Electroneum (ETN) is a blockchain-based payments solution that is concentrating on the mobile payments space. Launched in 2017 by Richard Ells, Electroneum targets an often mentioned demographic in the context of cryptocurrencies: the unbanked. The Electreneum team says that they are on a mission to “unlock the global digital economy for millions of people in the developing world.”

Electroneum implements Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) processes, and puts an emphasis on compliance. The blockchain is a soft fork of the Monero blockchain, and had early roots in online gaming and gambling use cases, though it is now strictly focusing on digital payments.

Electroneum also launched an $80 smartphone earlier this year, one that rewards users in cryptocurrency. Furthermore, the Electroneum team has released a mobile mining app that lets smartphone users mine ETN tokens. 

2019 has already seen several milestones complete, including the launch of an iOS app, cloud mining for both Android and iOS, successful atomic swaps and a fork to a Proof-of-Responsibility blockchain. The rest of 2019 and 2020 is expected to bring full instant payments, a gig economy website and a vendor directory.