【Peter Baumgartner】

After launching two cryptocurrency-oriented smartphones,Peter Baumgartner the HTC Exodus 1 and the Exodus 1s, the company is expanding the lineup with an entirely new device: a 5G router that can function as a full Bitcoin node.

Called the HTC Exodus 5G hub, the Android-based router offers 5G connectivity for your home devices, with a heavy focus on privacy. This includes support for privacy apps such as decentralized VPN and ad blocker Incognito and private email service ProtonMail.

There are supposedly other privacy features in there, but HTC did not share the details at this time.

On the cryptocurrency side of things, the Exodus 5G Hub supports HTC's Zion Vault software, meaning it can run a full Bitcoin node. It also offers certain handy crypto-security features, such as social recovery for your cryptocurrency private keys, and a private vault for your cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH (with support for ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens), BNB, LTC and XLM.

The ability to run a full Bitcoin node may not be something most users are interested in, but it's important in the world of cryptocurrencies, as it helps decentralize the network. That said, running a full node is quite traffic-intensive, which is why a 5G router is probably a better device to do it on than HTC's Exodus phones, which share the same ability.

Visually, the HTC Exodus 5G Hub looks a lot like a smart home device, with a big, colorful screen on the front. In the press images I've seen, the screen displays prices of popular cryptocurrencies, though it's quite probable that this can be customized.

The press materials HTC originally sent me were a bit vague, so I've asked the company to share more details and was told that the device has a microphone, dual speakers, and supports Google Assistant.

Specs-wise, it's similar to a smartphone, with a 5-inch, HD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, 4/32GB of memory, a microSD slot, a nano SIM slot, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a 7,660mAh battery. It can play a number of audio and video formats, so it can also probably function as a home entertainment device. On the software side, the HTC Exodus 5G is running Android 9.0.

HTC Exodus 5G Hub will become available in the second quarter of 2020. The price hasn't been announced. It's also not known whether customers will be able to purchase it with cryptocurrency, as was the case for the two Exodus phones.