A high-profile cryptocurrency analyst says Samsung’s next mobile phone could have a bigger impact on Bitcoin than Bakkt or an exchange traded fund (ETF).

Joseph Young, a cryptocurrency and fintech expert with 95,000 Twitter followers, made the claim as supposedly leaked images revealed the new Samsung Galaxy S10 has support for cryptocurrencies.

“If Samsung integrates crypto to Galaxy S10, I think it may have a bigger impact than ETF and Bakkt combined,” Mr Young said.

“Partially because no one really knows what kind of exposure (an) ETF / Bakkt will bring … while millions of people use Samsung phones daily.”

Dr Prash P., the CEO of leading Australian cryptocurrency broker Caleb and Brown, agrees that a Samsung Bitcoin wallet would be significant for the cryptocurrency industry. “Mainstream validation is what the industry is screaming out for and thus far we have sought this out predominantly in the form of acceptance by the financial incumbents,” Dr Prash said. “However, to gain this validation via a major player in the global technology sphere – that has chosen to do so out of its own agency and not because of a market created by the traditional financial market – is tremendous validation. “On a more practical note, the ease of crypto support inbuilt into mobile phone tech will definitely be a boon for adoption due to the ease of use this promises.”

Unconfirmed rumour

In December of 2018, rumours began to emerge that Samsung was releasing a cryptocurrency wallet with its newest phone.

News website Sammobile said “we can confirm that the company is indeed developing one and that it may be launched with the Galaxy S10.”

According to Sammobile, the cryptocurrency service would essentially have two parts.

One would be a cold wallet for saving cryptocurrency, public and private keys as well as signing private keys for cryptocurrency transactions, while the other would be a wallet for transfers, viewing account information and transaction history.

Micky has so far been unable to find any proof the wallets have been developed, and blockchain news website Cointelegraph has previously said Samsung dismissed the reports as “rumour and speculation.”

“(The) suggestion was swiftly refuted by Samsung in private correspondence with Cointelegraph,” the website said.

It quoted Samsung as saying:

“UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE UNABLE TO PROVIDE ANY INFORMATION AS THE BELOW IS RUMOUR AND SPECULATION.”

Samsung does, however, have three blockchain-related trademark requests that appear on the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) website.

They are titled ‘Blockchain KeyStore,’ ‘Blockchain KeyBox’ and ‘Blockchain Core.’ M

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