Samsung Unveils Crypto-Compatible Wallet At Metaverse Event

Korean electronics firm Samsung has unveiled the latest feature of its flagship smartphone line, releasing crypto functionalities for its new Galaxy S22 series.

The event, dubbed “Unpacked 2022” was held in the metaverse, with audiences participating in a virtual space held at the Decentraland metaverse, with the venue reserved at Samsung 837X. Over 100,000 people signed up for the metaverse event, which featured lottery-style draws for the audience to be able to pre-order the new flagship phones.

According to Samsung, the wallet will enable users to “access and explore complex digital products” which includes cryptocurrencies.

The new wallet will operate under the firm’s payments platform, Samsung Pay. The wallet, which will be built in to the Galaxy S22 series of smartphones, will now able to store and secure blockchain keys by means of encryption through Samsung’s Knox Vault platform, a hardware-based security layer.

Knox Vault works by encrypting and isolating sensitive data such as blockchain keys through a hardware module, which runs alongside a smartphone’s operating system, but functions through a separate memory kernel, thereby allowing a protective state for the data that cannot be tampered from both the software level and the hardware level, in case the device is lost.

The release of a crypto-compatible wallet from Samsung can be seen as a pivotal move for crypto adoption. With crypto-ready mobile devices, crypto payment can be made accessible to users who are not keen on carrying a crypto hardware wallet. Such features will allow crypto users to keep their crypto keys secure while still having the flexibility and convenience of using everyday devices such as smartphones.

The launch of this new feature set for Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone series can be seen as a bid to outdo Apple, its rival in the space, whose Apple Pay payments platform still has no direct integration with crypto and blockchain applications. Earlier this year at CES 2022, Samsung announced that its new line of smart TVs will have built-in NFT features.

Aside from blockchain and crypto keys, the wallet will also secure and store personal identification data such as student IDs, driver’s licenses, digital or car keys, credit and debit card details, boarding passes, and even digitized vaccination records to battle the ongoing global pandemic.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.