Sirin Labs’ blockchain phone is expected to begin shipping in late December, it was announced today. The phone’s final design was unveiled at an event in Barcelona.

Sirin Labs’ Blockchain Phone

Dubbed ‘Finney,’ the blockchain phone promises to advance the user experience of decentralized apps, or dApps.

The blockchain phone was developed off the back of an initial coin offering in which Sirin Labs raised $157 million earlier this year. However, it’s wondered if the creation of Finney is an example of putting the cart before the horse, as there simply are not that many dApps available for its users.

It is not yet known if the user experience is an issue of the decentralized web.

The company’s chief marketing officer, Nimrod May, said the phone will ship sometime between December 5th and 15th.

Sirin has partnered with one of the top electronics manufacturers in the world, Foxconn, to produce the device.

Ordering the Finney Blockchain Phone

The phone is priced at a hefty $999 and can only be pre-ordered by Sirin token (SRN) holders. Once the phone is officially live, then other payment options will open up for buyers.

If buying the phone using SRN, then cost will depend on the price of SRN on the day of purchase, so buyers are being warned on this. The token has ranged anywhere between $0.06 and $0.18 in the last three months for example.

>> Bitcoin (BTC) up Nearly 20% in 48 Hours, How High will It Go?

Other Blockchain Phone Competitors

Finney has spurred on competition from bigger companies. HTC is currently developing a crypto-based phone and, new to the sector, Pundi X is also in the development stages of its pioneering blockchain device.

Nimrod May is confident that the blockchain phone will sell over 100,000 units in its first year.

As the phone is designed to carry around cryptocurrency, security is a big feature of the device. As such, it has its own cold storage wallet built in and is described by May as “a second device in the same housing as the phone.” It will have a separate processor and its own LCD screen, in which the user will input their seed phrase.

Will you be purchasing the Finney blockchain phone?

Featured Image: Depositphotos/© perig76

Many in the financial world this week were claiming Bitcoin was “dead” after it hit its 2018 record lows this week. What they didn’t predict was a Bitcoin rally. On Sunday, the world’s first digital currency hit just above $3,600 a coin, which is the coin’s record-low this year.

Bitcoin hadn’t seen below $3,700 since mid-September 2017, and this past week, the cryptocurrency was down almost -40% for the month. However, on Tuesday night that all began to shift.

Bitcoin Rally

In around 60 minutes, Bitcoin jumped up in price over $200. While this isn’t the monumental rise it had on a daily basis in late-2017, the jump shows a positive trend. Major sells-offs began when the miners behind Bitcoin Cash started a civil war. The digital currency was set for its semi-annual upgrade and was split into two competing digital currencies after its hard fork.

There were other contributing factors to the sell-offs, but the hash war exposed the immaturity of these projects and lost a lot of investor trust. What may have spiked the Bitcoin rally last night was the recently released news of Nasdaq still planning to launch its own Bitcoin futures in the first quarter of 2019. This step could bring more institutional investors into the playing field, without them needing to actually buy the digital currency.

Many investors have been patiently waiting for Bitcoin ETFs to roll out, but Jay Clayton, the Executive Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has yet to confirm the decision.

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“What investors expect is that the trading in that commodity that’s underlying the ETF is trading that makes sense, is free from the risk or significant risk of manipulation,” Clayton reportedly told the Consensus Invest Conference in Manhattan. “Those kinds of safeguards don’t exist in many of the markets where digital currencies trade.”

The SEC is expected to announce its decision in late December. If approved, investors would be able to buy into Bitcoin without having to deal with cryptocurrency exchanges.

According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin (BTC) is currently trading at $4,202.51 a coin, up 12.71%, in 24 hours.

Featured Image: Depositphotos/© Syda_Productions