China Telecom and Conflux Network announce a partnership to bring Blockchain SIM cards (BSIM) to market. The entry-level Web3 product will be the largest blockchain hardware product ever seen globally, involving the most users and applications. China Telecom will launch the first BSIM pilot program in Hong Kong later this year. This will likely be followed by pilots in key mainland China locations such as Shanghai.
BSIM will dramatically lower the barrier to entry to Web3 for China Telecom’s 390+ million mobile phone subscribers, while making transactions faster and more secure. By making telecom users’ personal digital assets more secure, the goal is to make mobile phones more secure.
The BSIM card integrates Conflux’s Tree-graph, dual proof of stake and proof of work technology, enabling the highest system performance for any blockchain in the world. It uses the hardware security advantages of SIM cards to protect users’ private keys, which is a secure and convenient Web3 entry solution.
The BSIM Card is indistinguishable from a traditional SIM in appearance but the storage space is 10-20 times larger than the traditional SIM card, and the computing power is increased by tens of times. Users who switch to a BSIM card will be able to store digital assets safely, transfer their digital assets conveniently, and display their assets in a variety of applications.
The BSIM card will manage and store the user’s public and private keys in the card, and carry out digital signatures in a way that the private key does not exit the card. The BSIM card can also allow encrypted storage, key retrieval and other operations. The built-in Bluetooth module will be responsible for the signature and transfer of assets, to ensure the security of personal digital assets. This reduces the risk of the user being attacked by viruses and other malicious software on the mobile phone.
Users’ identifiers in the traditional world, such as mobile phone numbers, can be tied to their Decentralized Identifiers (DID). This will allow for better integration and interaction between virtual and real-world information. BSIM cards can also be combined with abstract accounts based on smart contracts, enabling blockchain applications to safely and efficiently use users’ crypto and traditional world information. Connecting DID with cell phone numbers may also alleviate some of the regulatory concerns stemming from the anonymity of the blockchain technology.
The initial agreement was signed in 2022 between Conflux Network and China Telecom and this prototype is the culmination of a strategic year-long engagement with the goal to build hardware products at the entrance to the world’s metaverse.
The research and development phase of BSIM card is now complete, and it has successfully connected with Conflux’s main network in the test environment. This prototype has the storage and sending functions of digital assets. Conflux and China Telecom will now focus on enriching the BSIM card’s ecological applications, with emphasis on games, payments and other fields.