South Korea’s electronic giant Samsung is the latest major corporate to be interested in the potential of blockchain, developing its own network based on the technology and mulling the issue of a cryptocurrency token like bitcoin, according to reports.

The group is believed to have formed a blockchain task force that has been in active development for at least a year and is working on a several projects based on the new technology.

A source within the company told the CoinDesk Korea website that the task force – part of Samsung’s wireless division – is building a blockchain mainnet based on the Ethereum open-source platform, although the work is still at the “internal experimental” stage.

“Currently, we are thinking of private blockchain, though it is not yet confirmed,” the source added. “It could also be public blockchain in the future, but I think it will be hybrid – that is, a combination of public and private blockchains.”

Samsung Coin to follow?

The report adds that once development of the blockchain is completed, the company could also launch a “Samsung Coin” token. Should it opt for a public rather than a public blockchain, then Samsung Coin could be traded publicly on cryptocurrency exchanges, similarly to bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). Samsung could also bring blockchain technology to its payments app Samsung Pay

In February this year, the company moved into the blockchain arena with the unveiling of its flagship cellphone, the Galaxy S10, which is able to store cryptocurrency private keys and other features such as support blockchain-based digital signatures.

Last month Samsung followed up with the cryptocurrency wallet, which is compatible with ether (ETH) and ERC20 tokens for smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain.