- The pre-sale version only supports Ethereum
- Other wallets started with Ethereum before Bitcoin
- Samsung’s initiative could spark worldwide crypto adoption
Samsung’s crypto-enabled smartphone the Galaxy S10 Crypto Wallet seems to have left out Bitcoin at its launch and may only support Ethereum.
The South Korean-based giant appears to have followed in the footsteps of other wallets that took in Bitcoin and Litecoin much later after supporting Ethereum alone for over a year.
According to a YouTuber called Crypto-Jorozu who received a pre-sale or early version of the device, the Galaxy S10 will support Ethereum and not the flagship cryptocurrency the Bitcoin.
As per the nine-minute video that shows Crypto-Jorozu unboxing the device which looks genuine, the YouTuber draws attention to Keystore that may appear like the Korean version of the Smartphone which seems to depict Ethereum-related transaction information.
Fully-Fledged Cryptocurrency Wallet
The South Korean tech giant unveiled the Samsung Galaxy S10 a few weeks ago but did not reveal the nitty-gritty of the offering apart from announcing that it would be code-named the Blockchain Keystore.
This, the company said, was because it was designed to store private keys for blockchain enabled mobile applications.
Rumor mills have been rolling ever since which have included information and images that gave the impression that the Galaxy S10’s Keystore would be a fully-fledged cryptocurrency wallet that would support Bitcoin, Ethereum and a host of other ERC20 tokens. However, after watching the video, A Tweet by a user CRN summed it all up this way:
Samsung Galaxy S10 crypto wallet appears to have left out Bitcoin at launch. For now it looks like it's Ethereum-only! ?https://t.co/j0eFmTphJY
— CRN (@crn_maximizer) March 4, 2019
Support Ethereum before Bitcoin
A few wallet providers have in the past opted to support Ethereum before they finally get back to the “father” of all cryptocurrencies the Bitcoin.
A good case in mind is the popular web browser Opera that supports Ethereum and ERC Tokens in its inbuilt wallet. The Coinbase wallet, during its launch, supported Ethereum and ERC tokens for over a year before eventually taking in Bitcoin, Litecoin and other cryptocurrencies.
The reason may be based on Ethereum’s centricity and popularity for dApps in comparison to Bitcoin. Even though Crypto-Jorozu is greeted by Bitcoin’s visual representation on the video, he says the wallet only supports Ethereum, at least for now.
Spark Worldwide Adoption of Cryptocurrencies
When Samsung unveiled the financial transaction ready Galaxy S10 during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the company said the device would support cold storage for Enjin (ENJ), Cosmee (COSM).
That the wallet doesn’t support Bitcoin from the beginning may, therefore, be temporary. Many crypto enthusiasts see Samsung’s decision to join crypto space as something that could spark worldwide adoption of cryptocurrencies.