BLOCKCHAIN
BLOCKCHAIN
BLOCKCHAIN
Despite registering trademarks, Samsung denies building a blockchain phone
Samsung Electronics. Co. Ltd. has denied a report that it’s developing a blockchain-enabled phone despite reports that it has filed multiple patents for blockchain apps.
First spotted by Dutch website Galaxy Club, the three trademarks were lodged with the European Union Intellectual Property Office Monday and relate to three applications: “Blockchain KeyStore,” “Blockchain key box” and “Blockchain Core.”
The list of goods and services for the trademarks are listed as “Smartphones; Software applications for use with mobile devices; Computer software platforms; Application software,” with no explanation as to what the proposed services or applications will offer.
Sammobile reported separately that Samsung’s cryptocurrency services will have two parts, a “cold wallet” for saving cryptocurrency, public and private keys as well as signing private keys for cryptocurrency transactions, and a crypto wallet for transfers, viewing account information and transaction history.
The same report claimed that Samsung is looking at bringing these apps to market with the Galaxy S10, the South Korean company’s latest flagship release set to be released in February or March.
Samsung was short and to the point in response to the news, telling Cointelegraph that “unfortunately we are unable to provide any information as the below is rumor and speculation.”
That Samsung would register trademarks for services that it’s not developing would be odd, to say the least. Although it’s not as secretive as rival Apple Inc., Samsung may simply be denying the existing reports while developing the apps anyway.
If Samsung is looking at bringing blockchain support to its phones, it won’t be the first to do so. HTC Corp. launched the HTC Exodus 1 blockchain phone in October.
Not cheap, coming in at the equivalent of $960, the HTC blockchain phone runs on an Android-based operating system. It supports a “secure enclave” that can protect digital currencies, acting as safe storage for cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Ethereum.
Samsung, through its information technology subsidiary Samsung SDS, was reported to be developing a blockchain network for the Korean shipping industry in May 2017.
Image: Pixabay
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