Taiwanese electronics giant HTC has launched its new smartphone Exodus 1s, enabling users to run a full Bitcoin (BTC) node on mobile. First smartphone to support full Bitcoin node In line with an announcement in May 2019, HTC launched the Exodus 1s at the Lightning Conference in Berlin on Oct. 19 and started selling the first devices during the even using the Lightning payment network, the firm said in a press release to Cointelegraph. The new Exodus 1s is a lower-cost version of the pioneering HTC’s blockchain-powered phone Exodus 1, which recently added support of Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Priced at …

Bitcoin.com announced a partnership with Taiwanese telecommunications manufacturer HTC to support Bitcoin Cash (BCH) on its flagship smartphones. In a press release on Sept. 16, Bitcoin.com announced that it and HTC would begin a long-term partnership wherein the HTC Exodus 1 will provide built-in wallet support for Bitcoin Cash. Bitcoin.com states that the phone supports BCH without having to download a BCH wallet from an app store. Current users will need to perform an update of their software to receive a Bitcoin.com wallet. Are blockchain and crypto a comeback for HTC? Earlier this year, tech-focused news daily TechCrunch reported that …

Blockchain digital property rights startup Bitmark has secured $3 million in a funding round led by Taiwanese electronics giant HTC. Bitmark will use the investment to expand its sales and marketing efforts, according to a news release published on Sept. 3. Alibaba, DCG and WI Harper also invest Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, venture capital firm WI Harper and crypto-focused investor Digital Currency Group also participated in the Series A funding round. Phil Chen, decentralized chief officer at HTC, said the company's investments in blockchain are at the core of its strategy of putting power back in the hands of global …

Bitcoin (BTC) mining giant Bitmain will increase its capacity by 50% in the next six months on the back of a giant hardware order, a source close to the deal has said. Bitmain eyes 50% capacity increase As reported by Chinese social media network WeChat on Aug. 23, Bitmain, which has seen a dramatic reversal of fortunes in 2019, will now buy 600,000 mining chips. According to a source close to the Taiwanese chip manufacturer processing the order, the chips will be of the most recent 7nm variety, the hash rate of which will be 50 tera hashes per second. …

The Taiwan-based subsidiary of hacked crypto exchange Bitpoint Japan will file a $9.4 million damages suit as it claims to have been overbilled by the parent exchange. Overbilling is ‘clearly’ erroneous Bitpoint Taiwan reportedly found that total funds it collected from local clients have been short by 500 million yen ($4.7 million) due to overbilling by parent company Bitpoint Japan, according to a report by Japanese English-language publication The Mainichi on Aug. 22. Citing a prepared lawsuit, The Mainichi reported that the Taiwanese subsidiary discovered the shortage of funds while checking past billings by Bitpoint Japan following a major hack …

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange VC Trade has integrated an anti-money laundering (AML) compliance technology developed by Taiwanese digital currency hardware wallet company CoolBitX. As Japanese finance-focused news outlet Blocktempo reported on Aug. 8, VC Trade — a crypto exchange founded by Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings last June — has adopted CoolBitX’s Sygna, a know-your customer (KYC) and AML compliance technology focused on digital currency transactions. CoolBitX’s founder and CEO Michael Ou ostensibly explained that the Sygna system allows users to withdraw assets to their wallets through a KYC multi-level checkpoint. If one of the parties participating in the transaction is …

American economist and professional crypto contrarian Nouriel Roubini has furiously demanded the release of a recording of his latest debate with BitMEX CEO and co-founder Arthur Hayes. In one of several fulminating tweets posted on July 2, Roubini accused the organizers of the Asia Blockchain Summit in Taiwan of being part of a “mafia hush money racket” and cowing to BitMEX’s censorship by choosing to neither tape nor broadcast his debate with Hayes during the event. One tweet reads: “Another @CryptoHayes scam: he didnt allow the blockchain conference to record our debate or beam it live. He controls the only …

Mithril, a decentralized platform that rewards content creators on social networks, told Cointelegraph that they are working on expanding the acceptance of its MITH token merchant network into different categories, such as coffee shops, restaurants, sports clothing and adult entertainment platforms. For instance, the team has announced a partnership with AccuPass, a Taiwanese ticket aggregator. According to Mithril, users are now able to purchase concert tickets with its tokens. In March 2019, SWAG, an adult entertainment network that connects amateur porn models and their fans, with more than 1.5 million registered users, started to accept MITH as a payment for …

Co-founder of Taiwan-based crypto exchange Cobinhood has been removed from corporate affairs since late April 2019, the firm announced on its Telegram group on May 6. Tai-yuan Chen, also known as Popo Chen, has “ceased to participate” in the firm due to “personal and investor disputes,” the announcement says. Specifically, Cobinhood wrote that their team had to file a police report due to Chen’s emotional instability and personal behaviors that caused safety concerns for the exchange’s employees. While the exchange has not specified the nature of Chen’s alleged personal behaviors and its impact on the team, Cobinhood still noted that …

Taiwanese consumer electronics giant HTC has revealed plans to launch a second-generation model of its blockchain-centric smartphone before the end of 2019. The news was announced in a report from English-language Asian IT news source Digitimes on April 29. According to HTC’s chief decentralized officer Phil Chen, the development is a bid to boost smartphone sales and expand the company’s blockchain ecosystem. As previously reported, HTC first unveiled plans for its blockchain-focused smartphone, dubbed “Exodus,” in spring 2018, launching the product later that year. Chen revealed that sales performance for the first-generation Exodus phone had met the company’s expectations, noting …

The National Development Council (NDC) of Taiwan announced today that it will launch a blockchain alliance in three months, English-language local media Taiwan News reported on March 26. The NDC is the policy-related agency of Taiwan’s executive branch of government, known as the Executive Yuan. Per the report, Minister Chen Mei-ling told the Smart City Summit & Expo in Taipei that the NDC has already consulted other government departments, experts and academics in order to determine the purpose of the alliance. Mei-ling reportedly expressed the hope that Taiwan may become an important hub in global blockchain development and use this …

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) will establish a new fundraising mechanism based on security token offerings (STOs), according to an article published by financial news outlet Taiwan Economic Daily on Monday, March 4. The FSC, an independent government agency subordinate to the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China (Taiwan), has revealed plans to adopt an STO-related fundraising mechanism. A symposium aimed at listening to the opinions of the industry’s practitioners on the issue is scheduled for the end of April this year, with plans to formulate relevant issuance standards and norms by the end of June 2019. Gu Lixiong, …