Samsung Wallet wants to be your money-transfer app, with crypto under the hood
Starting late October, eligible US Galaxy owners can send USDC to other wallets or to bank accounts in more than 60 countries, without ever opening a crypto app.
Tap-to-pay on a phone, for illustration. Stablecoin tap-to-pay isn’t part of Samsung’s launch. Photo: SumUp / Unsplash
Phone wallets already hold your cards, boarding passes, and sometimes your ID. Samsung now wants to add international money transfers. Samsung Electronics America announced on October 7 that Samsung Wallet will add stablecoin features in the last week of October for eligible US users. It starts with USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar.
What it actually does
There are two main uses. First, you can send USDC from Samsung Wallet to a compatible crypto wallet or exchange account. Samsung says it won’t charge a transfer fee for that, though the receiving wallet or exchange may. Second, you can send money to an eligible bank account in more than 60 countries, and the recipient gets it in their local currency. They don’t need a crypto wallet or even need to know crypto was involved. That second option does have fees, which vary by country and amount, and Samsung says the app will show them along with an estimated delivery time before you confirm.
Samsung says the feature works on 82 million US Galaxy devices, which is its count of devices compatible with Samsung Wallet. The fine print requires you to be 18 or older, have a Samsung Account, run Android 13 or newer, pass identity verification, and set up biometric login. Every transfer has to be approved with biometrics on a registered device.
Who’s actually holding the money
This is the part worth reading twice. Samsung says plainly that it isn’t a bank, a money transmitter, or a crypto custodian, and that it never holds customer funds. Bastion, a licensed stablecoin custodian, runs the accounts and the money movement. Coinbase acts as a sub-custodian, holding the USDC in Coinbase Prime Vault. Solana and Sui provide the blockchain networks. So you’re trusting a chain of partners, not just Samsung, and their terms apply.
“Sending money abroad should feel as convenient as using the wallet already on your phone,” said Woncheol Chai, who leads Samsung’s Digital Wallet Team. The pitch is simple: no extra app to install and no private keys to manage.
Why it matters beyond crypto
Crypto companies have had trouble reaching ordinary people because it requires a separate app, a seed phrase, and a lot of explanation. Putting this inside a wallet that ships on tens of millions of phones avoids most of that. CoinDesk reports that Samsung announced plans in August for stablecoin savings and payments, and this US launch is the first large-scale version. Samsung also says it may later let people pay with stablecoins online or by tapping their phone in stores, and expand to other countries as local regulations allow.
Our take
If you regularly send money to family overseas, this is worth trying once it launches. Compare the fee Samsung shows you with what you pay now, and make sure the recipient’s bank and country are supported before you count on it. If you don’t send money abroad, you can ignore it for now. The bigger story is that the company behind your phone is becoming a payments platform, with partners doing the regulated work. Apple and Google will be watching how people use it.