The electronics giant, Samsung, may slowly be becoming one of the biggest players in Web3. Through several partnerships and announcements over the past few years and large investments, Samsung has become intertwined with the Web3 ecosystem. 

Samsungs Web3 Ventures

The company has made several recent ventures into blockchain and Web3, including the 837X metaverse, the integration of the blockchain protocol Pass, the NFT gallery television and even a reforestation project. Adopting and integrating blockchain technology seems to be a top priority for the massive enterprise lately.

Samsung was ranked by Forbes as the 14th largest company in the world, bigger than ExxonMobil, Verizon and Walmart. Part of a conglomerate, the communications giant is a powerful and influential figure across the globe. Companies like this, participating in Web3, are just one reason the blockchain industry is poised for growth.

Samsung Brings Offline Utility To NFTs 

Samsung has inked a deal with several different physical retail locations, to help expand the utility of the New Galaxy NFTs. This collection was introduced by Samsung earlier in 2022, being given to customers who pre-ordered certain products. The company plans to offer a wide range of utilities through these NFTs, including off-chain rewards and discounts. 

Samsung officials have been vocal about their opinions on bringing blockchain and Web3 technologies mainstream. “By providing practical services to NFT-holding customers, the customers will be able to gain an in-depth consumer experience of digital assets.” This was the most recent comment, after Samsungs Pass integration, from an official. 

A partnership with Theta Labs, a blockchain company specializing in decentralized video API, helped make this recent news happen. Samsung has been working within many different blockchain-based companies, quietly building a name for themselves in the space.

Pass Identity Integrates With Samsung

Samsung Blockchain Keystore is integrated with  SK Telecoms security solution, Pass. Samsung previously implemented its own blockchain solution that would increase security on the phones, which is also inaccessible to the rest of the Android operating system.  Samsung Blockchain Keystore allows the consumer to be in control of their data and private information, as well as provides a secure place to store private keys.

Not only does the Keystore area isolate and protect the information, but it also cant be seen by the device’s Android OS and isn’t saved to any external clouds. The Pass security solution will further increase the security and convenience of these Samsung tools.

The Pass solution was developed by South Korea’s big three mobile operators and is based on identity and privacy. Control over personal information is the biggest draw to the service that’s being used by well over a million people. Pass allows people to prove their age without showing all the information on their ID and similar acts that protect the consumer’s identity. 

Blockchain integrations in cell phones will be one of the most important aspects of mainstream adoption and one of the world’s most popular providers of the project is an ideal partnership. Blockchain provides a convenient and simple solution and will be accessible by anyone.

Samsung Announces A NFT TV

As the NFT hysteria grew in 2021, many companies looked to capitalize on the popularity of the new digital asset. Samsung did things slightly differently. In the beginning of 2022, Samsung announced an NFT television that would act as an art gallery. The company forged yet another partnership in the blockchain space, with Nifty Gateway, for this innovative physical product. 

Nifty Gateway was bought by Gemini Exchange in 2019 and is an Ethereum-based NFT marketplace. The partnership between the two brings the Nifty marketplace onto Samsungs new smart TVs. This not only allows for a beautiful and convenient display of NFT collections but also for buying, selling and trading on the marketplace. Nifty Gateways custodial wallet is utilized and credit/debit cards are accepted as well.

Samsung even partnered with Sotheby’s, the world-renowned auction house, to show art on sale at events. This was first tested in New York with paintings by Andy Warhole and Alvar Aalto on display. Sotheby’s has auctioned NFTs previously, including CryptoPunks and work by DrifterShoots, making them a perfect partner to launch that NFT display TV. Traditional art is a great additional utility to the TVs, removing the need for expensive work hanging on the wall and maintaining the quality. 

Samsung has been at the top of the television industry for over sixteen years and is one of the world’s largest electronics companies. Integration of NFTs through products that everyone around the world already uses and owns is one of the fastest ways to bring on global adoption of the technology.

Samsung Partners With Blockchain For Reforestation

In the first quarter of 2022, Samsung committed to planting two million coastal mangroves, as part of a Madagascar reforestation project. The company partnered with a blockchain-based firm to trace and track the progress of the initiative.

Veritree proudly displays that the two million trees were planted, with 200 Hectares restored and over 430,000 tons of CO2 sequestered from the atmosphere. The 200 Hectares of land will give local tree workers approximately 4,000 days of work, while the carbon dioxide levels captured naturally out of the air equate to removing nearly 100,000 cars from the road for an entire year.

The environmental benefits being provided by Veritree and Samsung are widespread and long-term, showing real initiative not only to adopt blockchain technology but also to make a genuine impact on the planet. 

Communications Giant Builds Inside The Metaverse

In early January of 2022, Samsung teamed up with Decentraland to build their own little piece of the metaverse. Decentraland offers land where users can purchase and build upon, and Samsung jumped straight in.  The 837X metaverse experience was visited by over 100k participants just two months after the launch, and gained popularity due to the association with the South Korean enterprise.

Users looking to enter must first connect with Decentraland in order to visit 837X. Once logged in, the avatar will be dropped right outside Samsungs virtual 837X building. You can then enter the doors and immerse yourself in the digital realm. 

The metaverse offers wearables and NFTs in addition to the virtual experience, and the company even launched a discord group around the game. Metamask makes wallet integrations secure and easy on Decentraland and it’s always good to see such massive corporations taking the Web3 space so seriously. 

Samsung is doing more than a few partnerships in the space, they have an extensive investment record all throughout the blockchain-based space. From NFTs and metaverses to marketplaces and developer tools, Samsung has its hands in everything.

Big Web3 Investments 

Samsungs investments in the blockchain space are typically done under Samsung Next, and they do have an extensive blockchain portfolio. Some of the most notable investments in blockchain and Web3 that Samsung has made are listed below. 

• Yuga Labs – Creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) who later acquired the CryptoPunk collection as well. Developing a metaverse.
• Axie Infinity – Popular Play-to-Earn blockchain game.
• Sandbox – A metaverse where you can buy and sell land, build and rent, create experiences and more. Many established companies like Roblox and Tesla own land in this metaverse.
• Dapper Labs – NFT powerhouse, Dapper Labs is the parent of Flow Blockchain, CryptoKitties, NBA TopShot and more.
• FTX – Growing U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange owned by Sam Bankman-Fried.
• Nifty Gateway – Ethereum NFT marketplace and Samsungs partner for the NFT TV display.
• Theta Labs – Decentralized video API for developers, helping blockchain infrastructure remain decentralized and Samsung partner for NFT utility offline. 
• SuperRare – NFT marketplace, growing competitor to OpenSea. 
• Bitfusion – Virtualizes hardware units, like GPUs, to offer shared and network-accessible resources.
• MachineFi – An Internet-of-Things (IoT) company, connects the physical world to Web3 through the power of devices.

Samsung has been heavily investing in the space and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. Massive, global corporations entering the space from all sides is exactly what the industry needs. Investing, partnering and genuinely believing in the technology, are all extremely bullish signs for the future of the digital asset space.

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