At long last, the planet got a look at the Samsung Blockchain Wallet, which you can download to your brand new Galaxy S10 phone (and only a Galaxy S10, though support for other devices may come later) from the Samsung Galaxy Store.
Much to everybody’s surprise, the wallet doesn’t appear to support Bitcoin, at least not off the bat. Instead, it supports only Ethereum and ERC20 tokens. Given how popular Bitcoin is, including in Korea, the omission has a lot of folks scratching their heads. Might this be a “slight” to Bitcoin and maximalists?
This writer won’t presume to know what Samsung’s thinking. But if he were a betting man, he’d wager that an update will add Bitcoin support soon.
There’s some talk that Samsung’s embrace of cryptocurrency relates to its popular mobile payment platform, Samsung Pay. Crypto-related media are pointing to this piece from SinDongA magazine (Korean language only), which claims that the Korean electronics giant might be planning to turn Samsung Pay into a full-fledged fintech service by integrating support for cryptocurrency. If this is true, it could expose Samsung Pay’s millions of users to crypto, a major boon to real-world blockchain adoption. Until this actually happens, though, it’s all just speculation.
At the time of its launch, Samsung Blockchain Wallet supports four DApps: gaming platform Enjin, beauty community Cosmee, crypto payment and remittance service Coinduck… and CrytoKitties.
Enjin is the one getting the most attention thanks to the spike in its coin price. The platform promotes the tokenization of gaming by making it easier to create non-fungible tokens. The marriage of cryptocurrency and gaming opens a world of exciting possibilities for developers and gamers. And plenty of potentially lucrative opportunities for Samsung.
Cosmee is a “real beauty SNS platform” that rewards users for the content they create, be it videos, blog posts, comments or even likes. The DApp was produced by Cosmochain, a blockchain-based platform that aims to create value by connecting beauty product users with beauty supply companies.
As far as this writer can tell, Coinduck has very little to do with aquatic fowl. But it does allow users to pay for hotels, to store items and other products with crypto, to remit money using crypto and to exchange crypto for fiat with transactions clearing within 24 hours. The DApp even got a bit of a workout during last year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Coinduck is already offering service to around 1,000 shops in Korea, though it may be of little use shopping outside of Korea, at least for now. Having said that, the project’s CEO told CoinDesk Korea that the DApp would promote consumption by overseas tourists visiting Korea and overseas customers using Korean online shopping malls.
CryptoKitties lets you breed and collect digital cats. But you knew that already…
And in other Korea blockchain news…
- Blockchain Giants are Increasing Investment in Game Industry
(By Kim Eun-Jin, BusinessKorea) - Kakao’s Crypto Unit Raises $90 Million in Private Coin Offering
(By Min Jeong Lee, Bloomberg) - How South Korean Island Province Leads the Way in Blockchain Adoption
(By Tim Alper, Cryptonews) - South Korea Creates Digital Task Force to Investigate Crypto Crimes
(By Denis Omelchenko, iHODL) - North Korea May Be a Cryptocurrency Whale
(By Tanya Chepkova, Beincrypto)