Samsung Allows Cryptocurrency Payments For Its Products In Three Baltic States
The Lithuanian branch of South Korean tech giant Samsung has announced that it will allow residents of three Baltic states Vilnius and Kaunas (Lithuania), Riga (Latvia) and Tallinn (Estonia) to purchase any of the company’s products directly using digital currencies. Samsung has also released a list of seven cryptocurrencies which it will accept for payment. This includes: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, Litecoin (LTC), Dash, NEM, and Steem.
Samsung believes that there has been a growing awareness for cryptocurrencies among consumers and that it could benefit from its mass adoption in the future. In order to facilitate these cryptocurrency payments, Samsung has partnered European fintech firm CopPay which currently provides payment gateways to cryptocurrency paying customers across all its 31 merchant locations.
In the official blog post making this announcement, CopPay says that the Korean tech giant is truly embracing the slogan “Turn on Future” by considering cryptocurrency payments. CopPay says: “There is a growing trend toward business digitalization and allowing customers to pay for goods and services in cryptocurrency, whether at global retailers or local restaurants.”
According to the further details unveiled by the company, it is being said that in addition to accepting crypto payments at its physical stores, Samsung will also be integrating this payment facility to its online payment gateways.
The Baltic region is famously known for the acceptance of crypto payments because of the less regulatory interference there. There are a lot of merchants that accept Bitcoin payments for hotels, specialty shops, clothing stores, coffee, apartments, bars, restaurants, and massage parlors.
On the other hand, Samsung is also not a new player in the cryptocurrency and the blockchain space. Samsung is currently using the blockchain technology to track its global shipments. Logistics business is said to be one of the important applications of blockchain technology which allows for real-time tracking of the shipments. Blockchain technology is expected to reduce shipments costs by 20 percent going further.
Moreover, earlier this year, Samsung also unveiled that it will venture into the business of making crypto mining chips. The company is currently selling ASIC chips that can be used for crypto mining activities. In April 2018, the company registered a 58% year-on-year growth on the operating profits of the first year highlighting a strong demand for its crypto-mining chips.