BTC.com Releases First Cryptocurrency App on Huawei’s AppGallery

By James Gray·11 May 2018·2 min read

Key Points

Chinese consumers handle nearly 62 percent of the world's mobile transactions.
Yet most Android users there cannot install a cryptocurrency wallet that would let them buy things with bitcoin.

Chinese consumers handle nearly 62 percent of the world's mobile transactions. Yet most Android users there cannot install a cryptocurrency wallet that would let them buy things with bitcoin. That changes today. BTC.com, a Beijing-based crypto platform, is shipping its mobile wallet to Huawei's AppGallery, marking the first cryptocurrency application available through the phone maker's app store. China's mobile payment sector reached $12.8 trillion last year, dwarfing the United States' $49.3 billion in 2017. The market matters enough that BTC.com built a special path to reach it.

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Many Android phones in China cannot access Google's Play Store because of government censorship. Huawei's AppGallery solves that problem. Huawei is pre-installing the AppGallery on its P20 and Honor phones starting this week, with rollout to older devices planned for Q2 2018.

Alejandro de la Torre, who leads business operations at BTC.com, told MiningPool that cryptocurrency gives users a more secure payment method than traditional systems. The wallet "unlocks the potential to reach areas in China not serviced by the traditional financial system," he said. "Additionally, fees are traditionally much lower in cryptocurrency transactions opening up a world of possibilities for consumers."

BTC.com has signed up over a million users since 2015 and moved more than $5 billion in bitcoin and bitcoin cash across its platform. The company runs one of the world's biggest bitcoin mining pools. Last year, the pool mined the 17 millionth bitcoin.

De la Torre sees the Huawei deal as a turning point. The app will become the "go-to app for everyday cryptocurrency payments in China," he said. While the government banned crypto exchanges last September, it has not outlawed cryptocurrency itself. "China has seen an explosive growth in online payments," de la Torre noted. "Contrary to popular belief China's strict stance towards cryptocurrency is mainly aimed at exchanges. Cryptocurrency usage is a viable alternative to many of the mobile payment providers used in China."

MiningPool content is intended for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice.

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