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Samsung Brings USDC Remittances to 82 Million U.S. Galaxy Phones
Wallet integration adds cross-border crypto transfers and local-currency bank payouts
TL;DR
- Samsung will add USDC cross-border transfers to Samsung Wallet for eligible U.S. Galaxy users starting in the last week of October.
- Users can send USDC to compatible crypto wallets or eligible bank accounts in more than 60 countries.
- Solana and Sui will provide blockchain support, while Bastion and Coinbase underpin the custody infrastructure.
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Samsung will begin allowing eligible U.S. Galaxy users to transfer USDC across borders through Samsung Wallet in the last week of October, with the service available across 82 million Galaxy devices. Users will be able to send USDC to compatible crypto wallets or eligible bank accounts in more than 60 countries, where recipients can receive funds in local currency.
Samsung said Samsung Wallet and Samsung Pay will support USDC transfers on Solana. The feature will be built directly into Samsung Wallet rather than requiring a separate crypto app, with integrated fiat on- and off-ramps. Samsung Wallet is already used for cards, IDs and boarding passes.
“Sending money abroad should feel as convenient as using the wallet already on your phone,” said Woncheol Chai, EVP and head of the digital wallet team at Samsung Electronics. “We're bringing USDC transfers into Samsung Wallet so eligible Galaxy users can get started without installing another app or managing private keys themselves.”
Samsung will not charge users for transfers to compatible external wallets, although recipient wallets or exchanges may impose their own fees. Fees for bank-account payouts can vary by destination, while transfer speeds depend on network conditions. Sending funds will also require biometric authentication on a registered Galaxy device.
Solana and Sui provide blockchain rails as Bastion handles infrastructure
Solana and Sui will provide the underlying blockchain network support. Bastion, a licensed stablecoin custodian in the U.S., will provide regulated stablecoin infrastructure and custody the stablecoin through Coinbase Prime Vault, with Coinbase serving as a sub-custodian.
Alec Lovett, Coinbase’s head of infrastructure products, separately said Coinbase will custody USDC held in Samsung Wallet through Coinbase Prime. “Samsung's global reach makes this a significant distribution milestone for USDC,” Lovett said.
The launch extends an existing Samsung-Coinbase relationship. Last year, Samsung expanded the partnership to let U.S. Galaxy users fund Coinbase accounts using Samsung Pay. Samsung called the upcoming USDC integration the “next chapter” of that collaboration.
USDC is Circle’s dollar-pegged stablecoin and was identified as the world’s second-largest dollar-pegged token. An IMF annual report cited in the source material said stablecoin use in cross-border transactions had expanded this year as users sought lower transaction costs.
Samsung eyes wider stablecoin payments after U.S. launch
Samsung said in August that it planned to add stablecoin savings and payment features to hundreds of millions of Galaxy phones. The U.S. remittance rollout is its first large-scale deployment of those plans. Samsung also said future versions could enable stablecoin payments online and through tap-to-pay transactions on eligible Galaxy phones.
Lily Liu, president of the Solana Foundation, said the Samsung feature “puts digital dollars into everyday life.”
“This level of adoption is what we built Solana for, and we're seeing the moment when stablecoins stop being a crypto product and start being how people move money,” Liu said.
Liu also said, “Stablecoins have the potential to make moving money around the world faster and easier, and we want Galaxy users to be able to take advantage of that without having to navigate the complexity of traditional crypto tools.”
Kevin Lehtiniitty, CEO of Borderless.xyz, said via LinkedIn: “Mass adoption was never going to come from people downloading crypto apps. It comes from the phone already in your pocket. I expect Apple and Google to follow, and when they do, sending money abroad will feel as easy as sending a text.”
Samsung plans to expand the service to additional markets, with availability subject to local regulatory requirements.
This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.
