South Korean technology giant Samsung has invested 2.6 million euros ($2.9 million) into crypto hardware startup Ledger.
The investment gives the startup a valuation of roughly $290 million, reported Wednesday. A spokesperson for Ledger confirmed that Samsung backed the startup, but could not confirm further details. A Samsung representative did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The news, coinciding with Ledger promoting Pascal Gauthier to CEO, follows previous funding rounds by the company, including a fund raise in 2017 and a in 2018. It is unclear whether Samsung’s investment is part of a larger funding round.
Ledger’s previous CEO and co-founder, Éric Larchevêque, confirmed the investment but declined to comment further, Capital reported. , Larchevêque the news as well, saying (translated from French) that “We will always need hardware wallets, but to accompany a revolution crypto based on a personal sovereignty accessible to all, the smartphone will actually play a central role.”
According to his Twitter bio, Larchevêque now serves as Ledger’s executive chairman.
A logical match
Ledger is currently working with various banks and other firms to offer a number of custody options. A custody venture with is expected to launch by 2020, while the hardware developer is simultaneously collaborating with to offer custody services for ethereum-based tokens.
For its part, Samsung recently stormed into the crypto and blockchain space. It recently announced that a forthcoming new line of flagship smartphones – the series – will include And the company is now said to be working on its own unique blockchain based on ethereum.
Indeed, Samsung may one day , according to CoinDesk Korea.
image via Nemanja Zotovic / Shutterstock
Published at Wed, 24 Apr 2019 21:30:23 +0000
