Samsung has partnered with digital currency exchange Gemini to provide phone based digital currency conversion to Samsung customers, at least in the US and Canada.
Back in March 2018 Samsung introduced digital currency wallet storage capabilities on their top line phone, the Galaxy S10. The Samsung Blockchain Wallet has continued to grow since then, from initially offering only Ether and ERC20 tokens, to Bitcoin being added in September 2018, TRON in October 2018, Aergo and Elrond in November 2019.
In May 2019 Samsung announced they would bring the Wallet to their range of budget phones, not just the top end, and this month's announcement with Gemini to provide in app digital currency purchases expands the capabilities of Samsung's Wallet significantly. The wallet already had a range of DApps which could be accessed, but no simple purchasing on-ramp for digital currency.
Gemini said:
This integration allows Samsung Blockchain Wallet users to connect to the Gemini Mobile App to buy, sell, and trade crypto. Gemini is helping bring crypto to the fingertips of Samsung Blockchain Wallet users in the United States and Canada
Previously, Wallet users would need to purchase digital currency and then send it to their phone wallet address, whereas now, digital currency can be bought within the app, a significantly faster process.
The expansion of links between digital currency wallets and payment systems is accelerating. On the spending side, digital currency interfaces to payments has been growing, with Binance recently launching a credit card and in Australia local start-up CryptoSpend also offering a card for users to spend using their digital currencies. The Samsung and Gemini link up is another important step towards greater adoption of digital currency by mainstream users.