On October 30, Huawei announced the release of Mate 40, the first phone that incorporates China’s central bank hardware wallet. Future Mate 40 series phones will also support central bank digital currency.
Mate 40 enables dual offline transactions, hardware-level security, and anonymity for the digital yuan, this is as stated by Huawei Weibo. These features place Huawei in the frontline in the usage of China’s digital yuan
Mate 40 Launch
The smartphone was launched on Friday, among other products. Yu Chengdong, Huawei’s consumer business group CEO, declared Mate 40 as the first smartphone that enables a hardware wallet for China’s digital yuan, known as DC/EP.
The digital yuan has been crucial to China’s adoption of digital currency/electronic payment(DC/EP). The Chinese government initiated a digital currency institute that would use cryptocurrency-based technology to modernize payments, divert international business networks, and exercise geopolitical power.
Using the bank’s mobile application, China Construction bank enabled users to register for a digital yuan wallet in August. They indicated that the digital yuan would have physical hardware wallet gadgets in their terms and conditions. Mate 40 and its siblings were first announced on October 22. It has since been a long wait. There have been speculations on the features it would bring forth, exciting the mobile phone market. One particular thing that people expect is that the hardware would be high-end.
Further, it is uncertain whether the shipped devices will support the CBDC wallet in other countries. Whether or not Mate 40 users will be able to readily convert any bank savings into the physical-digital yuan wallet remains in doubt.
HTF MI is a brand of the HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited focused on identifying growth opportunities while analyzing the prominent influencers. It recently released a research report gauging the market conditions of hardware wallets internationally which showed an increase in the demand for hardware wallets. With the release of Mate 40, Huawei is keeping with the trend.
Rising Demand For hardware wallets
Masses consider using hardware wallets because they allow physical transaction confirmations aided by additional PIN encryption making them very secure. They can also hold a variety of digital coins, encouraging trade-off efficiency. Private keys are off the map, therefore, eliminating risks of cyber-attacks. Further, these wallets are immune to virus attacks, which also reduce the risk of losses.
Report analysis notes that the cryptocurrency hardware wallet market will extend to over $8 billion by 2024 from the 100-million spot in 2018, which acts as the base year for the research.
