Pundi X Enters Blockchain Phone Race

Pundi X, a developer of crypto payments solutions, has demonstrated a blockchain-powered smartphone called the XPhone. The company estimates that the phone will be launched in the second quarter of 2019.

One of its attributes is the operating system (OS) powered by a fully decentralized blockchain network called Function X, which was used to make the world’s first blockchain phone call at the XBlockchain Summit in Bali this week. More information about the system should be available on October 15.

However, phone calls are far from the only thing Function X can do. According to the company, messaging and data transmission of all kinds can be accomplished by routing activities through blockchain nodes without even the need to use phone numbers. As the official blog post announcing the phone and system adds, “Unlike traditional phones which require a centralized mobile carrier, XPhone runs independently without the need for that.”

The operating system is based off the Android OS 9.0, so there is a backward compatibility with the Android apps. For developers and users transitioning to the Function X platform, it is supposed to be relatively easy as the knowledge and experience from developing and using Android will be transferable. The smartphone, meanwhile, is a blockchain node in and of itself – essentially the physical form of Function X.

Demonstration of XPhone:

Pundi X CTO and co-founder Pitt Huang said at the event that they hope the phone and the OS could speed up blockchain adoption in the mainstream. “We see blockchain as being at a similar stage of development to the Internet in the early ‘90s; a new kind of network and decentralized protocol like Function X will be transformational to blockchain as the browser was to the Internet,” Huang added. “For a start, it’s putting blockchain in the hands of millions via a smartphone and returning control of their data back to them, but it also answers so many other challenges.”

The price of Pundi X’s NPXS token surged over 10% in light of this news, although it has mostly shaved off those gains in the past 48 hours. As Cryptonews.com previously reported, the coin has suffered significant losses in the third quarter of this year, losing almost 69% of its value.