Samsung invests in blockchain companies

Between September 2021 and mid-June 2022, Samsung invested in 13 cryptocurrency/blockchain companies, making the South Korean company the most active among the top 40 companies.

Samsung is increasingly active in the blockchain sector

According to research firm Blockdata’s analysis of blockchain and cryptocurrency investments by major companies that looks at the period from September 2021 to mid-June 2022, South Korean electronics giant Samsung was the most active, with investments in as many as 13 blockchain companies. It is followed in this ranking by United Overseas Bank, which has invested in 7 companies, and is the second most active, followed by the two American financial giants Citigroup (6) and Goldman Sachs (5).

In August the Korean giant had announced that it was ready to launch an NFT ecosystem for its new Galaxy, saying that the NFT ecosystem will promote “consumer experience innovation” by connecting the virtual world with real-world benefits. Conversely, in June the company had announced that it had begun producing chips for cryptocurrency mining. And for the past year or so it has been working with the South Korean government on a new state digital currency project.

According to blockdata’s data, the number of startups in which the top four companies would have invested, 31, would be nearly half of the total of 65 companies funded by about 40 companies in total during the period under review.

Blockdata’s research report states:

“The 40 companies invested approximately $6 billion into blockchain startups between September 2021 and June 2022. Because some rounds involve participation from multiple investors, it is unclear how much each company invested in a project.”

Analysis of market data

Meanwhile, Blockdata data shows that as far as companies active in funding rounds are concerned, Alphabet came out on top in this category, having participated in rounds that raised just under $1.51 billion. Blackrock is in second place after participating in three financing rounds in which $1.17 billion was raised.

The US investment bank Morgan Stanley occupies the third place in the ranking, with participation in two investment rounds that raised a total of $1.1 billion, while precisely Samsung is in fourth place with $979 million.

As the Korean tech giant invests in blockchain and the entire ecosystem related to it, it emerged from last week’s Tokyo Show games, one of the gaming world’s most important events, that even gaming giants are increasingly turning to blockchain and NFT technology.

On the sidelines of the event, the representative director of Oasys, a company specializing in the development of blockchain related to gaming, Ryo Matsubara, pointed out that their most famous project partners such as Bandai Namco, Sega, and Square Enix, have now developed a long-term vision for blockchain-based games:

“We have a shared vision about blockchain at the executive level. They don’t [want to] change that policy. They really understand the future adoption of blockchain. They’re not thinking about, you know, just the revenue, they want to create the next future [of gaming].”

According to Matsubara, gaming companies have been actively working on developing new blockchain-centric games for some time. 

Epic Games, one of the world’s leading game makers, has recently increased its exposure to blockchain games. Last week it added a new game to its store, the first free-to-play NFT game, called Blankos Block Party.