Samsung, a South Korean tech giant on February 20 launched its Galaxy S10 and Fold smartphones which feature a cryptocurrency wallet. Sirin Labs and HTC in 2018 also launched blockchain-based devices. However, these smartphones are worth almost $1,000 and more expensive than Dash’s KRIP smartphone.
Samsung, Sirin Labs, and Dash Launch Crypto Wallets on Phones
Samsung, HTC, Sirin Labs, and Dash are all companies that have attempted to promote virtual currencies. Each company has developed a smartphone that allows people to store cryptocurrencies safely. The latter is the case of the latest Samsung Galaxy S10 which features Knox, a blockchain platform also touting a private cryptocurrency key storage.
In the same vein, HTC, a Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer launched its Exodus 1, a blockchain smartphone on October 2018. Exodus 1 features a cryptocurrency wallet that aims to keep the user’s digital asset safe. Siri Labs, a London-based manufacturer in December 2018 also released Finney, a smartphone boasting of a cold store wallet.
Dash Kripto Mobile is the Cheapest
While these are all impressive efforts made by smartphone manufacturers, a comparison of the price of each smartphone reveals that Dash’s Kripto phone is the cheapest. KRIP which was launched in August last year is sold for less than $100. Therefore, this makes it easy for the ordinary user to take advantage of its cryptocurrency storage feature.
According to Dashnews, KRIP was released for people in Latin America and its fixed low-cost price is in a bid to ensure that the smartphone is massively adopted. They also pointed out that around 60% of Venezuelans were not using smartphones. As such, to encourage them to adopt cryptocurrency meant offering an inexpensive device.
Kripto Smartphones Come Preloaded with Dash Wallets
More light into the nature of KRIP reveals that it comes pre-loaded with Dash wallets as well as a paper wallet. Nevertheless, KRIP phones are less sophisticated in comparison with the aforementioned devices. Asides from focusing on the cryptocurrency feature, devices from Samsung, HTC etc. have highly optimized cameras, RAM, and software to boost their level of operation which adds to their cost.
BTCNN on February 9 also outlined the implications of a cryptocurrency wallet being featured on the Samsung smartphone as well as those from other brands. Each of these brands is known to control a fair share of the market, and as such, pushing devices of this nature creates more awareness about virtual assets like Bitcoin. Like smartphone makers, an Android web browser from Opera also comes embedded with a cryptocurrency feature.
