Phil Chen, decentralized chief officer of HTC, discusses the upcoming model of the Exodus, why it will feature a full Bitcoin node, what’s in it for the user, whether or not it will affect the performance of other apps on the phone and whether HTC would ever add mining capabilities for the phone. We cover how the phone also functions as a hardware wallet, how private keys are kept safe, and how they are recovered if the user loses their phone. Plus, he describes who the ideal user is and how having so many crypto features built into the phone could change how people interact with their devices.

On May 27th I will be hosting a conversation about the future of finance and human rights at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway. As the world continues to move toward a cashless society, paper currency is disappearing. Companies like Facebook, Apple, and TenCent are becoming increasingly influential in the digital payment space. We’ll discuss how individuals and companies can preserve and protect financial freedoms in the digital age. I’ll be joined by Bitcoin author and educator Jimmy Song; Casa chief technology officer Alena Vranova; CoinCenter founder Jerry Brito; and Bitfury Group vice chairman George Kikvadze. To register to attend, visit oslofreedomforum.com today — use a discount code “unconfirmed25” to get 25% off your ticket price!

Thank you to our sponsor!

CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unconfirmed

Episode links:

HTC: https://www.htc.com/us/

The Exodus: http://www.htcexodus.com and https://twitter.com/htcexodus

Phil Chen: https://twitter.com/philchen913

HTC Exodus to feature full Bitcoin node: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2019/05/11/htc-integrates-full-bitcoin-node-into-surprise-smartphone-for-the-masses/#430979983ec4

Phil’s announcement at Magical Crypto Conference: https://www.coindesk.com/htc-says-its-next-smartphone-will-run-a-full-bitcoin-node

Bitcoin Magazine story: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/htc-launch-exodus-1s-smartphone-full-node-capacity/

Crypto swaps via Kyber on Exodus: https://www.coindesk.com/htc-has-added-in-wallet-crypto-swaps-to-its-exodus-phone