Samsung becomes the first major phone developer to create a crypto wallet in its devices. All Galaxy S10 devices feature the crypto wallet. Initially, it allowed users to store ETH, BTC, and the Cosmo Coin. The best part about this wallet is that it cold storage. Thus, even when your device is connected to the internet, the wallet itself is offline. Cold storage in crypto has become very popular over the years due to the breaches exchanges have witnessed.
For those unfamiliar, cold storage means you hold your crypto assets “offline”. If you ever wanted to convert your crypto to fiat, you would have to first transfer the assets from your cold storage device to a certain exchange. This is much different than just having your crypto sit on an exchange like Coinbase. The argument here is you could miss out on a huge price spike because you store your crypto on a physical device. This argument is valid as people with their crypto already on the exchange would have the first mover advantage. On the flip side, you could argue if your a “long-term investor”, having security over first mover advantage is more important to you.
Other Companies Have Delved into the Crypto Sector
Besides Samsung, other companies have launched support for crypto in their devices. In 2018, Sirin Labs launched a phone called Finney, which featured a crypto wallet. The phone goes for $1000. Another phone maker that supports crypto is HTC, which launched the HTC Exodus. The phone features a crypto wallet, which is partitioned from the rest of the phone for improved security.
Technically, any android phone can become a crypto wallet by downloading a crypto wallet app. Thus far, most makers only offer wallets and a few other features. However, as the crypto sector grows, these companies will increase their support for the crypto sector. Starting off with just crypto wallets will give these manufactures the ability to monitor user growth and sentiment. If these indicators increase, you will most likely see companies dive deeper into cryptocurrency pending regulations.
Further Support for Crypto
The company recently announced that it would offer support for BTC in its Software Development Kit. Besides that, the SDK would also offer support for the Klaytn blockchain developed by Kakao. In total, the company will offer support for three blockchains; Etherem, Klaytn, and Bitcoin. App developers that choose to use this SDK will be able to offer support for Ethereum, ERC 20 tokens, and the Klay token that runs on the Klaytn blockchain.
However, the SDK will not be available globally. It will only be available in Germany, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, US, Germany, UK, and South Korea. This development means that millions of Samsung users will be able to access and use BTC.
The SDK is expected to come out this year. However, developers can access the beta version of the SDK. All that users need to do is send an application and the company will approve it after a bit of vetting. In the future, the company plans to add more crypto assets.
Besides that, the company is going to expand the regions where the coin can be accessed. The Blockchain Keystore, which is another development from Samsung in the crypto sector, will authenticate users using biometrics or PIN. This PIN or biometrics will be required each time a user needs to do something such as to send coins to another address.
Thus far, Samsung supports 17 dApps in its blockchain wallet. These Dapps are only available to users in South Korea. However, its projected they will expand to other regions. The company already made it clear it will expand its activities in the crypto sector. In future devices, the company has mentioned they will add more support for services powered by blockchain.
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