These puzzles alsoconsume a lot of electricity.
In comparison to standard CPUs and GPUs hosed in laptops and PCs, mining hardware tends to beawfully expensive.
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As you probably already guessed, phones arent particularly well-suited for mining.
But for some reason, blockchain startups at MWC seemed determined to make mining on your phone a thing.
But there is a catch: mining doesnt actually mean mining in this case.
Or at least, the mining doesnt happen on the mining phones these startups are pushing.
Mining phones: an elaborate marketing stunt?
In the case of Spanish mobile operator and phone-maker Wings Mobile, it was the latter.
The companyannouncedits new Minephone WX phone, what Wings Mobile claims is the worlds first smartphone that generates Ethereum.
Yes, you heard it right up to 2 Ethereum a month.
At the time of writing, this amounts to about $280.
But at the height of the cryptocurrency mania, it wouldve been worth well over $2,000.
Not only that, the Minephone WX purportedly could reach 1,000 MH/s per second.
By contrast, the Ethereum miner we tested ran on eight graphic cards and only reached about 200 MH/s.
Wings Mobile says the WX will retail at about $3,300 (2,900).
Not only that, Wings Mobile notes Ethereum is projected to spike in value in the years to come.
This means that all owners of a MinePhone Wings WX 1000 have a revenue potential of 360,000.
Pretty simple: it cant.
Mining happens on a pool, a Wings Mobile rep told my colleague Matthew Hughes at MWC.
We dont use your unit to mine, otherwise the battery would be destroyed in two hours.
The 1,000MH/s plan costs 13 Ethereum, which currently amounts to over $1,750.
Wings Mobile says each activation plan lasts a period of three years.
For the record, Wings Mobile is not the first company to trial a business model like that.
Indeed, mining contracts what Wings Mobile essentially calls activation mining plan were a popular trend last year.
That is until the market started bleeding and mining pools began losing money.
Even worse, Genesis Mining was hardly the only companyfacingthis issue.
For some reason though, Wings Mobile is adamant its model makes sense.
That remains to be seen, but as history shows the odds are stacked against it.
Also, Wings Mobile wasnt the only company boasting mining-enabled phones at MWC.
Similarly, cryptocurrency developerElectroneumannounced theM1, its new $80 handset aimed at developing countries.
Unlike Wings Mobile though, Electroneum clearly stated the mining doesnt take place on the phone.
Instead, the mining takes place on Electroneums mobile app (available for Android and iOS).
Also when we saying mining, it is simulated mining, we are rewarding users for their engagement.
So why buy the M1 if you could use the unit you already own to mine?
Doyle explains that M1 owners will get preferential mining rates.
Blockchain phones at MWC
Mining phones werent the only attraction for cryptocurrency enthusiasts attending MWC.
There were also blockchain phones.
Cryptocurrency issuer Pundi X teased its upcomingXPhonehandset a gadget it calls the first blockchain phone.
Pundi X still thinks it has rightful claim to the first blockchain phone though.
[HTCs and Sirin Labs] focus is crypto wallets, a Pundi X rep told Hard Fork.
The blockchain mode that XPhone offers is beyond financial transactions.
We believe theres no phone in the market yet created for this purpose, the spokesperson continued.
Thats why we call (if we may) the world first blockchain phone.
The unit will run on Pundi Xs own blockchain called Function X.
The company is confident it has a solution for this though.
XPhone has dual OS, one is traditional mode and the other is blockchain mode, a spokesperson explained.
The node functionality comes from the Function X OS.
Its not an app published through Google Play.
Speaking of HTC, the Taiwanese phone-maker had its own blockchain announcements to make at MWC.
One wonders if this sudden change has anything to do with the facthardly anyone buys stuff with cryptocurrencythese days.
But over a year later, these visions are still far from reality.
Even worse: thereshardly any peopleusing blockchain-powered apps (for anything else than gambling, at least).
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