Huawei launched a Bitcoin wallet application and added it to its app store. The wallet will also come preinstalled on all the new smartphones produced by the Chinese tech giant. This goal of this process is to facilitate the access to the world’s most popular cryptocurrency in China. A spokesman from Huawei said: “BTC’s Bitcoin wallet application was reviewed by AppGallery, and was approved for official release in multiple countries and regions, not including Mainland China.”
The Bitcoin wallet from Huawei is available for download at the Huawei app store and the users now have the opportunity to install an app that allows them to store their bitcoins. Huawei is the third largest manufacturer of mobile phones in the world and the first one in the region, which is why this commercial operation presents a strategy with great impact, bearing in mind the current restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities regarding the cryptocurrencies.
The wallet app from Huawei was developed by BTC.com, the a subsidiary of Bitmain, the largest producer of cryptocurrency mining hardware and the largest cryptocurrency mining group in the world. The wallet will be preinstalled on all the new models of Huawei and Honor smartphones. In the following months, the Bitcoin wallet app will be available for older smartphones as well, according to Alejando de la Torre, the Vice President for Commercial Operations at BTC.com. For BTC.com, this integration represents the access to a large market to which the company had not had access in the past, especially because China could present a good case for the use of virtual currencies due to wide acceptance of the cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology by the community in the region in the last years. This is what de la Torre said: “It’s a good opportunity to tap into the Chinese market. The use of cashless payments with apps is very big and the traditional banking system is lacking, so there’s a good use case for crypto payments to grow there.”
On the other hand, Jaime Gonzalo, the Vice President for Mobile Service at Huawei, added: “From our leadership position in China, the tip of the spear of mobile payments, we expect to see massive growth in global cryptocurrency adoption habits in the near future.”
The main goal of Huawei and BTC.com is to facilitate the access to Bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrencies in China, since the government blocked the Google Play Store for Android and some sections of the Apple’s App Store, which is the reason why the access to wallets or aps related to cryptocurrencies is very limited in China.
The Chinese authorities blocked the cryptocurrency exchanges in the country as well and completely banned the organization of the initial coin offerings (ICOs), which created a hostile environment for the development of the cryptoworld. However, the Chinese citizens are allowed to possess bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies.
