This week the crypto-sphere has been awash with talk about Samsung and its next generation flagship phone coming loaded with crypto goodies. While the company itself has dismissed the story according to reports, rivals are shipping out products that will no doubt keep Samsung on its toes.
Samsung Rumors Aplenty
The hype was instigated by a Samsung community website which ran a story on crypto cold storage functionality being included on the Galaxy S10. According to SamMobile which ran an exclusive a few days ago;
“After hearing about the trademarks for Samsung’s blockchain and cryptocurrency software, we decided to dig around a little deeper. We can confirm that the company is indeed developing one and that it may be launched with the Galaxy S10.”
The story went on to tout a number of features such as a cold wallet for storing crypto, signing of public and private keys, and a wallet for transfers and viewing transaction history. The story was syndicated across the crypto media web building a level of hype akin to that when Facebook was rumored to be delving into digital coins. Even crypto warlord John McAfee commented;
“Has Samsung ever made a strategic miscalculation? I think not. Crypto is not just here to stay. It is taking over. Listen market — you damn well better keep up.”
Contrary reports on Cointelegraph claimed that Samsung has refuted the story labeling it as ‘speculation’. “Unfortunately we are unable to provide any information as the below is rumor and speculation,” the South Korean tech giant reportedly said.
The fact is that Samsung has filed for several blockchain and crypto related patents including those regarding storage and cold wallets, so putting two and two together SamMobile garnered a lot of traffic for itself.
The company is remaining tight lipped but the launch of a blockchain powered smartphone with cryptocurrency transaction capabilities is only a matter of time. The two technologies go hand in hand – making micro-payments instantly while on the move would be better with a dedicated smartphone than a clunky laptop.
Rival phone maker HTC is already on the ball with the launch of its Exodus 1 blockchain phone this week. Reviews are already hitting the web and it was announced that the device would come preloaded with the Brave decentralized browser that is powered by the BAT token which has recently been listed on Coinbase Pro.
From a hardware perspective the device is very similar to those from rivals, but it functions as a node on HTC’s own blockchain to enable the running of dApps and allow fee free cryptocurrency transactions. The Exodus 1 also comes pre-loaded with a raft of security features and crypto storage facilities.
It is without a doubt that Samsung are working on something similar even if they are being coy about it right now. While these crypto-phones may just be something out of a cypherpunk’s dream, they are the pioneers today of what is likely to be commonplace in the not too distant future.