Samsung Galaxy Wallet to Add Stablecoin Transfers, Stock Drops 7.6%

Samsung Electronics plans to add native stablecoin functionality to Samsung Wallet, the company announced at the Galaxy Unpacked 2026 event on July 22. The stock closed down 7.6% on Friday at ₩249,500.

Lee Dinham, a product manager at Samsung, said the wallet will move beyond traditional cash management and savings accounts to include stablecoin transactions. The goal is to combine payment processing, loyalty rewards, and digital currency management inside a single mobile app.

Samsung presented a USDC demonstration interface during the event, showing transfer, receipt, and funding capabilities. Dinham did not specify which stablecoins would be supported, when the feature would roll out, or which blockchains would be used. The company said all monetary functions will run under Samsung Knox security with encryption.

The move makes Samsung one of the first major smartphone makers to offer built-in stablecoin transfers. It is not the company's first step into digital assets. In October 2025, Samsung deepened its partnership with Coinbase, letting Galaxy users in the U.S. buy cryptocurrency directly through Samsung Wallet. That rollout reached more than 75 million Galaxy users. Shan Aggarwal, Coinbase's chief business officer, said at the time that the partnership combined Samsung's global reach with Coinbase's infrastructure to simplify access. First-time users got a free three-month Coinbase One membership.

Beyond the wallet, Samsung has been building positions in South Korea's crypto industry. In May 2026, Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS, and Samsung Card together bought a 4% stake in Dunamu, the operator of the Upbit exchange, for 612.8 billion won (about $408 million). Samsung Securities said it would work with Dunamu on tokenized securities. Samsung Card flagged opportunities for digital asset transactions and a possible Korean won-denominated stablecoin through its Monimo platform.

Samsung has been careful about public endorsements of outside stablecoin projects. Earlier in July, the company pushed back after being listed among more than 140 founding collaborators of Open Standard's proposed OUSD stablecoin consortium. A Samsung representative said the company had not held formal talks with Open Standard and was not aware of its expected participation. Other listed collaborators, including Dunamu, Shinhan Bank, and K-Bank, also said they were still evaluating the proposal without formal commitment.

Samsung's latest announcement focuses on building within its own ecosystem rather than joining external governance frameworks. The stock closed Friday at ₩249,500, down 7.6%.