South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung is planning to bring cryptocurrency and blockchain features to more phones across its Galaxy range. Samsung will be releasing budget smartphones that will reportedly feature cryptocurrency and blockchain features, reported by a local English-language news channel on May 14.
Citing the press release from Samsung, as Business Korea reported, that the firm would make its digital wallet app available even on lower-cost models and will further expand the crypto features to more jurisdictions. The report also suggests that the cryptocurrency and blockchain related functionality incorporated in Samsung S10 will also be included in other Galaxy smartphone models as well. Samsung plans to cooperate with telecommunications companies on its blockchain-based mobile identification cards and local currencies.
Chae Won-cheol, senior managing director of the product strategy team at Samsung Electronics’ wireless business division, said: “We will lower barriers to new experiences by gradually expanding the number of Galaxy models that support blockchain functions. We will also expand our service target countries after Korea, the United States and Canada.”
The Samsung Blockchain Wallet is currently only available on Samsung’s recently launched flagship phone range, the Galaxy S10. The S10 additionally comes with blockchain features such as digital signing and decentralized apps (dapps), which the report appears to suggest may also be added across the Galaxy range.
At the end of February, Samsung had released new Galaxy S10 series smartphones that would have wallet functions for ether (ETH), bitcoin (BTC) and two other tokens. Later in April, an anonymous source revealed Samsung may end up developing a public-private blockchain complete with its own token. Business Korea too stated that Samsung is also in talks with telecom firms such as SK Telecom and KT Corporation (formerly Korea Telecom) about possibly of working together on blockchain-based digital identity verification tools and other initiatives.
Samsung has been wading deeper into the blockchain waters in recent months.
Following the reveal of the blockchain and crypto focus for the Galaxy S10 phones, it notably said it is developing its own blockchain network based on ethereum and may also issue a “Samsung Coin” token in the future. The tech giant also recently invested around $3 million in cryptocurrency wallet startup Ledger.
Moreover, just this week, HTC announced a low-cost version of its blockchain smartphone, that would appear around Q3 2019 with a full BTC node, as well as in-wallet ERC-20 token swaps.
