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‘World’s first’ blockchain phone launches, as Sirin Labs outlines plans to bridge the gap between crypto and the mass market.
After months of expectation and one of the top-five biggest ICOs of 2017, on Nov. 29 Sirin Labs has launched Finney, the 'world's first' blockchain smartphone. Yet, even with the endorsement of football legend Lionel Messi and a $157.8 million token sale behind it, the $999 device has stepped into uncharted territory, where its built-in cold storage wallet and DApp ecosystem will have to contend with the dominance of Apple and Samsung — as well as the Exodus 1, a rival blockchain smartphone from HTC.
Features
Most of Finney's key features had already been announced prior to Thursday's launch: The smartphone comes equipped with an embedded cold storage wallet that's physically separate from the main hardware; its Sirin OS is a "Google-certified" mod of the Android operating system; it boasts AI-driven, cyber-threat detection; and it enables the direct exchange of selected cryptocurrencies (Ethereum, Bitcoin and Sirin Labs Token) without the need to use a centralized exchange.
But at its launch event in Barcelona, Sirin Labs provided more concrete details as to its wider aims and expectations for Finney, revealing that the smartphone is just the beginning of its plans to bring blockchain technology to mobile devices.
Most of all, the Israeli company used the launch event to emphasize how Finney is a smartphone that makes blockchain technology more accessible to a mainstream audience and that provides diehard crypto enthusiasts with a more practical way of securely managing their coins.
“This is the most important computer of our generation — smartphone.”
"The Finney phone is a one-stop shop," declared Sirin Labs' co-founder and co-CEO Moshe Hogeg during his presentation. "Before the Finney, you needed a ledger, you needed a computer, you needed wallet software and then you needed to go to an exchange, and then you could convert. The Finney does all of this in one phone."
By having a cold storage wallet, a Token Conversion Service and crypto-exchange apps on a single device, Hogeg affirmed that Finney will take "a huge step forward in bridging the gap between the blockchain economy and the consumer market," making the world of crypto more accessible to an audience that doesn't necessarily have the time or inclination to sign up for Kraken or Coinbase on their PCs and then buy a Ledger or Trezor wallet.
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