Vodafone plans wallet integration via SIM cards

Vodafone plans to integrate crypto wallets into smartphones via SIM cards. There could be billions of digital wallets in circulation in the coming years.

Telecommunications company Vodafone plant the gradual integration of blockchain technology in smartphones.

David Palmer, in charge of blockchain development at the company, announced offer broad integration using SIM cards.

"We expect that by 2030 there will be more than 20 billion cell phones in use, many of which will be smartphones," Palmer said.

Vodafone has "focused on linking the SIM card to digital identity, linking the SIM card to blockchains and using the cryptography that we have in these SIM cards for this integration."

He estimates that there could be about eight billion smartphones in use by 2030. The number of crypto wallets worldwide could rise to 5.6 billion over the same period, according to Palmer.