Blockchain-powered smartphones coming to China in the 5G era

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China Telecom, the country’s third-largest mobile telecommunication provider, has released a whitepaper on blockchain smartphones in the 5G era. The paper describes an application system created by the company that relies on blockchain technology to provide a more secure hardware infrastructure for 5G mobile phones.

According to a report by Sina, a local financial news outlet, the company released the whitepaper at the China International Intelligent Industry Expo held on August 27. The report outlines the increasing amount of data that the 5G era will bring with it, describing blockchain as the only technology that can enable the users to secure their data regardless of its volume, variety or dimension.

In recent years, blockchain technology has greatly grown, with blockchain-powered mobile phones recently hitting the market. However, none of them has received widespread usage. China Telecom believes it can change this, the report stated. The company, which is the largest fixed-line service in China, intends to develop a SIM card-based blockchain digital asset management system.

The SIM card will be a combination of both communication and non-communication functions, supporting an asset trading platform. China Telecom’s blockchain and digital economy lab has already released two standards and 17 core models for the blockchain project.

The whitepaper also detailed the five applications for the 5G blockchain mobile phones. The first is digital identity authentication, with the users abandoning traditional username and password models and instead relying on a decentralized identification model.

The phone will also let the users own their data and share it with their financial services providers. This will come in handy with institutions that require credit information as they can get the information directly from their users and not have to rely on the central bank. This will reduce legal compliance costs for the banks and help them prevent financial crimes.

The 5G blockchain mobile phones can also be used in the supply chain, acting as a node and relaying important data that helps the supply chain run smoothly.

The phones will also have judicial applications, guaranteeing the authenticity of electronic data as evidence. Lastly, they will be used in the express delivery industry, guaranteeing the sender and recipient delivery information security as well as enabling product traceability.

The use of blockchain technology in the telecommunications industry has surged, with a report by Research and Markets predicting that the industry will be worth $1.37 billion by 2024. Earlier this year, South Korea’s largest telecoms operator KT unveiled a 5G-based blockchain platform known as GiGA Chain. The platform will use blockchain technology to enhance security for the Internet of Things (IoT).