Sei and Xiaomi Announce Groundbreaking Partnership to Pre-Install Crypto Wallet Globally
The high-performance Layer 1 blockchain Sei has announced a major, strategic partnership with global consumer electronics giant Xiaomi, the world’s third-largest smartphone manufacturer. This unprecedented collaboration aims to bridge the gap between Web3 and mainstream consumers by having a next-generation crypto wallet and discovery application pre-installed on all new Xiaomi smartphones sold outside of mainland China and the United States. This move represents one of the most significant mass adoption plays in cryptocurrency history, leveraging Xiaomi’s massive global footprint to onboard millions of new users to the digital asset ecosystem.
A Direct Channel for Mass Crypto Adoption
The central pillar of the partnership is the deep embedding of Sei’s technology directly into the mobile consumer experience. The pre-installed application will feature a seamless user onboarding process, allowing users to create or access their secure wallet using familiar credentials like their Google or Xiaomi IDs. It will utilize modern Multi-Party Computation (MPC) wallet security, which enhances key protection by splitting it across multiple parties, thereby reducing the risk of a single point of failure. The application will also provide curated access to top decentralized applications (dApps) running on the Sei network and facilitate simple peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers and consumer-to-business (C2B) transactions. Co-Founder of Sei Labs, Jeff Feng, called the collaboration a “watershed moment for blockchain adoption,” noting that by embedding Sei’s infrastructure directly into one of the world’s most popular smartphone ecosystems, they are fundamentally reimagining how billions of users will interact with digital assets.
Stablecoin Payments and Global Retail Integration
Beyond the initial wallet and discovery app integration, the collaboration has ambitious plans for real-world utility, specifically in the payment space. Sei and Xiaomi are working to roll out stablecoin payment functionality across Xiaomi’s mobile ecosystem and its extensive global retail network, which includes more than 20,000 retail stores. Initial rollouts for this stablecoin payment system are targeted for Hong Kong and the European Union by the second quarter of 2026, with expansion to other regulatory-compliant jurisdictions to follow. This initiative aims to allow customers to purchase Xiaomi products, ranging from smartphones to electric vehicles, using stablecoins that are natively on the Sei blockchain, such as USDC. This direct integration of blockchain-based payment rails into a major retail ecosystem demonstrates a fundamental shift in adoption strategy, moving crypto from being an enthusiast pursuit to a built-in feature of everyday consumer technology. The initial rollout of the app will prioritize regions with established crypto adoption, including Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa, where Xiaomi holds a significant market share, reaching millions of people in countries like India and Greece.
