Samsung Electronics has announced that owners of their Galaxy devices can now manage and trade their crypto assets from third-party wallets on smartphones. The update is aimed at granting more access to users for blockchain transactions. This will be accomplished by importing digital assets stored on specific cold wallets to the Samsung Blockchain Wallet.
The Samsung Blockchain Keystore was launched in 2019 along with the Galaxy S10 smartphone. It became a lynchpin in Samsung’s blockchain initiative and addressed several security concerns that come with accessing blockchains on mobile platforms. The Keystore allows users to utilize their phones as a kind of cold wallet to store private information in a secure zone. Additional layers of protection are provided by Samsung Knox and TEE.
Developers are also afforded access to the Keystore through the Samsung Blockchain Keystore SDK. This allows dApp developers to integrate the Keystore into their own dApps and provide secure private key authentication along the way.
Galaxy smartphones will also be able to now connect hardware wallets including the LEDGER Nano S and Ledger Nano X. Dedicated cryptocurrency newsfeeds in the app will also help users stay in the know when it comes to industry news. Since the Galaxy S10 launched in 2019, the wallet has supported BTC, ETH, TRX, GUSD, and TRC-20 smart contract tokens.
In a statement, Samsung VP and head of blockchain, Woong Ah Yoon, said:
“By providing support for hardware wallets we are providing our customers with not just enhanced convenience, but also an entirely new level of security. We will begin with providing support for Ledger products including Nano S and Nano X. Then we plan to expand our support to more cold-storage wallets.”
Yoon added that monthly active users of the service have risen more than 100% in the last six months. Currently, the wallet houses hundreds of millions in digital assets, though he did not state the exact figure.
The VP also elaborated on the security Samsung offers.
“The Samsung Blockchain Wallet is not 100% cold storage but it’s not a hot wallet either,” Yoon clarified. “It’s not susceptible to all the external attacks that could accompany an online connection. So it kind of sits in the middle of a cold wallet and a hot wallet; a warm wallet, you could say.”
