After an extensive amount of back-and-forth regarding whether or not Samsung’s updated S10 smartphone would include a cryptocurrency wallet, it was finally revealed by the company a couple of weeks ago that yes, there is a wallet in the phone. The news made headlines across the globe, with the world’s leading smartphone manufacturer giving recognition to the importance of digital assets. However, as the phones have now begun to reach the hands of a select number of retailers, something odd has been revealed. The S10 does not include support for Bitcoin Core (BTC).
The phone isn’t officially being launched until March 8, but some merchants were able to receive their devices in advance and began recording “unboxing” events to show off the goods to the public. One video, which was uploaded to YouTube, shows that the S10 provides support for Ether (ETH), but not BTC.
Oddly enough, when the Blockchain Keystore app is launched on the phone, the BTC logo is presented. It seems like an odd omission, given the popularity of BTC. It is the coin most often associated with the digital currency space and has the highest trading volume of all the crypto options. It’s still possible that Samsung could decide to include BTC and other digital currencies, but, for now, ETH support is all that’s available.
Samsung has been extremely quiet on the subject of the crypto wallet in its offerings. It only barely mentioned it when it announced its Blockchain Keystore app and has not gone into great detail about what its future plans may be. Also absent is any indication on whether or not support for other ETH-based currencies are available.
Samsung actually isn’t the first company to concentrate on crypto other than BTC. When Opera added crypto to its web browser, it included support for ETH and other ERC tokens in the built-in wallet, but didn’t include BTC. That move most likely stemmed from Opera’s attraction to the Ethereum blockchain for its decentralized application (Dapp) support.
Samsung’s S10 isn’t the first crypto phone to hit the markets, but having the technology giant getting behind the industry was seen as a huge step forward for digital currencies. At this point, everyone will just have to wait to see what the company has on its agenda.
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