Local industry news outlet Decenter reported on Sept. 3 that Samsung applied for the “programmable blockchain solid state drive and switch” patent on Jan. 15 and that it has been published on Feb. 2.
South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung has filed a patent for a blockchain-enabled Solid State Drive (SSD).
Details of the newly designed system are sparse, but it will reportedly be used to improve the speed and lifespan of blockchain-aware storage devices.
“Programmable blockchain solid state drive and switch”
To achieve this objective, Samsung intends to use Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). FPGAs are devices which can be placed in between general-purpose processing devices and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs).
This kind of devices can be programmed to be predisposed to calculate algorithms in a way more efficient than general-purpose computer devices can. But unlike ASICS, they can be reprogrammed to be adapted to different algorithms. Those features made them a more flexible, but less efficient, alternative to ASICS in cryptocurrency mining.
Samsung is taking crypto seriously
Samsung, one of the biggest producers of electronics in the world, has been integrating ever more blockchain based-features into its mobile devices. Last month, the electronics giant integrated Pundi X’s XWallet app into their Samsung Blockchain Wallet alongside over 30 other cryptos.
As Cointelegraph reported last month, Chinese online retail giant Alibaba has applied for a United States patent entitled “Domain Name Management Scheme for Cross-Chain Interactions in Blockchain Systems.”
Samsung Discreetly Adds Bitcoin Support to Blockchain Keystore
South Korean tech conglomerate Samsung has quietly added Bitcoin support to its decentralized app store, Blockchain Keystore.
According to updated information on the Samsung Developers website, the Keystore now supports Bitcoin as well as Klaytn, the cryptocurrency released by Korean internet giant Kakao.
Select devices and jurisdictions
As the site outlines, Samsung’s Blockchain Keystore is supported by six of its devices – Galaxy S10e, S10, S10+, S10 5G, Note10 and Note10+ – and across six jurisdictions: Canada, Germany, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Keystore was first released in July of this year as part of Samsung’s blockchain and decentralized application (DApp) Software Development Kit (SDK), which provides account management as well as backup, payment and digital signature facilitation.
Notably, initially the Keystore had only supported the Ethereum blockchain.
Earlier this month, Samsung had expanded SDK with two new services – an AI-powered digital analytics DApp dubbed “Jupiter” and a QR code-based peer-to-peer wallet, “Mars”, and integrated them into the Galaxy S10 and newer versions of Samsung smartphones.
Blockchain smartphones
In parallel to Samsung, Taiwanese consumer electronics giant HTC has also launched a blockchain-powered smartphone, dubbed “Exodus”, which launched in fall 2018.
Israeli blockchain startup Sirin Labs launched its Finney blockchain smartphone in winter 2018, but was soon reportedly forced to lay off a quarter of its during the 2018-19 cryptocurrency bear market.
Samsung at Last Adds Bitcoin Functionality to Its Blockchain Phones
Samsung has integrated bitcoin (BTC) functionality on its blockchain-enabled smartphones.
The move comes months after the flagship Galaxy S10 range was launched in March with a “Blockchain Keystore” offering cryptocurrency storage and transactions for ether (ETH) and related ERC-20 tokens, but which notably excluded the number one cryptocurrency by market cap.
The South Korean tech giant has now included bitcoin features to the developer kit (SDK) for several S10 models (S10e, S10, S10+ and S10 5G), as well as the Note10 and Note10+ devices.
The SDK allows Android devices to link blockchain addresses to the Blockchain Keystore, sign cryptocurrency transactions and check the Keystore status.
The blockchain features of the phones are still currently only available in limited jurisdictions, listed as: Canada, Germany, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the U.S. and the U.K.
The SDK additions also include support for the native cryptocurrency (klay) of the Klaytn blockchain recently launched by Korean messaging app giant Kakao. In the last week, Kakao’s blockchain subsidiary GroundX has teased an upcoming wallet for klay called Klip, and also revealed its first decentralized app (dapp) partners.
Samsung itself now lists 17 dapps in its Keystore, and is developing it own blockchain based on ethereum. It may ultimately release its own token, the firm has suggested.
