Telecommunications company Vodafone has announced plans to integrate blockchain technology into smartphones with cryptocurrency wallets embedded in SIM cards. This ambitious initiative will be implemented through Vodafone Idea Ltd., a registered company in India, in which Vodafone Group owns 45% of the shares.
David Palmer, head of blockchain projects at Vodafone, explained that the company aims to connect SIM cards with digital identification and blockchains, using cryptography. He emphasized that by 2030, there will be over 20 billion mobile phones in the world, many of which will be smartphones. It is expected that by that time, around eight billion smartphones will be in use, and the number of crypto wallets will increase to 5.6 billion.
Earlier in 2019, attempts were made to integrate mobile communication technologies with blockchain. At that time, the American startup VaultTel introduced a plan to create a wallet that could be installed in a smartphone’s SIM card slot. Now, Vodafone plans to take the next step in this field by integrating blockchain directly into communication devices through SIM cards.
This new initiative from Vodafone could significantly simplify the use of cryptocurrencies and enhance the security of digital transactions by integrating cryptographic functions into everyday devices.
