The UK telecom company Vodafone has decided to explore an interesting crypto use case, which integrates blockchain technology and crypto wallets with their SIM cards.
Blockchain digital wallets for smartphone users could soon be a reality after Vodafone’s announcement. The global telecom firm plans to integrate SIM cards and crypto wallets in what could be a useful crypto use case. David Palmer, who leads blockchain at Vodafone, spoke about their plans in a recent interview. According to Palmer, blockchain digital wallets have huge scope in the telecom industry.
Palmer expects billions of mobile phones to be active by 2030, with smartphones grabbing a major pie. They will focus on linking SIM cards to blockchains and using the cryptography in the cards to integrate them. Around 2030, Palmer is also expecting the number of crypto wallets to reach 5.6 billion, with eight billion active smartphones.
At the same time, he voiced some concern about regulatory barriers. But broadly, he was bullish regarding using public blockchains like the Ethereum network in telecom. With the move, Vodafone has likely become the first telecom company to explore blockchain technology.
But it is not the first time that Vodafone has ventured into blockchain. In 2023, Vodafone’s Digital Asset Broker (DAB) platform partnered with crypto firm Chainlink Labs and several other companies. They worked together on a proof-of-concept on the global trade ecosystem. The project researched interoperability and how blockchains could be used for exchanging documents in global trade.
Vodafone released a press statement stating, “The concept shows the potential for DAB-enabled IoT devices and blockchains to provide secure, trustable, and tracible data for use in smart contracts and even blockchain and AI applications.”
Nevertheless, Vodafone’s move to integrate crypto wallets and sim cards could be a significant step for crypto adoption.
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