Should the Cryptosphere Develop Its Own Mobile OS?

Writing on his Twitter handle on Sep 29, the former Andreessen Horowitz partner compared the growth prospects of such a project to the growth of the Brave Browser. Balaji made the suggestion in response to a post by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin who suggested that the crypto space should develop its own mobile phone operating systems to maintain its independence from Google. Both statements came in reaction to the news that Google is making its In-App Payments system mandatory for all Android Play Store apps from next year.

A crypto Cyanogen is probably possible in 2020. An open source Android fork built to accommodate crypto.

Similar to what Brave did with Chrome. Make a crypto wallet as core to the offering as the browser. And build everything around that. https://t.co/GRIWXzrxDr

— balajis.com (@balajis) September 29, 2020

Google’s Centralization: A Growing Pain Point

Earlier this month, BeinCrypto reported that Google and Apple both suspended Epic Games’ developer accounts on the Play Store and AppStore. This was done because the developer introduced an in-app direct purchase option on Fortnite that bypassed both in-app purchases (IAP). Epic promptly sued both companies, and the case remains in litigation. On Sept 28, Google then announced that all Play Store developers have until Sept 30, 2021, to comply with its new policy, which mandates the use of its IAP system. Already Google faces a federal antitrust investigation by the US Department of Justice, as well as antitrust probes by at least seven state attorneys general and a House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee.

I was a huge fan of Android in the beginning. It was mainly open source, with a bit of Google here and there.

Now it’s basically Google, with a bit of open source here and there. Same story as with Chrome — so we need the Brave of Android! https://t.co/zDrCZn52S1

— Luis Cuende 🦅 (@licuende) September 29, 2020

Some worry that Google and Apple see crypto and its decentralization as an existential threat to their centralized revenue harvesting models. Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong recently wrote an open letter to Apple, where he listed these concerns and accused the company of restricting access to DeFi apps.

A Crypto CyanogenMod to the Rescue?

Abandoned in 2013, the CyanogenMod project developed an open-source variant of Google’s Android OS, which ran on up to 50 million mobile devices around the world at one point. Buterin’s appeal for the crypto space to develop its own operating systems and escape Google’s growing monopoly seems to have struck a chord with Balaji, who suggested that a crypto CyanogenMod could be the way forward.

Honestly we should just build our own app store and ideally experiment with decentralized reputation systems to push out the scams but without that becoming a backdoor for centralized middlemen.

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 29, 2020

According to Balaji, such a solution could adopt Brave’s methodology by starting with one crypto-focused product and expanding out from there. In his view, this solution could eventually end up becoming an expanded next-generation handheld identity, security, and payment management solution. https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1310864088201703426