Samsung remains on the blockchain course with its smartphones: the new generation of the Galaxy series can also be used as a crypto-wallet. The Samsung Blockchain Key Store no longer only supports Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The South Korean electronics giant's new flagship smartphone will also support crypto currencies. Owners of the Samsung Galaxy S20 can store their private keys securely in the Blockchain Key Store. The "safe" debuted in June 2019 in the predecessor model Galaxy S10. Initially, however, the Samsung Blockchain Key Store only supported tokens from the Ethereum ecosystem. Since then, Samsung has gradually increased the number of coins supported: The Key Store now serves as a de facto hardware wallet for assets on Ethereum, Bitcoin, Klaytn, Tron and - since February 2020 - Stellar.
Regional restrictions are a thing of the past
With the new Galaxy models, Samsung has not only increased the range of crypto currencies on offer, but also lifted some regional restrictions. For example, the Blockchain Key Store has been available to users in Europe and Southeast Asia since the release of Galaxy Note 10. With the Galaxy S10, these users still had to look down the drain. Samsung has summarized on its website which models in which regions allow the safekeeping of Bitcoin, Ethereum and consorts.
Bitcoin has not yet reached the middle of society. The reasons for this are manifold and range from unresolved regulatory issues to the difficult accessibility of block chain technology. Against this background, it is only to be welcomed that the smartphone market leader is not only sticking to block chain support, but is gradually expanding it. It is to be hoped that the Samsung example will set a precedent in the industry. Because smartphones with a built-in hardware wallet are still more the exception than the rule. Apart from Samsung, so far only the manufacturers HTC (Exodus), Sirin Labs (Finney) PundiX (Xphone) and Electroneum (M1) have produced mobile phones that can "blockchain".
