One of the world’s biggest tech conglomerates is building its own blockchain and could be considering a consequent token release.
That revelation comes per an insider reportedly close to the matter at South Korean tech giant Samsung. That anonymous source has told CoinDesk Korea a blockchain team at Samsung is working on an Ethereum-like platform.
The disclosure is as yet unconfirmed by the tech company. If true, it’s presently unclear whether the Samsung blockchain would be an Ethereum fork or simply be inspired by Ethereum’s smart contract capabilities.
Samsung could be following the general model of JP Morgan’s Quorum, a private fork of Ethereum, as the anonymous source said the Samsung blockchain could be a private ledger to start:
“Currently, we are thinking of private blockchain, though it is not yet confirmed. It could also be public blockchain in the future, but I think it will be hybrid – that is, a combination of public and private blockchains.”
The insider also mentioned Samsung Coin by name, suggesting that the tech powerhouse could eventually release a token associated with its blockchain platform.
However, that title may just be for tentative referencing. If brought to market, the token could be released under a different name depending on how Samsung wants to brand the project. As for what that token would do, there’s no word on that for now either.
Diving Deeper Into the World of Blockchain, Crypto
Samsung’s possible development of its own blockchain marks the second major crypto headline the company has been involved in this year.
The first came back in February when the company confirmed it’s new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S10, would have in-built blockchain-based functionalities.
A few weeks later, Samsung formally confirmed the existence of the S10’s Blockchain Wallet app, which launched with support for ether (ETH) and Ethereum ERC20 tokens.
Notably, the smartphone doubles as a hardware wallet courtesy of the Samsung Knox “secure environment” security mechanism. This means users can use the S10 for cold storage of cryptocurrencies rather than having to rely on “hot wallets” that depend on internet connections.
The S10’s crypto functionalities caused waves in the cryptocurrency ecosystem because its creation marked the first time one of the globe’s top three smartphone manufacturers directly embraced blockchain-related applications.
The move also spurred speculation that it could inspire major Samsung competitors like Apple and LG to follow suit with similar crypto embraces in forthcoming phone releases. However, that dynamic remains to be seen.
Ethereum on a Streak When It Comes to Enterprise, Institutional Adoption
The Ethereum network could certainly be in worse position when it comes to big players exploring its possibilities.
For example, JP Morgan’s expanding Interbank Information Network and its forthcoming JPM Coin are being built atop Quorum, a private Ethereum fork. The structure of the Ethereum protocol means there can be interoperability here, i.e. private Quorum could interact with public Ethereum.
“Big Four” accounting powerhouse EY also just released a suite of blockchain-related projects, one of which was Nightfall — a privacy protocol powered by zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) that would allow enterprises to conceal their transaction data on the public Ethereum network. Notably, EY released the tool to the public domain.
One of the largest banks in the world has also recently turned to Ethereum. This week, French bank Societe Generale announced it was releasing bonds in the form of security tokens via Ethereum. The institution touted the pilot as a possible way to optimize the bond issuance process.
With major entities like these exploring Ethereum, it’s safe to assume that enterprise embraces of the top smart contracts platform won’t be coming to a close any time soon.
