In Brief:
- Samsung product manager Lee Dinham said at Galaxy Unpacked in London on July 22 that Samsung Wallet will add native stablecoin support.
- An on-stage mockup showed Circle (official site)’s USDC with send, receive and top-up options, but Samsung named no issuer, no launch date, no blockchain and no markets.
- The commitment puts dollar tokens on the default wallet of a phone line that already routes crypto purchases through Coinbase for more than 75 million U.S. users.
Samsung Wallet will support stablecoins, product manager Lee Dinham said July 22 at Galaxy Unpacked in London, the company’s first direct commitment to the asset class.
“Samsung Wallet will expand beyond cash and savings. It will embrace new forms of digital value, including stablecoins,” Dinham said.
JUST IN: Samsung reveals plans to bring native stablecoin support, the first in smartphone giants.
Samsung says its Samsung Wallet will support new forms of digital value, including stablecoins, claiming the move will make it "one of the first major mobile brands" to do so.
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He put a marker on the timing too. “This will make Samsung one of the first major mobile brands to bring native stablecoins to a smartphone, enabling fast and trusted digital value transfers,” Dinham said.
What Samsung didn’t say
Close to everything a builder would need. There’s no launch date, no named stablecoin issuer, no list of supported chains and no regional availability.
Samsung also hasn’t said whether balances will be custodial or non-custodial. And it hasn’t specified whether they’ll sit in Knox Vault, the hardware-isolated enclave introduced with the Galaxy S21 in 2021, or in Samsung Blockchain Keystore, which shipped with the Galaxy S10 in 2019.
The demo of the Wallet interface displayed Circle's USDC with send, receive and top-up controls. Neither company has confirmed a partnership. Samsung said Wallet’s financial features will be protected by Knox, its security platform, with end-to-end encryption.
The credit card came with it
The stablecoin line landed alongside the Samsung Galaxy Card, the company’s first credit card, issued by Barclays US Consumer Bank on the Visa network. Applications opened July 22 online and at U.S. Samsung retail stores.
The card pays 5% cash rewards on direct Samsung purchases, 3% on Wallet purchases, 2% on streaming services including Netflix, Disney+ and Spotify and 1% on everything else, with no annual fee. New cardholders who spend $2,000 in the first 90 days get $200 in bonus cash rewards. It ships as a virtual card and as a metal physical card with a black Samsung logo.
Visa's Kirk Stuart said the card combines “Samsung’s innovation, Barclays’ co-brand capabilities, and Visa’s trusted network” for embedded payments.
Not Samsung’s first crypto move
Samsung put crypto storage on Galaxy phones in 2019 through Knox, a hardware-isolated vault unlocked by PIN or fingerprint, and added Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron and Stellar support over time. In 2021 it let users link hardware wallets including the Ledger Nano S.
Last October the company expanded its Coinbase deal, putting crypto purchases inside Samsung Wallet for more than 75 million U.S. Galaxy owners. In May, Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS and Samsung Card agreed to buy a combined 4% stake in Dunamu, operator of South Korea’s largest crypto exchange Upbit, for 612.8 billion won, about $408 million.
Global stablecoin supply sits near $310 billion, a year on from the GENIUS Act.
Distribution is the point
Samsung Pay trails badly in the U.S. Apple Pay is projected to reach 71.6 million U.S. proximity payment users in 2026 and Google Pay 42.6 million, against 15 million for Samsung Pay. Dinham framed payments, rewards and digital assets together as “the foundation of a connected financial ecosystem across Galaxy devices and services,” and described the product as “bringing everything you need to carry together, making your Galaxy your everyday wallet.”
Regulatory treatment of stablecoins still varies by jurisdiction, which could hold back availability outside the U.S.
Samsung Electronics shares closed Friday at 249,500 won, down 7.6%.
Apple has announced nothing comparable. There is no native stablecoin support in Apple Wallet, and no statement from the company that any is planned.
