Budget Samsung Galaxy Phones Pack Wallet in Major Crypto Adoption Boost

By CCN: In February, Samsung Electronics officially announced the integration of a crypto wallet into its flagship Galaxy S10 model in the form of “Samsung Blockchain Wallet,” enabling users to store Ethereum-based ERC20 tokens.

Samsung Blockchain Keystore App (Source: Hankyoreh/CoindeskKorea)

According to local publications, Samsung is planning to integrate its crypto asset wallet into other Galaxy models including budget models that are more widely utilized by users worldwide.

Big Boost in Crypto Adoption

Chae Won-cheol, the senior managing director of the Product Strategy Team at the Wireless Business Division of Samsung Electronics, said that in the foreseeable future, the company will expand the number of Galaxy models that support crypto and expand its services to the U.S. and Canada.

The executive 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.

Following the launch of the Samsung Blockchain Wallet three months ago, the company restricted the usage of its crypto wallet to users in South Korea, with plans to roll out the integration to other countries over the long run.

Based on the data provided by Canalys, Samsung Electronics shipped 70.3 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2018, falling slightly behind Apple but beating Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi, and others.

However, in all of 2018, Samsung Electronics sold 293.7 million mobile phones as the top mobile phone distributor in the global market with a 21.2 percent market share, topping Apple.

Sales of mobile phones worldwide (source: 9to5google.com and Canalys)

Throughout the past several years, the crypto exchange market has seen its fair share of high-profile hacks and security breaches that led to the loss of millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies.

Although large companies like Binance and Bithumb are able to cover hacked funds with corporate funds in an unlikely event of a security breach, non-custodial wallets that provide users complete control over their funds could allow users to develop a safe habit of controlling their private keys.

The efforts of the biggest phone manufacturer in the global market to encourage users to maintain control over their funds stored in crypto assets may reduce the risk of potential hacking attacks in the long-term as the dependence on third party service providers to store crypto assets drops.

As crypto assets become easier to spend with increasing merchant adoption, the support for crypto assets by Samsung Electronics and its flagship devices may further fuel the pace in which cryptocurrencies are adopted as an alternative to existing currencies.

The Vision Behind Cryptocurrency Integration

When Samsung first launched its crypto wallet, its tutorial described the blockchain as a technology that could process data in a peer-to-peer manner without the presence of a central entity.

The tutorial read:

The blockchain is a new method that enables every user to store and process data in a decentralized ecosystem, and it is used in many areas. [Such areas include] secure distribution information confirmation, insurance and contract verification, copyrights management, content distribution, game items storage, crypto assets storage, and cryptocurrency transactions.

The company likely considers the blockchain as a technology that could be used by a wide range of industries and sectors such as insurance, gaming, payments, identity verification, and more.

The integration of support for ERC20 tokens ahead of major crypto assets like bitcoin indicates the intent of the company to create an all-in-one infrastructure that could be used by users in the long-term to conduct various day-to-day operations using cryptocurrencies.

Samsung’s announcement of the expansion of its crypto wallet follows the integration of crypto payments by Wholefoods and the planned launch of the Bakkt bitcoin futures market, all of which are expected to strengthen the infrastructure that supports the cryptocurrency industry.

Budget Samsung Galaxy Phones Pack Wallet in Major Crypto Adoption Boost

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