Samsung wants to launch a cryptocurrency exchange as soon as next year. To achieve this, the leader in mobile telephony has approached six South Korean companies specializing in finance. Despite the market crash, the Seoul giant confirms its appeal to the world of crypto-assets.
Samsung aims to launch a cryptocurrency exchange platform in South Korea, local news outlet Newspin reports. Through Samsung Securities, the group’s financial arm, Samsung has filed for approval with South Korean financial regulators.
To carry out the project, Samsung has teamed up with six other financial companies established in the country. The filing refers in particular to Mirae Asset Securities, South Korea’s largest investment banking and brokerage firm.
“The discussions necessary for the implementation are being finalized”says the manager of one of the companies involved in the project.
Launch planned for the first half of 2023
Approval from financial authorities is expected by January 2023. If all goes according to plan, the platform should see the light of day during the first semester next year.
The seven companies are expected to collaborate on the platform. Nevertheless, each company seems to want to focus on certain features of the ecosystem. For example, Samsung would like to focus on supporting security tokens. In the world of cryptocurrencies, a security token, also called “investment token” or “equity token”, is a digital currency backed by a security, such as stock market shares. These values have simply been transposed onto the blockchain to attract new investors or facilitate trade. This process is called tokenization. Security tokens represent a share in the company that issued them on the blockchain.
The filing seen by Newspin also reveals that Mirae Asset Securities has set up a dedicated subsidiary, Mirae Consulting. This division currently hires researchers specializing in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether, the two most valuable digital currencies in the entire ecosystem.
Apparently, the chaebol (set of Korean companies that have cross-shareholdings between them) already wanted to launch the development of its crypto-asset exchange platform last year. Unfortunately, Samsung failed to find employees to support the development and operation of the platform. The firm also needs qualified individuals in the programming of smart contracts, or smart contracts. These computer programs are capable of automatically performing tasks on the blockchain. Several essential decentralized finance protocols are based on these, including bridges.
To justify the launch of the initiative, a manager highlights the evolution of the market for digital assets. He points out that ” digital asset trading is actively taking place all over the world and the market size is increasing year by year”. Currently, the crypto market has approximately 200 million users in the world. By 2030, the number of users should reach one billion, estimates a study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a strategy consulting firm.
The launch of the project comes as the entire cryptocurrency market is in the red. Bitcoin crashed below $25,000 causing billions of dollars in valuation to evaporate. Despite this uncertain economic context, Samsung is confident in the future of digital assets.
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Samsung confirms its interest in cryptocurrencies
These are not Samsung’s first steps into the world of crypto-assets. The Seoul giant has already shown its interest on several occasions in the past. The leader in mobile telephony has developed several blockchain-based solutions for its smartphones, the Galaxy. In 2019, for example, Samsung announced Samsung Blockchain, a digital wallet for storing cryptocurrencies. The wallet was directly integrated into the phones of the Galaxy S10 range.
The sixth most valuable company in the world has also entered the cryptocurrency mining sector. Samsung has designed a new chip engraved in 3 nm exclusively dedicated to mining machines. It promises to consume 45% less energy than 5nm chips. The firm does not intend to stop there. Chips for minors engraved in 2 nm should see the light of day in 2025.
The South Korean group has also made a name for itself by adding non-fungible tokens (NFT) to some of its televisions. Included in the Smart Hub menu of connected televisions, this platform will make it possible to consult digital works, buy them, sell them and display them in their living room.
Finally, it will be recalled that Samsung is the second largest investor in the blockchain world, behind Google. The South Korean company has invested $979 million between September 2021 and June 2022. As is the case in its blockchain projects, Samsung has diversified its investments by pouring money into 13 different companiesincluding NFT specialists, such as Yuga Labs.
Source :
newspin