Thursday, February 21, 2019

Samsung's step up📱

February 21, 2019

The Real Significance of Samsung's Galaxy S10 New Crypto Key Storage

Wednesday, after months of speculation and alleged leaks, Samsung announced that its new Galaxy S10 would be equipped with secure storage for cryptocurrency private keys for "blockchain-enabled mobile services."

Previously Samsung had denied any claims regarding crypto-related features.

But the private key storage itself isn't groundbreaking. Actually, to some experts, it's not any more secure than the popular crypto wallet Ledger.

The real significance

In short, there are a few wins for crypto here that extend beyond Samsung's new tech.

1. Less holdings on centralized exchange wallets, more private key ownership.

With private key storage, Samsung isn't holding crypto, but rather helping investors protect their crypto themselves rather than leaving it on vulnerable exchanges.

2. Samsung is the largest smartphone manufacturer.

With over 70 million units shipped every quarter, Samsung is in a strong position to help onboard crypto adoption. While it may not cause demand, it will certainly help aid the process along.

Ryan Selkis from Messari summed it up perfectly in a tweet:

"It's not a demand driver, but when the mega-rally hits, the new crypto foundation will be solid."

3. It's not the first blockchain-feature phone, but it could be the tipping point.

Prior to Samsung, both HTC and Sirin Labs released blockchain-enabled smartphones. However, with Samsung on the board, it could be enough to move the needle for the entire industry and make blockchain features a norm.

Are you buying?

For now the device is listed with a starting price of $749, or around 0.19 Bitcoin, and will launch in March 8th.

FACEBOOK

Zuckerberg is Watching Blockchain Closely, What's Facebook's Angle?

In a new podcast with Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed some new ideas about integrating blockchain within his platform.

While previously identity protection and a new cryptocurrency have circulated the community, this time around, the use case surrounded user data - a massive contributor to Facebook's success…or recent failure.

With this, Zuckerberg explained that blockchain could enable users to control their data where they want rather than have it readily available to all.

He explained:

"Basically, you take your information, you store it on some decentralized system and you have the choice to log into places without going through an intermediary."

Something is brewing…

Whether or not Zuckerberg will make this a reality, something is brewing over at the blockchain department over at Facebook - we just don't know what.

Recently the team has expanded its hiring efforts and even acquired blockchain scalability startup Chainspace for its talent.

For now, the team's lips are locked in secrecy but it's possible we see Facebook apply blockchain to some capacity before the end of the year.

ADOPTION

The L.A. Kings are Using a Blockchain-Based App to Verify Merchandise

The Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League are now letting customers authenticate merchandise with a blockchain-based app.

Dubbed the AR Authentication App, items have to pass multiple parameters before being accepted as real.

The close-to-sci-fi process goes:

Use augmented reality to recognize a piece of registered merchandise.
Verify your identity.
Scan a product's Certificate of Authenticity (CoA).

Once all three steps are complete, customers can use the app to transfer ownership or ask for an optional hard copy certificate.

For that reason, Tesla, his electric car company focused on sustainability, is staying out.

Senior Vice President of Business Development and Brand Strategy Jonathan Lowe commented:

"This utilization of AR and Blockchain in the sports memorabilia realm is truly a first of its kind but – more importantly – also adds extra layers of authentication and security to the many fans who have become customers of our Game-Used product."

BITS

But wait, there's more...

😨 Leaked 'volume-boosting' documents from Kucoin are wreaking havoc for the exchange.
💰 Pantera has already raised $125 million for its third crypto fund.
⛏ Spanish mining startup is returning $68 million to investors from its ICO after the project failed to get a building permit.

MEME