Samsung will add stablecoin support to Galaxy Wallet in 61 countries

Samsung Wallet will support native stablecoins and expand digital asset application scenarios

At the Galaxy Unpacked 2026 conference, Samsung announced that Samsung Wallet will add native stablecoin support, integrating digital dollar tokens directly into this application that has been used for credit cards, ID documents, transportation cards and member points.

Samsung showed off the wallet interface during the demonstration, which includes USD Coin (USDC) and send, receive and recharge functions. However, Samsung has not officially confirmed Circle as a partner, nor has it announced the specific launch date or which stablecoins will be supported after the feature is launched.

Samsung Wallet currently covers 61 countries, with approximately 19 million users in South Korea alone. The stablecoin feature will be built into the apps that most Galaxy users already have installed, eliminating the need to download a separate cryptocurrency app or open an exchange account. Lee Dinham, Samsung smartphone product manager, said the integration aims to make Galaxy devices the foundation of a connected financial ecosystem that connects payments, points and digital assets. "This will make Samsung one of the first major mobile phone brands to offer native stablecoins on smartphones, achieving fast and reliable transmission of digital value," he said at the press conference.

Distribution scale and 800 million device data

Regarding this release, there are reports linking Samsung to the scale of 800 million devices. This number refers to Samsung's internal target for devices that plans to run Galaxy AI by the end of 2026, and not the number of Samsung Wallet users or the number of devices confirmed to support stablecoin functionality. The market level, device model or push order have not yet been clarified. The United States is the only confirmed market. After considering qualifications, regions and wallet installation base, the actual user size that can be reached will be much less than 800 million. Even so, even if only a part of it is covered, the distribution scale is not reached by any native cryptocurrency wallet currently on the Android platform.

Industry analysts believe that the significance of this release lies in the distribution channels. Joseph Goh, director and head of Asia Pacific, a cryptocurrency consulting firm Areta, said: "Distribution is a scarce resource, and Samsung has a large distribution advantage." Solstice CEO Ben Nadareski described it as "distribution is catching up with liquidity" and pointed out that stablecoins in Samsung Wallet point to daily consumption scenarios that are not available in existing cryptocurrency infrastructure. Robby Yung, CEO of Animoca Brands Investment, said this is good news for the overall adoption of cryptocurrencies, but he is not sure it will give Samsung a unique advantage in native cryptocurrency platforms.

Infrastructure layout behind the release

The release of Galaxy Wallet is part of Samsung's broader strategy, which has been extended to cryptocurrency infrastructure. In May this year, Samsung's three subsidiaries-Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS and Samsung Card-agreed to acquire a combined 4% stake in Dunamu, operator of South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, for US$408 million. During Samsung SDS's second-quarter earnings conference call, CEO Lee Jun-hee described the investment as a strategic move into the digital asset infrastructure business, including stablecoins and AI payments.

Joseph Goh of Areta said the Dunamu deal is a more illustrative part of the strategy. "The wallet release ensures the distribution channel, and SDS and Dunamu will ensure the infrastructure behind it," he said. He added that Samsung appears to be moving in both directions of the U.S. dollar and Korean won stablecoin while South Korea's regulatory framework is still being developed. South Korea released a draft Basic Law on Digital Assets in April, covering transactions, custody, supervision and stablecoin issuance, but has not yet set an implementation deadline.

Samsung's cryptocurrency history dates back to 2019, when it launched a hardware-isolated digital asset vault through Knox, allowing users to store assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) and directly connect external hardware wallets such as Ledger Nano S and Nano X to Galaxy devices. This foundation, coupled with Dunamu shares and the Galaxy Wallet stablecoin roadmap, suggests that Samsung is building its cryptocurrency infrastructure at multiple levels, rather than just adding a single feature.