Samsung Electronics has teamed up with IBM to develop a new application using the blockchain technology which is the basis for the digital currency Bitcoin.

The announcement comes closely after the Silicon Valley subsidiary Samsung Research America of the Suwon-based mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics announced on April 10 that it will “develop a new online transaction verification technology through application of the Bitcoin’s blockchain technology.”

Steve Rahman, Director of Strategy at Samsung Research America said, “The blockchain technology is very interesting in general, and it can be applied in a lot of areas.” Mr. Rahman adds, “Currency, it’s just the first use case. You could imagine that anything, like prescriptions, could be managed with the blockchain technology.”

Cost Benefits

Bitcoin technology allows for easy, quick and cheap cross-border remittances using a peer-to-peer network. The technology facilitates international payments without involving a third party such as a bank or other financial institution, thereby making the entire process inexpensive and extremely quick.

However, Samsung is striving to build an even better authentication application which will substantially cut down costs. How it plans to do it?

The current blockchain technology costs the operator high expenses, including server cost, due to the verification procedures needed for online remittance and storage of data pertaining to transactions. Samsung’s new Bitcoin application will vie to bring down these costs as lower storage costs could prompt companies to store media files like songs and videos on the developed blockchain-based platform for which companies otherwise buy hundreds of servers or lease capacity from other service providers.

If Samsung is able to revolutionize the way blockchain technology is used, it could prove to be a major game-changer for the mobile giant’s business as well. Companies and individuals usually shell out huge amounts of money to store their data using cloud services, and Samsung can be a big beneficiary if it successfully develops this technology.