19 March 2020, London, UK; Minima, the world’s first truly decentralised Blockchain protocol that runs in full on mobile phones, announces the completion of a successful proof of concept with the Isle of Man based mobile operator, Manx Telecom. The trial saw Manx Telecom send tokens on Minima’s blockchain, from one phone to another, granting network access without touching any of the operator’s existing billing systems.
Growing consumer demand for data and increasing numbers of networked devices puts Telcos’ charging and billing infrastructure under pressure. To realise the 5G vision for connected devices, the basis of charging and settlement has to change, to avoid it becoming an industry bottleneck. At the moment the technical effort and cost of relaying a message from a video doorbell is similar to that of watching a movie, but at a fraction of the revenue for the operator. It costs a mobile operator $6 per year per account to connect to a single device which is prohibitively expensive.
Minima’s solution to these challenges is to manage access to mobile services via a decentralised blockchain, involving the sale and acceptance of tokens as proof that the user is eligible to access the desired services, replacing the centralised and complex legacy approval systems. Telcos can sell tokens that represent 100 SMS messages, or 1GB of internet data and accept payment back in tokens when the user requires these services. A permissionless blockchain allows decentralised payment at one of countless base stations without requiring approval by the main operator. Users can then independently create secondary markets for token resale and exchange.
The Minima testnet is currently running and will shortly be made available, alongside Beta Apps, while the mainnet will launch early in 2021.
Gary Lamb, CEO of Manx Telecom Group said: “Manx Telecom has a proud history of delivering telecoms innovation, working with like-minded partners. This blockchain PoC with Minima is the latest demonstration of our ability to innovate in an agile way and underlines our commitment to identifying technologies which can power the future of telecoms.”
Hugo Feiler, CEO and Co-Founder at Minima commented: “Minima is perfectly positioned to enable the massive growth expected in Internet of Things devices, while satisfying increased consumer demand for mobile data and services. This successful first proof of concept with Manx Telecom has shown how the purchase and application of tokens can work in practice and we are looking to announce more partnerships and engagement from telecoms companies and other industries in the coming months.”
About Minima
Minima is a compact, scalable and secure cryptocurrency and the world’s first truly decentralised Blockchain protocol that runs entirely on mobile phones.
The brainchild of Founder and Chief Architect Paddy Cerri, the Minima Protocol addresses key limitations of current Blockchain systems, namely that of the potential for centralised points of failure. Three weak points of current Blockchain protocols are; a) miners able to censor transactions, b) developers able to change the protocol, and c) blockchain protocol leaders able to sway the overall direction and reputation of a coin. The Minima Protocol makes every user an equal participant, with no one group or cartel being able to achieve dominance over the network.
The Minima mainnet, which goes live in 2021 will be a fully decentralised Proof of Work blockchain ready for users to come on board and for DApps to be deployed. Minima achieves this by empowering every user to run a “complete node” on a mobile phone, with no more computing power than a messaging app. A complete node not only validates every transaction, but helps in the construction of the blockchain, which is normally a privilege reserved only for the ever-decreasing number of miners.
Minima users individually mine their own transactions, and this cumulative work is used to create blocks. Users automatically collaborate to perform the same task as competing miners, allowing a decentralised approach to energy consumption, rather than the energy arms-race so evident in current PoW blockchains. Each user only keeps the data of their own transactions, but each has the hash of the entire database. With no group or cartel in charge of extending the Blockchain, this makes Minima far more resilient to both miner coordinated and State-level attacks.
For Minima Media Inquiries, contact:
Matt Fincham
M: +44(0)7812166989
About Manx Telecom
Manx Telecom is the leading communication solutions provider on the Isle of Man, offering a wide range of fixed line, broadband, mobile and data centre services to businesses, consumers and the public sector on the Isle of Man as well as a growing portfolio of innovative hosting and “Smart SIM” solutions to off-Island customers.
Manx Telecom has a record of Island-wide investment and being first to market with new technology.
Manx Telecom’s international growth business, Vannin Ventures (www.vanninventures.com), identifies and invests in new products, services and business opportunities for a global audience.
For Manx Telecom Media Inquiries, contact:
Tim Dowling
M: +44(0)7981 216 994