Samsung Plans To Release NFT-Enabled Smart TVs In 2022

Electronics giant Samsung has made a major announcement at the CES 2022; the company plans to integrate Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) utilities and tools within their next generation of Smart TVs.

According to Samsung’s official press release, its 2022 MICRO LED, Neo QLED and Frame TV’s will soon be made available with NFT support.

This will allow users of the televisions to be able to access the Samsung Smart Hub and from there, they can display their NFTs, trade them, browse the marketplace and of course purchase NFTs.

The electronics firm, famous for its Smartphones and televisions, are the latest big name company to begin to offer support for NFTs outside of the esports and gaming communities, where the issue of NFTs is very much a bone of contention for many.

Rapid Spread Of New Technology

It certainly seems that NFTs are going to be the new buzz item of 2022, after interest in the digital assets really took off in 2021.

The rapid spread of this new technology, combined with a greater understanding and appreciation of the digital art and asset market, has meant that a greater number of people, many of whom may not have understood or even been aware of NFTs are now viewing them as potential assets and even investments.

Support by Samsung for this new type of technology will certainly help fresh adopters become interested in what NFTs have to offer, but the popularity of NFTs is by no means universal and there has been considerable backlash against them in other areas of the tech and gaming industries.

Only yesterday, Square Enix’s President Yosuke Matsuda caused uproar when he announced his company’s intention to add NFTs to its extensive game library, against the wishes of many fans of Square Enix games.

Meanwhile, back in October 2021, Valve issued a ban on any NFT and crypto games based on its Steam gaming network with the company making its stance on these additions clear.

Shrewd Move

It’s clear that NFTs do draw strong and polar opposite opinions across the esports, technology and gaming industry as a whole, but Samsung’s decision to introduce NFT support across its TV’s won’t likely affect that a great deal and looks to be a shrewd move.

One of the key arguments against NFTs was that it was not feasible for people to display some types of NFT, particularly those with a more artistic bent, rather than an in-game skin or item, in a way they could display a piece of art or sculpture that they purchased.

Samsung’s new TV will certainly give people a chance to at least display their digital assets, as well as the option to sell or buy them. However, by the same token, users can simply operate their TV set as a TV set and ignore the NFT options if they so wish.

It is hard to see what impact this decision will have on the technology, gaming, esports or esports betting industries and the feeling is that it will initially be negligible.

However, if NFTs do become far more widespread, then those companies dead set against the technology, may have backed the wrong horse in this race.