South Korean electronics giant Samsung is set to add cryptocurrency storage support to its budget phones, the company confirmed in an official post.
The leading phone manufacturer first entered the digital asset market by introducing crypto storage services in its flagship Galaxy S10 lineup.
“We will lower barriers to new experiences by gradually expanding the number of Galaxy models that support Blockchain functions,” Chae Won-cheol, senior managing director at the company, noted in a May 13 post in the company’s official newsroom. “We will also expand our service target countries after Korea, the United States, and Canada.”
Will @Apple work out a way to enable $crypto Payments in the same way that @FlexaHQ has but with Apple Pay? Have a feeling they could potentially unveil something crypto related at #WWDC19 next month as they need to compete with @Samsung who are already in crypto - THINK!? ?
— Peta₿yte Capital (@PetaByteCapital) May 14, 2019
Betting big on blockchain
The Korean conglomerate is also planning to launch a blockchain-based mobile identification card and local currencies and is already in talks with two telecom giants - SK Telecom and Korean Telecom.
“We will develop technologies for blockchain-based identification and local currencies by partnering with telecom operators,” Chae added.
Samsung is also heavily investing in blockchain technology, and, according to media reports, the company is also developing its own blockchain on the top of Ethereum. In addition, it is also planning to introduce its own digital currency.
Samsung’s S10 phones use Samsung Blockchain Key Store to safely store private crypto wallet keys on the devices. The company also developed its proprietary wallet platform - Samsung Blockchain Wallet - which supports Ethereum and ERC-20 tokens. Though the company did not say anything officially, it has been anticipated that the company will extend its storage support for Bitcoin as well.
Apart from the crypto storage platform, the phones also support decentralized applications (DApps) like crypto gaming platform Enjin, beauty community Cosmee, crypto collectibles platform CryptoKitties, and merchant payments service CoinDuck.
Last month, Finance Magnates reported that Samsung invested €2.6 million (around $2.9 million) in French crypto hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger.
