Phone-tastic

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February 26, 2019 PHONE REWARDS: Blockchain startup Electroneum has just launched an Android smartphone that rewards users in cryptocurrency. Announcing the news on Monday, the firm said its new M1 comes with a cloud mining technology integration, allowing its users to earn up to $3 worth of its ETN token through an included app. The $80 smartphone will at launch mine only ETN, and according to the company, the phones can even mine while offline, though details were not provided. The device is being offered at the price of a “reconditioned handset” because Electroneum is looking to target developing countries, head of operations Nick Cook told CoinDesk: “To start with we will be selling the M1 in South Africa, as this is our first launch market ... The M1 will be sold through local vendors.” Full Story GALAXY TEASE: South Korean tech giant Samsung looks to have revealed some of the first blockchain partners for its upcoming flagship cellphone, the Galaxy S10. At its Samsung Mobile Business Summit session at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2019 on Monday, the company presented the new phone’s Blockchain Keystore to affiliates and customers, displaying a picture that included the logo for Cosmee, a beauty community service dapp (decentralized application) from the Cosmochain crypto project, as well as that of the Enjin crypto gaming platform. Cosmochain has reportedly confirmed the relationship with Samsung. Developed to connect beauty industry companies with customers, the project incentivizes users to create content such as reviews with rewards in its ethereum-based ERC-20 token, cosmo coin (COSM). While the Enjin logo was also displayed at the event, its partnership with Samsung hasn’t been confirmed. However, promotional shots tweeted Monday also showed a wallet app on the S10 that looked identical to the Enjin offering. Full Story​ EXODUS SALES: Taiwanese consumer electronics manufacturer HTC is making its blockchain phone more widely accessible. Previously only available for purchase with bitcoin or ether, the HTC EXODUS 1 can now be bought with U.S. dollars and other fiat currencies. Announced Tuesday during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the company has also expanded the range of cryptocurrencies accepted for the phone to include litecoin and the Binance exchange’s BNB token. For now, the $699 phone is still exclusively sold online. While HTC said it will work to potentially begin selling the device in carriers’ stores, conversations with these carriers are still in the early stages. HTC also announced an integration of EXODUS with the Opera web browser, allowing customers who load crypto funds into its Zion mobile wallet app to conduct micropayments on websites using Opera or decentralized applications (dapps) loaded onto the device itself. Full Story TOKENIZATION RECORD: And, in some non-phone-related news, Inveniam Capital Partners (ICP) is preparing to tokenize shares in four private real estate and debt transactions valued at $260 million.  Announced Tuesday, the firm intends to start with the sale of tokenized shares of a WeWork-occupied building in downtown Miami, Florida, valued at $65.5 million – likely the largest piece of real estate to be financed this way to date. The company placed a deposit on the building last month using an unspecified amount of bitcoin. Once the other three deals are finalized, ICP will be auctioning off shares in the assets, represented by ERC-20 tokens on the ethereum blockchain, in the coming weeks. Shares in the four assets will be sold through a Dutch auction, and Inveniam will accept bids denominated in the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap at launch. Full Story​ PROGRESS NEEDED: Bitcoin is down but not out … yet. The bulls have managed to defend $3,700 despite Sunday's high-volume drop, but quick progress is needed to avoid extending losses below $3,764 in the coming hours. A failure to keep prices above that level would confirm a flag breakdown on the hourly chart and open the doors to levels below $3,400. Full Story​ BEST OF THE BEST   THE NEXT WEB: How do firms put real-world goods such as, say, 17,000 kg of almonds on a blockchain? Through blockchain-enabled shipment trackers, explains The Next Web.  These trackers can publish data about assets' whereabouts, condition and environment on a distributed ledger. For instance, LX Group, one manufacturer of such trackers on a private version of the ethereum blockchain, equips its devices with GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, environment sensors and a battery that can last for years.  The hardware can communicate the conditions of shipments and execute smart contracts if specific changes occur or anything goes wrong, informing all parties involved in the supply chain process. LX's trackers are also fitted with a hardware accelerator to encrypt data more quickly than general purpose processors. But there are still security challenges. Like with other devices, they can be tampered with or physically hacked.  THE REST SWISSINFO: The upcoming blockchain platform form Switzerland’s top stock exchange, SIX, could be delayed to the last quarter of 2019 or even early next year, suggests a report from SWI Swissinfo. When announcing the platform, the firm had set a deadline of mid-2019 for the SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), and its chairman, Romeo Lacher, later said the platform will see launch in the second half of this year. However, despite the delay, the platform’s development is “on track,” Thomas Zeeb, SDX project leader, told the news source. EUROPEAN COMMISSION: Hungary has become the 29th country to join the European Commission’s blockchain group, the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP). The country will work together with other member states in the development of a European Blockchain Services Infrastructure for public services, said Claire Bury, deputy director-general for the European Commission’s directorate-general communications networks. The EBP was first formed back in April through a joint declaration between 21 EU member states and Norway. Since then seven other countries – Italy, Cyprus, Denmark, Romania, Greece,  Liechtenstein and Hungary – have joined the partnership. 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