Samsung Wallet sets late-October launch for USDC transfers on Solana

Samsung Wallet and Samsung Pay will support USDC transfers on the Solana blockchain starting in the last week of October, the Solana Foundation announced on October 7, according to its release. Eligible users in the United States will be able to send money across borders in USDC, and the feature will be available across 82 million US Galaxy devices at launch. Samsung defines that figure as the number of Galaxy devices in the country that are compatible with Samsung Wallet, not a count of users, according to Altcoin Buzz.

The feature is built into Samsung Wallet and shares an interface with cards, boarding passes and IDs. It includes fiat on- and off-ramps that convert to and from local currency, with Solana operating behind the scenes, the foundation said. Additional markets will follow, subject to local regulatory requirements. Bastion will power the cross-border payment framework, with Coinbase acting as its sub-custodian, according to a Samsung statement reported by The Block.

Woncheol Chai, who leads the digital wallet team in Samsung Electronics’ mobile business, said Samsung wants Galaxy users to benefit from stablecoins without having to handle the complexity of traditional crypto tools, according to Decrypt. Solana Foundation president Lily Liu said Samsung’s choice of Solana puts digital dollars into everyday life.

Samsung said in July at its Galaxy Unpacked event that Wallet would add native stablecoin support but named no issuer, blockchain or launch date, as reported at the time. USDC is the only stablecoin named for the launch, and Samsung has not announced plans to issue its own, according to Altcoin Buzz. The announcement does not say which external wallets or exchanges can receive the transfers, the publication reported. Samsung said the October rollout follows the establishment of a US regulatory framework for stablecoins.