Xiaomi’s Crypto Wallet Move: Smartphones Get Sei-Powered Pre-Install in Major Mainstream Push

Xiaomi just planted a crypto flag in millions of pockets. The tech giant's latest partnership with the Sei blockchain means new smartphones will ship with a native crypto wallet pre-loaded—bypassing app stores and bringing Web3 directly to the masses.

The Hardware Handoff

This isn't another fintech app vying for screen space. By embedding the wallet at the factory level, Xiaomi cuts out the download step entirely. Users unbox a device that's already crypto-ready, a frictionless on-ramp that could reshape how everyday people interact with digital assets. It turns a communication tool into a financial instrument before the first call is even made.

Sei's Scalability Play

The choice of Sei Network as the backbone is strategic. Known for its focus on trading-specific infrastructure and blistering transaction speeds, the chain is built for high volume. Xiaomi isn't just adding a wallet; it's betting on an ecosystem designed for the kind of mainstream adoption its hardware can deliver. Think millions of potential new users, not thousands.

A New Distribution Frontier

Forget airdrops and influencer campaigns. Smartphone pre-installs represent a distribution channel of staggering scale. It grants immediate, legitimate access to a user base that traditional crypto marketing struggles to reach. This move could do more for practical adoption than a dozen bullish ETF filings—it puts the tools directly in hand.

Wall Street's app-laden, permissioned finance model just got a silent, hardware-based challenger. While bankers debate basis points, Xiaomi is shipping the future by the pallet-load. Sometimes, the most profound financial revolutions don't start on a trading floor—they start on an assembly line.

Xiaomi will pre-install a cryptocurrency wallet and discovery application on smartphones sold outside mainland China and the United States as part of a partnership with blockchain platform Sei, the companies announced Wednesday.

Sei positions itself as a high-performance blockchain with sub-400 millisecond finality and capacity to process thousands of transactions per second.

The wallet will be embedded on all new Xiaomi devices in markets including Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa, where the manufacturer holds significant market share, the announcement said. Xiaomi sold 168 million smartphones in 2024 and ranks among the world's top three manufacturers with 13% global market share.

The application will feature multi-party computation wallet security and enable peer-to-peer transfers and consumer-to-business transactions. Users will be able to access the wallet through Google and Xiaomi ID logins, with curated access to decentralized applications.

Beyond the wallet integration, SEI and Xiaomi plan to enable stablecoin payments across Xiaomi's retail network of more than 20,000 stores. Initial rollouts for payment functionality are targeted for Hong Kong and the European Union by the second quarter of 2026, with expansion to other jurisdictions subject to regulatory compliance.

The payment system WOULD allow customers to purchase Xiaomi products, including smartphones and electric vehicles, using stablecoins native to Sei's blockchain such as USDC.

Jeff Feng, co-gounder of Sei Labs, described the collaboration as addressing the onboarding challenge by embedding blockchain infrastructure directly into a popular smartphone ecosystem. Jay Jog, co-founder of Sei Labs, said the partnership moves crypto from something users must seek out to capabilities integrated into devices they already use.

Sei will also launch a $5 million Global Mobile Innovation Program to support blockchain adoption across consumer devices as part of the initiative.

Xiaomi holds dominant market positions in several countries, including 36.9% market share in Greece and 24.2% in India. The pre-installation strategy provides Sei with direct distribution to hundreds of millions of mainstream consumers rather than crypto-native audiences.