Samsung to Integrate a Crypto Wallet within Samsung Pay

Samsung is planning to go all In on cryptocurrencies as they look to incorporate it with their existing payment system Samsung Pay. Samsung Pay is said to account for around 80 percent of the market share of the mobile payment market ahead of Apple Pay and Android pay. According to market experts, the integration of cryptocurrencies is expected to increase the mainstream adoption of these digital assets.

A report from Business Korea says:

“Samsung Electronics appears to be moving to integrate cryptocurrencies to Samsung Pay, which accounts for 80 percent of the South Korean simple payment market. The company has recently transferred the blockchain task force (TF) of the mobile business division to the service business division”.

Samsung Pay integration was already reported in March by Donga, another mainstream media outlet in South Korea. The monthly report of Donga also stated the extension of the transaction period for overseas users along with the integration of an international payment processing service, primarily targeting the global financial services market.

What does this imply for the Crypto market?

On November 2018, The Korea Herald reported that Samsung Pay recorded a whopping 58 percent increase in its user base year-over-year.

Not just that, WiseApp, an industry tracker, found that Samsung Pay was the most widely utilized financial application in late 2018 with 10.4 million users. In 2017, the platform is said to have had about 6.6 million users. The userbase almost doubled in just a year.

This is a tremendous feat as 10 million users represent about 20 percent of the overall population of South Korea and this is without considering the user base the platform has overseas. The application makes use of a technology called magnetic secure transmission (MST), which enables users to transact by merely hovering over a conventional point of sale (PoS) terminal.

Samsung Pay vs Android/Apply Pay

Samsung Pay already has the advantage of having a larger user base. This gives them the opportunity to try and secure a niche market like cryptocurrencies to expand its existing user base. Even if the adoption doesn’t attract many users, they have nothing to lose here as they already are leading the race in the industry.

The acquisition of LoopPay for the price tag of $250 million allowed Samsung Pay to equip MST and to win the race against Apple Pay and Android Pay.

This February, Samsung’s new flagship Galaxy S10 device came with a crypto asset wallet called Samsung Blockchain Wallet, allowing users to hold and perform transactions with cryptocurrencies securely from the device’s built-in wallet.

With the incorporation of a cryptocurrency wallet, Samsung Pay looks to be the world’s first ever complete Financial Technology (or the new buzzword FinTech) platform. Currently, the Samsung Blockchain Wallet only supports Ethereum but more cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin are said to be integrated in the near future.

If you are wondering who triggered the recent introduction of the Samsung Blockchain Wallet to increase the accessibility of cryptocurrencies, you need to thank Kim Yong-Jae, the vice president of Samsung’s service business division.

The future of Crypto Payments

For all the crypto and blockchain enthusiasts, this is not where the good news ends. There are also reports suggesting that Samsung is already exploring the possibility of launching a blockchain network backed on the Ethereum blockchain protocol along with its own ERC Token. ERC Tokens are currencies built on top of Ethereum’s currency Ether. Ethereum also comes with a strong developer friendly tool kit to build distributed applications on top of it. It seems like the electronics giant will not sit back and watch when all its competitors are looking to make full use of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.

For years, the progress of the crypto industry was hindered by the lack of adoption of the technology by all the major Silicon Valley and other tech giants like Samsung. Now with time, they have started to see the value in the technology and that it is not just another buzz word.

This must come as music to the ears of Crypto Enthusiasts as all the major companies from Facebook to Google to Amazon to AT&T are all incorporating cryptocurrencies and blockchain in their products. Now with the potential integration of crypto assets by Samsung Pay, Cryptocurrency will soon make it to the doors of normal users. The future looks bright for all the believers of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology.