Sei Taps Xiaomi’s 168M Annual Smartphone Sales, Unlocking Mass Crypto Onboarding

Key Takeaways:

• Sei will ship a pre-installed crypto wallet and discovery app on all new Xiaomi smartphones sold outside China and the US, giving millions immediate access to Web3 tools.
• The partnership includes a $5M Global Mobile Innovation Program to accelerate real-world blockchain usage across consumer devices.
• Stablecoin payments for Xiaomi’s retail ecosystem including 20,000+ stores are planned to roll out starting in Hong Kong and the EU in 2026.

Sei is taking one of the boldest leaps in mainstream blockchain adoption to date, embedding its technology directly into the smartphones used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The initiative aims to transform Xiaomi’s extensive hardware and retail footprint into a global distribution channel for digital assets, stablecoin payments, and consumer-grade crypto applications.

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The collaboration between Sei and Xiaomi represents one of the most ambitious attempts yet to move blockchain adoption beyond crypto-native audiences. Instead of waiting for users to download wallets or navigate complex onboarding flows, Sei is making Web3 tools available the moment a new Xiaomi phone is turned on.

Under the agreement, every new Xiaomi smartphone sold outside mainland China and the United States will come with Sei’s next-generation wallet and discovery app pre-installed. This also incorporates the largest markets which include Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, India, and Africa where Xiaomi is already dominating the sales of smartphones.

The new app will contain a number of functionalities that are aimed at the daily users:

• One-click onboarding via Google or Xiaomi ID
• Multi-party computation (MPC) security for safer private key protection
• Access to a curated selection of decentralized applications (dApps)
• Support for peer-to-peer transfers and consumer-to-business payments

Sei plans to eradicate friction points to eradicate the steep learning curve that has kept most mainstream users out of crypto.

The main part of the partnership lies in the Global Mobile Innovation Program by Sei, which offers $5M of funds to speed up the creation of consumer-ready blockchain applications. The effort focuses on:

• Optimizing mobile-first Web3 infrastructure
• Supporting new use cases for stablecoin payments
• Expanding the discoverability of decentralized experiences

According to the co-founders of Sei, the initiative has been a breakthrough in the development of blockchain. According to Jeff Feng, Co-Founder of Sei Labs, it was a “watershed moment,” which is how native device integration can transform the way billions of people interact with digital assets. Jay Jog pointed out that Sei has sub-400ms finality and high throughput as a key strength to drive mainstream consumer applications.

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One of the most consequential elements of the partnership is the plan to enable stablecoin payments across Xiaomi’s global retail network which includes online platforms and more than 20,000 physical stores.

Initial deployment is planned for:

• Hong Kong
• European Union

These jurisdictions already maintain clear regulatory frameworks for digital asset payments, making them ideal test markets. Once operational, users could purchase:

• Smartphones
• Smart home devices
• IoT appliances
• Even Xiaomi’s expanding electric vehicle lineup

The stablecoins that will be supported by payments will be those that are native to Sei such as USDC and other comparable offerings.

It is one of the first attempts of a multinational electronics company to scale up crypto payments, which can become a new benchmark in the practical use of blockchain.

This partnership is especially effective due to the scope of Xiaomi. Being the third-largest brand of smartphones in the world, it possessed approximately 13% of the worldwide market share and sold 168 million-units in 2024. Its predominance in the new markets is an additional factor that fills this initiative.

In regions like:

• Greece (36.9% Xiaomi market share)
• India (24.2% market share)

…the partnership could immediately place Web3 tools in the hands of millions of first-time crypto users.

By pre-installing the app and promoting it through Xiaomi’s advertising networks, Sei gains a distribution channel that few blockchains have ever accessed. This positions Sei not only ahead of competing high-performance chains but also at the forefront of mainstream user acquisition.

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