Consumer electronics giant HTC is set to allow users to mine Monero (XMR) cryptocurrency directly through their smartphone EXODUS 1S blockchain. For the initiative, HTC said it has partnered with ASIC chip design firm Midas Labs. Midas Labs is developing a DeMiner app which is expected to be available in the second quarter of 2020.

The app is designed to inactivate mining automatically whenever the telephone is in regular use or when the charger is unplugged, by announcement.

Phil Chen, the decentralized chief executive of HTC, said that DeMiner would help decentralize mining and make it “cost efficient.”

“The crypto world is under threat from the domination of the hashrate by giant mining pools. The most effective way to eliminate this problem is to make mining accessible for the masses, and that is through mobile. This app makes smartphone mining cost-efficient, which gives incentives to individual miners and helps to decentralize the network,” said Chen.

Mining Monero, a privacy-centric cryptocurrency, is not cost-effective on desktops, according to Midas Labs. The company said a typical laptop could mine XMR equivalent to about $0.06 a day by burning 65W of power, which would cost about $0.156 a day, “a loss-making endeavour.”

“Midas Labs empowers EXODUS 1S users to mine at least $0.0038 of XMR per day on average, while the electricity cost is less than 50% of that,” said Jri Lee, founder and CEO of Midas Labs and professor at National Taiwan University.

In other news, Midas Labs, led by Chen’s venture firm Proof of Capital, has also raised an undisclosed sum in its seed funding round.

“I’m excited by our investment in Midas Labs as they apply world class semiconductor design in the mobile mining space. Importantly, their team has a core value of furthering decentralization and creating a more inclusive monetary and financial system,” said Chen.

HTC took several initiatives relating to cryptography and blockchain. The company latest introduced a blockchain router that would allow customers to run a complete bitcoin node from home. The smartphone line EXODUS also features an integrated cryptocurrency wallet, called Zion Vault.

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