XProtocol Announces XForge, Ethereum DePIN Smartphone for Blockchain Gaming

XProtocol announced Wednesday its plans to release the XForge, an Android-powered gaming smartphone that has been referred to as the world's first "DePIN phone," slated to hit the market later this year.

Competitively priced at $299, XForge features 256GB of storage, 12GB of RAM, and a strong Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. But in terms of differentiation, it's how this device connects with the layer-3 network that XProtocol built atop Coinbase's Base layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum.

The company announced plans to migrate further onto its independent layer-1 network due to a need for "greater autonomy and scalability." An ambitious roadmap underlines a commitment to push the boundaries of blockchain integration into everyday devices.

DePIN stands for decentralized physical infrastructure networks, meaning blockchain-powered networks of physical hardware. XProtocol foresees a future in which the network is powered not just by software running on XForge handsets but also by dedicated Xardian Nodes.

XProtocol's announcement comes after an incursion into the crypto smartphone market by Solana Mobile. After launching its first crypto smartphone, the Saga, last year, Solana Mobile recently announced its second-generation Seeker smartphone that promises greater functionality at a more affordable price than its predecessor, from $450 for early pre-orders.