Samsung Blockchain Keystore missing on Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra
Samsung was very proud to position itself as one of the first handsets manufactures to equip their phone with a cryptocurrency hardware wallet chip that provided functionality similar to Trezor or Ledger Nano. This chip ensured that private keys never leave your phone and you are able to sign transactions securely.
However, Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra users are complaining that Blockchain Keystore does not comes pre-installed and there is no mention of embedded blockchain chip either. It is not even available for download from Galaxy Store where one can find all Samsung braded applications.
Update – it appears that this is region specific. One can find Samsung Blockchain Keystore in ‘privacy and security’ in Settings but it is disabled. This is a weird move as it was available universally on previous devices.
This is a very confusing move by Samsung since they have been pushing blockchain adoption ever since the launch of Galaxy S10 that was launched in Q1 2019. After S10-series, Samsung used the same blockchain hardware chip in Note 10/10+ and S20-series.
Infact, earlier this year, Samsung added support for many other popular cryptocurrencies in February, including Stellar and Tron. So, not equipping Note 20 / 20 Ultra with blockchain keystore is confusing since it is Samsung’s flagship device right now.
Our editor-in-chief has a Note 20 Ultra and he has confirmed it. He even side-loaded the app by installing Blockchain Keystore from apkmirror and Note 20 does not even wants to open it.
Samsung has not added blockchain hardware chip in Galaxy Note 20 / 20 Ultra.
This is confirmed.
I side-loaded Blockchain Keystore apk and it doesn’t lets me open it. https://t.co/iFUNit0aSX pic.twitter.com/wgzi5Pg0Ic
— Kamal Singh 🔶🔶🔶 (@kamalds) August 31, 2020
Is Samsung no longer committed to blockchain?