South Korean electronics giant Samsung is launching a blockchain-based variant of its recently launched flagship smartphone lineup Note 10.
Reported by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, the phone will be marked as “KlaytnPhone,” after the blockchain network of South Korean messaging giant Kakao. The phone manufacturer has joined hands with Ground X, the blockchain subsidiary of Kakao, to launch the phone variant.
Available only to South Korean buyers from today, the hardware specifications of the phone will be similar to Galaxy Note 10; however, it will have additional support for decentralized applications (DApps) and crypto wallets, which will come pre-installed.
In addition, the buyers of the phone will also receive a certain amount of Klay tokens, the native digital currency of the Klaytn blockchain network, the report detailed.
Bringing blockchain to mobile phones
As FortuneZ reported earlier, Samsung added support for Klay cryptocurrency on its Keystore last month, along with the integration of Bitcoin’s support.
Klaytn network is also accessible to non-Samsung Android users who can access DApps on the blockchain. However, only KlaytnPhone will support full-scale transaction on Kakao’s blockchain.
Samsung is betting heavily to make mobile-based blockchain support a norm. The company first jumped into the blockchain arena by introducing support for crypto wallets in its S10 series; however, initially, the support was limited only to Ethereum.
Though the phone maker is also considering to bring similar digital asset support to budget Galaxy phones, the development is still behind curtains.
Samsung is also determined to bring DApps on mobile platforms and has added more than a dozen of such applications to its Keystore.
Kakao also has major ambitions with its blockchain network. The company launched Kalyth last June and also attracted big names to support its project. It also raised $90 million through its Ground X subsidiary and is reportedly planning to list Klay token on a Chinese and a South Korean exchange.
