As the likelihood increases that Samsung’s financial affiliates will move to acquire a stake in Dunamu, the operator of virtual asset exchange Upbit, there is rising speculation that the group may be stepping up preparations for a stablecoin business. Industry observers view this move less as a simple financial investment and more as a strategic step aimed at expanding a future digital asset payment and financial ecosystem.

Samsung Electronics is already reviewing several business models related to stablecoins and virtual assets overseas. In particular, in North America it has begun a service in partnership with major U.S. virtual asset exchange Coinbase that uses Samsung Pay as a payment and deposit method within the Coinbase platform. Through this, users in the United States and Canada can fund their Coinbase accounts via Samsung Pay and trade virtual assets more easily.

Within Samsung Electronics, it is reported that much of the “pay function” to be embedded in smartphones (a function that enables payments and remittances in stablecoins and virtual assets via a wallet stored on the smartphone) has also been implemented. According to one source, development of the basic functionality is virtually complete, and the company is currently focusing on verifying stability, including improving payment processing speed and minimizing errors.

If Samsung’s financial affiliates secure a stake in Dunamu, some analysts believe the group will be able to build out a group-wide digital asset business structure based on this technology, encompassing payments, investment, and custody (services that store and manage assets on behalf of clients).

However, the stablecoin business is an area where political and regulatory issues are highly sensitive in both the United States and South Korea. As governments and central banks in each country continue discussions on how to harmonize stablecoins with the existing financial system, preemptive entry by large corporations is inevitably subject to intense scrutiny from regulators and public opinion. For this reason, despite the fact that related technologies and services are reportedly well advanced internally, Samsung Electronics is said to be taking a very cautious stance on disclosing any detailed roadmap externally.

In the industry, more weight is being placed on the view that Samsung is seeking to position itself not as a stablecoin issuer, but as an infrastructure provider that distributes and enables the use of stablecoins based on its smartphone and payment platforms (a business that provides payment and wallet platforms). If a potential stake acquisition in Dunamu is combined with collaboration with Coinbase and the payment networks of Galaxy smartphones and Samsung Pay, Samsung’s stablecoin business structure is expected to come into clearer focus.

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