"Mobile phone as a mining machine! HTC is expected to enable Monero mining on Exodus in the second quarter of this year."

According to a recent announcement, Taiwan's smartphone giant HTC has partnered with ASIC chip design company Mida Labs to further expand its blockchain phone Exodus into the mining sector, with plans to enable Monero (XMR) cryptocurrency mining functionality later this year.

HTC Introduces Mobile Phone Monero Mining

According to a report by Forbes, HTC is collaborating with ASIC chip design company Mida Labs to develop a cryptocurrency mining app called DeMiner for its blockchain phone Exodus. The application is expected to be available for download in the second quarter of 2020, allowing Exodus users to directly participate in Monero mining through their phones (while charging).

The DeMiner app can generate computing power comparable to a typical desktop computer, but excels in energy consumption efficiency. According to the report, EXODUS 1S users can mine at least $0.0038 worth of Monero per day on average through the app, while the electricity cost is less than 50% of the earnings.

Chen Xinsheng, HTC's Chief Decentralized Officer, stated:

"Mobile mining is an important research topic to understand the development of cryptocurrency network security. By 2020, the global number of mobile phones will approach 3.5 billion, further decentralizing and distributing the computing power and mining capabilities of such cryptocurrency networks."

On the other hand, Jri Lee, founder and CEO of Midas Labs, further emphasized the significance of enabling smartphone mining for blockchain, as there are billions of smartphones in the world. Taking Monero as an example, if 1% of smartphones participate in mining, the total combined computing power will far exceed the existing network hash rate of Monero.

Why Monero?

Generally, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin with PoW consensus mechanism have high mining thresholds in terms of computing power and energy consumption, often requiring specialized ASIC mining rigs. It is difficult for ordinary smartphones to compete with them. The reason Monero (XMR) can be mined with smartphones lies in its consensus algorithm, RandomX, which is CPU-friendly, meaning that even with ASIC mining rigs or high-end GPU hardware, there isn't much advantage in mining Monero. This is done to maintain the decentralization of miners and reduce the centralization threat posed by large mining pools, aligning with the vision of HTC and Midas Labs. Jri Lee stated:

"Cryptocurrency mining should not be limited to large mining farms or a few miners. Mining on mobile devices or other personal equipment is in line with the core spirit of blockchain, which is decentralization. Today, the most valuable cryptocurrencies are still based on Proof of Work (PoW). In other words, mining is an essential part of these cryptocurrencies."

Related Readings

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