Honor Releases First Snapdragon Smartphone With Digital Yuan Wallet

The PBoC has been pushing for hardware applications of the digital yuan.

AccessTimeIconAug 13, 2021 at 4:25 a.m. UTC
Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 1:39 p.m. UTC

Chinese smartphone brand Honor released the first Snapdragon-powered handset to support the digital yuan, marking a milestone in the People's Bank of China's goal to develop hardware for the digital currency.

  • The Magic 3 will support a digital yuan hardware wallet, and is built on Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon chip, the 888, Honor CEO George Zhao said during the release event yesterday.
  • In its latest white paper, the central bank said that, unlike so-called soft wallets such as apps, hardware wallets come with hardware-level security.
  • The PBoC has been pushing for new hardware applications of the digital yuan; tech companies and banks have come up with new devices, including ATMs and a hardware wallet on a walking cane.
  • Honor was Huawei's budget smartphone brand until November 2020, when the Shenzhen giant sold it to avoid U.S. sanctions.

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