For the vast majority of the world, the whole cryptocurrency craze came and went with very little fanfare, but there are still plenty of people out there who think it's the future – and now, those same people have their very own Game Boy-style handheld.
The BitBoy One (as spotted by Retro Dodo) is described as the "first-ever Web3 Gaming Device" and is basically a Bitcoin-based gaming console created by Ordz Games.
"With BitBoy, users can earn points and farm airdrops by simply having the device running," says Ordz, which is a company that specialises in mining cryptocurrencies in video games.
According to Decrypt, the device will be powered by a RockChip RK3566 processor and boast a 3.45-inch 640x480 screen, 32GB of internal memory, a 256GB TF storage card, 4GB RAM, and a 3,500 mAh battery – bringing it roughly in line with the many emulation handhelds we've seen coming out of China the past few years. The difference here is that the BitBoy One will set you back $500.
Again, according to the people at Decrypt – who know a lot more about this kind of stuff than us – the BitBoy One will not only run retro games via emulation but also play Bitcoin-based games from Ordz, giving players the chance to "play to earn". It's also expected that the device will act as a Bitcoin hardware wallet.
However, it won't be able to mine Bitcoin itself. Ordz points out that users can mine tokens from decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs) simply by leaving the device running, but it's not powerful enough to mine cryptocurrency; that can only be done with powerful PC setups.
Pre-orders will go live sometime this month, with the launch expected later this year.