Pundi X (NPSX), a developer of blockchain-powered hardware, including a point-of-sale (POS) solution announced a new blockchain-based mobile phone called ‘XPhone’ powered by Function X, an ecosystem built entirely on and for blockchain.
XPhone can operate independently of centralized carriers. Users can route phone calls and messages via blockchain nodes without the need for phone numbers.
Function X enables users to securely send and receive data of all kinds, via a new transmission protocol, FXTP, while a decentralized file storage system is known as IPFX. Users will be able to share data in much the same way as they do online securely via the blockchain, while developers can quickly and easily publish decentralized applications via FXTP.
“Pundi X develops technology to solve challenges that blockchain technology is facing and make it usable in our life,” said Pitt Huang, the co-founder, and CTO of Pundi X. “It took decades before the uses of the internet could be applied widely enough to reshape the global economy, human relationships and governance.
“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. 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 possibilities for decentralized data storage and transmission are limitless. Decentralization is the core of blockchain technology and a new protocol for truly decentralized data transmission reflects Pundi X’s belief that everything should flow from this core philosophy”.
Pundi X CEO and co-founder Zac Cheah said that the XPhone has the potential to establish a large global pool of nodes that can be harnessed to help achieve scalability and decentralization for the broader blockchain ecosystem.
“Scalability in blockchain is derived from the number and geographic spread of nodes,” Zac said. “While certain blockchains such as Ethereum have achieved an admirable spread of nodes at 15,000 through transaction-based protocols, it’s clear that achieving a critical mass in terms of scale will require something with utility for the vast majority.
“Function X is the answer. By offering people the choice to be independent of a centralized communications network we’ve created a new use for blockchain that can be appreciated and used by most people.
“In turn, this will have considerable implications for the future of blockchain and give life to a network large enough to support better scale, throughput, new potential applications and true decentralization that has so far eluded blockchain.”
Blockchain-based calling and messaging can be toggled on and off on the phone operating system, which builds upon Android 9.0.
Availability: XPhone OS is currently available to phone manufacturers for testing. Detailed information on Function X will be available on functionx.io on October 15th. The Function X blockchain, FXTP, IPFX, and XPhone will be officially launched in Q2 2019.
XPhone features include:
- A mobile Operating System built on the blockchain
- Sending and sharing data, such as SMS, securely via Function X blockchain
- Easy publication and release of decentralized applications
- Making phone calls and sending messages independently of a central carrier
- Users have exclusive control over the data they share.
- Decentralized data storage
- Every XPhone is a node
