Samsung SDS, Upbit Owner Dunamu Weigh Stablecoin Payments

Samsung SDS has confirmed it is holding early-stage discussions with Dunamu, operator of South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, on stablecoin infrastructure and AI-driven payment services, as it looks to build a commercial presence in digital finance.

Speaking on Samsung SDS's second-quarter earnings call Thursday, CEO Lee Jun-hee said the companies are exploring cooperation in the infrastructure for issuing, managing and settling stablecoins, plus digital financial services that combine blockchain and AI. Lee said Samsung SDS already has experience in regulated digital assets through a Korea Securities Depository tokenized-securities platform project and end-to-end validation of the full stablecoin lifecycle from issuance to settlement. By pairing Samsung SDS's IT, cloud and security capabilities with Dunamu's blockchain trading expertise, the company aims to lead the market, the earnings transcript said.

The talks follow a coordinated investment announced in May 2026, when Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS and Samsung Card agreed to buy a combined 4% stake in Dunamu. Lee called the transaction a strategic move rather than a passive financial holding, with plans to use the relationship to develop commercial digital-infrastructure models. Samsung SDS could build and run the technology, Samsung Securities could support regulated investment and tokenized assets, and Samsung Card could link the systems to consumer payments and merchant networks, according to the company.

The discussions came days after Samsung Electronics said it would add stablecoin support to Samsung Wallet. That pairing, if implemented, would connect a consumer wallet with the enterprise side of token settlement and payment processing. Analysts said stablecoin payments could clear faster and outside banking hours, but adoption would still require reserve management, anti-money-laundering controls, security and high-volume transaction systems. South Korea's stablecoin regulatory framework is also still evolving.

Samsung SDS's AI and cloud momentum continued in the quarter. Revenue rose 5.9% year over year to 3.72 trillion Korean won, or about $2.6 billion, with cloud revenue up 17% and external cloud revenue up 75%. The company plans to expand AI infrastructure capacity to 230 megawatts by 2029 and more than 800 megawatts by 2031, providing computing resources that could support AI-driven payment monitoring, fraud detection and automation. No stablecoin or launch date has been announced, so the partnership remains exploratory — but the simultaneous work across wallet, investment, infrastructure and AI suggests Samsung is preparing multiple components of a potential digital payments network.