallets but to buy and sell crypto via the Gemini exchange as well. Samsung is the global leader in the smartphone market, with 298.1 million units shipped and a 21.8% market share in 2019, according to tech analytic firm Canalys. Adding support for Gemini will lower the barrier to entry to cryptocurrency use for millions of people. Previously, …

A new cryptocurrency scam in India is targeting wealthy individuals using a fake mobile app. According to India TV News, cybercriminals are targeting high income individuals across India. Victims receive messages through social media groups asking them to sell and buy Bitcoin through a mobile app. This app, which supposedly acts as a crypto exchange, is actually entirely fraudulent. Once a user’s Bitcoin is deposited on the fake exchange, the scammers stop responding to queries from the victim and disappear. Manan Shah, founder and CEO of Avalance Global Solutions, said that an unidentified man lost over $50,000 while dealing with …

Samsung and SK Telecom, a South Korean mobile carrier, unveiled the world’s first 5G smartphone equipped with blockchain-powered ID authentication. The phone, called “Galaxy A Quantum”, has a quantum random number generation chipset developed in partnership with Samsung Electronics. The phone’s initial price is 649,000 Korean won, or $527.54 USD, according to the announcement on May 14. Blockchain-powered features incorporated The company stated that the blockchain-powered system is utilized when users pay for goods and services at offline merchants with the SK Pay. Blockchain is also used to help prevent the falsification and theft of information stored on the phone. …

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, voiced a low opinion of the idea of cryptocurrency mining via mobile phones. Tweeting on April 13, Buterin said mining on mobile phones “is a fool’s game,” referring to the announcement by mobile phone manufacturer giant HTC to allow users to mine Monero (XMR) through its blockchain phone, Exodus. Ethereum’s co-founder added the following in reaction to the announcement: “[It] goes against everything we know about hardware economies of scale and more likely to trick users with false hope than help them.” Furthermore, he added that “staking on phones,” on the other hand, is …

Mobile phone manufacturer giant HTC will allow users to mine Monero (XMR) cryptocurrency through its blockchain phone, Exodus, according to an announcement made on April 10. The announcement said that thanks to the partnership with the ASIC chip design firm Midas Labs, the Taiwanese company would be able to mine Monero through an application called DeMiner, which will be available for download in Q2 2020. Saving costs in mining activity Due to growing concerns that cryptocurrency mining activity involves high energy consumption, and therefore high costs, HTC ensures that these levels can be reduced by transferring work to mobile devices. …