Electronics giant Samsung is venturing into the metaverse with the opening of a virtual store in Decentraland.
Named after Samsung's flagship 837 store in New York, the Samsung 837X virtual store will open for business for a limited time from today, per a press release from the company.
Decentraland users will be invited to explore an "experiential playground" and earn NFT rewards by completing quests.
Samsung 837X is now in the Metaverse 🌐 at #CES2022
Join us and experience the world of Samsung like never before. Explore fun quests for a chance to win exclusive NFTs 😎 (terms apply)
The metaverse experience will consist of three areas, the Connectivity Theater (which showcases news from Samsung's stage at CES 2022), the Sustainability Forest, which comprises a "journey through millions of trees" to mark the company's sustainability initiatives, and the Customization Stage.
The latter will showcase a live in-metaverse dance party hosted by DJ Gamma Vibes from the physical 837 store, with NFT badge holders entered into a raffle to win Samsung-branded swag for their Decentraland avatars.
Samsung-branded NFT wearables. Image: Samsung
"The metaverse empowers us to transcend physical and spatial limits to create unique virtual experiences that could not happen otherwise," said Michelle Crossan-Matos, Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Samsung Electronics America, in a statement accompanying the release.
Following its launch in Decentraland, the company plans to take 837X on the virtual road to other metaverse platforms.
Samsung and crypto
Samsung has joined a number of brands in flocking to the metaverse, a persistent virtual world in which users interact as avatars.
Corporations like Pepsi and Budweiser have taken to buying up NFTs, Nike has filed trademark requests for virtual goods, and Adidas has announced a collaboration with metaverse platform The Sandbox.
This corporate metaverse land grab came on the heels of Facebook's late-2021 rebranding as Meta, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg announcing that "we’re basically moving from being Facebook first as a company to being metaverse first."
Electronics giant Samsung is adding support for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to its 2022 TV lineup, including a screen-based explorer and an NFT marketplace aggregator.
According to a press release from the South Korean electronics manufacturer, "In 2022, Samsung is introducing the world's first TV screen-based NFT explorer and marketplace aggregator, a groundbreaking platform that lets you browse, purchase, and display your favorite art — all in one place."
Samsung Electronics Unveils Its 2022 M...
Samsung has something of a head start on its rivals as far as crypto and blockchain is concerned; its flagship Galaxy smartphones have incorporated a blockchain wallet since 2019, adding support for crypto hardware wallets last year, while just this week, the South Korean electronics giant took to the stage at CES to announce that its 2022 line of smart TVs would include support for NFTs.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Vice President JD Vance is set to headline the world's biggest Bitcoin conference, one year after President Donald Trump spoke at the event.
Bitcoin 2025's organizers announced the news Friday, noting that it would be the first time a vice president has ever headlined a crypto event to make public support of Bitcoin. A source familiar with the vice president's schedule confirmed to Decrypt that he will speak at the conference.
Last year, President Trump spoke at July's Bitcoin 2024 conference i...
Wellgistics Health, a publicly traded healthcare infrastructure firm, plans to accept payments in XRP and will add Ripple Labs’ token to its corporate treasury—aligning the business with a growing list of publicly traded companies that have embraced digital assets in the U.S.
Tampa-based Wellgistics plans to adopt XRP for payments infrastructure that will connect manufacturers directly to pharmacies, the company said Thursday in a statement. The firm's blockchain-powered platform, which is stil...
Bitcoin is coming to the drive-thru.
American fast food chain Steak ‘n Shake said Thursday it will begin accepting the world’s largest crypto at all of its U.S. locations starting May 16, giving its more than 100 million customers the option to pay for milkshakes and burgers in BTC.
“The movement is just beginning,” the company posted on X.
Unlike high-margin retailers, fast food chains run on thin margins and high volume, making Steak ‘n Shake’s Bitcoin rollout a real-world stress test for the...