South Korean tech conglomerate Samsung is allegedly releasing a new cryptocurrency known as Samsung Coin… At least that’s what we’ve all been led to believe.

Samsung Isn’t Creating It’s “Own” Coin

The truth is, the currency has been patented and trademarked, yet Samsung is denying it had anything to do with the currency’s development. It says it doesn’t have any answers for bitcoin or other mainstream coins, though it has ultimately pledged support for digital currency in the past.

The situation is strange, to say the least. Why would a company that has behaved so positively towards crypto in the past suddenly deny making a new addition to the space? Well, because according to the patent office where the documents for the currency were filed, the company quite literally has nothing to do with it. Someone is simply using the company’s name, and that person is Kim Nam-Jin.

At press time, if it unknown if Nam-Jin has used the company’s name with or without executives’ permission, but nevertheless, Samsung Coin is a real thing and it’s happening now – just without Samsung’s development team behind it.

Prior to the reports associated with Samsung Coin, it had been stated by many news outlets that the tech company was developing its own Ethereum-based technology to provide an “underbelly” of sorts to any future coins it might be interested in developing. Originally, it was thought that this coin would have been Samsung Coin, but the idea that Samsung is not involved makes one wonder if its plans are on hold or if it has simply shipped out of the “coin-creating” business altogether.

It’s unknown if the company will file a trademark lawsuit against Nam-Jin for utilizing the name. Interestingly, the company’s previous release, the Samsung S10 phone, was also designed to support cryptocurrency wallets and allow users to monitor their digital accounts.

Maybe the Coin Business Is Best Left Alone

The business of building new cryptocurrencies is a hard and confusing one, and likely to lead to many unanswered questions for regulators and the public. Take, for instance, Libra, the new cryptocurrency being developed by Facebook. One can’t read the news nowadays without hearing about the coin’s latest development, though most of them are negative as of late. Several Congress members have lashed out at David Marcus and the rest of the Libra team for potentially seeking too much power and entering an industry they seemingly have no business entering.

After all, Facebook is a social media company, not a banking conglomerate, and as a result, many are questioning what the company’s true intentions are. Following several days of extensive congressional hearings, Marcus and the rest of the Libra team have agreed to pause any further developments of Libra until the U.S. government has all the answers it needs.