Bastion selected as one of Samsung Wallet's stablecoin partners, providing regulated infrastructure, Custody, and cross-border remittances. Bastion will provide the custody, compliance, and cross-border remittance functionality as part of Samsung Wallet's stablecoin service, available on 82 million U.S. Galaxy devices in the last week of October 2026. October 07, 2026 20:15 ET | Source: Bastion NEW YORK, Oct. 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Bastion, a stablecoin infrastructure provider for global enterprises and financial institutions, today announced that it has been selected by Samsung as the licensed stablecoin custodian and an infrastructure partner for new built-in stablecoin capabilities inside Samsung Wallet, as part of a service delivered with other partners. The feature will be available the last week of October 2026 across 82 million eligible U.S. Galaxy devices. Bastion provides regulated custody, stablecoin account operations, and compliance infrastructure for Samsung Wallet's stablecoin feature, and remittances to bank accounts in more than 60 countries. The feature combines Samsung's customer experience with Bastion's infrastructure, operations and regulatory license oversight to support compliance and ease of use. At launch, Galaxy users will be able to hold and send stablecoins directly in Samsung Wallet without installing a separate crypto app or managing private keys. "The crypto industry has spent years talking about reaching the mainstream, and this is what it looks like. Samsung is putting stablecoins in front of millions of U.S. Galaxy users," said Nassim Eddequiouaq, CEO of Bastion. "Most of them will never think about custody, compliance, blockchains, or cross-border remittance rails, and that's exactly the point. Financial infrastructure works best when people don't have to see it. We built Bastion to handle that complexity so the experience feels simple and safe." Bastion is the licensed custodian and money transmission partner for Samsung's stablecoin wallet functionality within a multi-partner service. Through its APIs, Bastion provides the following services. * Custody and accounts: Bastion provides stablecoin custody for users of Samsung Wallet's stablecoin feature, keeps the ledger for each user's balance and executes USDC transfers on blockchain networks. * Identity and compliance: Bastion verifies and screens the identity of each user of the stablecoin service. Bastion also screens blockchain addresses and monitors transactions for fraud, money laundering, and sanctions exposure. * Cross-border remittances: Users can send money from Samsung Wallet to a bank account in more than 60 countries, delivered in local currency. Bastion converts the USDC and routes each payout through its network of local regulated partners. * Transaction authorization: Bastion provides transaction authorization for the stablecoin service by verifying the device signature on each transfer request. Transfers can only be initiated from a registered device and must be authorized by the user's biometric authentication. Bastion is partnering with Coinbase as its official USDC sub-custodian for Samsung Wallet via Coinbase Prime Vault. Operated together with Bastion and Coinbase, USDC will be the first supported stablecoin in Samsung Wallet. Solana and Sui will provide blockchain network support. Future capabilities will include the ability to pay with stablecoins online or by tapping a Galaxy device in store, followed by expansion into additional markets. "Samsung Wallet is about making useful experiences feel simple and intuitive," said Woncheol Chai, EVP and Head of the Digital Wallet Team at the Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung Electronics. "Stablecoins have the potential to make moving money around the world faster and easier, and we want Galaxy users to be able to take advantage of that without having to navigate the complexity of traditional crypto tools. Bastion brings regulated custody, stablecoin account operations, cross-border remittances, and compliance capabilities that help us deliver this experience with confidence." The news closely follows Bastion's conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust bank charter, advancing regulatory oversight beyond current licenses. Its operating entity, Bastion Platforms US, LLC, is a money services business registered with FinCEN and holds state money transmitter licenses. About Bastion Bastion builds the full technology, operations and compliance stack behind stablecoin programs for global enterprises and financial institutions, offering custody, money movement, on/off-ramps and issuance at scale. Trusted by the world's largest businesses including Samsung and Sony Bank, Bastion provides regulated services and supports its customers in meeting applicable compliance requirements. Bastion holds a New York trust charter, Bastion Platforms Trust Company, LLC, for stablecoin issuance and has conditional approval from the OCC for a national trust bank charter. Its operating entity, Bastion Platforms US, LLC, a money services business, holds MTL licenses. The company operates under its own licenses or as a technology provider under its customers' own licenses, and issues no stablecoin of its own, ensuring customers maintain control of their brand, their users and their economics. It is backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures, among others. Visit bastion.com to learn more.

Bastion has received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter. The approval allows the stablecoin infrastructure provider to offer custody, payment infrastructure, and white-label issuance services under federal regulation. The charter adds OCC supervision to Bastion's existing state licenses. Bastion acquired its New York trust charter in February 2025. Under the new charter, the company will provide fiduciary custody of USDC and other compliant digital assets, plus white-label stablecoin wallet and issuance services. Bastion appointed four new advisors and board members, including former senior executives from American Express, Morgan Stanley, EY, and Optum. The company is backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures, and already partners with Sony Bank.

Ex-PayPal chief david Marcus launches stablecoin platform to take on traditional banking rails. Tuesday, 28/04/2026 | 13:33 GMT-7 by Jared Kirui * Lightspark's Grid Global Accounts compete with stablecoin-native platforms like Stripe's Bridge, Agora, and Bastion. * Meta's Libra (later Diem) failed after regulatory pushback, leading to its shutdown in 2022. David Marcus, the former President of PayPal and the executive who led Meta's shelved Libra digital currency project, is making a new push to rebuild banking on stablecoin rails. He now runs Lightspark, which has unveiled an API-based product that gives platforms and AI agents access to dollar accounts, payments and cards on top of Bitcoin and stablecoin infrastructure. The latest offering launch pushes Banking-as-a-Service into the stablecoin era, giving platforms and AI agents access to dollar accounts, payments and cards over Bitcoin-based rails instead of traditional bank stacks. The move marks a new phase in Marcus's long-running effort to make money move like internet data, and it comes as regulators and businesses start to treat stablecoins and agent-driven interfaces as mainstream infrastructure. Onchain BaaS for platforms and agents. According to a Tuesday's post, Marcus explained that the product lets companies offer branded dollar accounts, stablecoin balances, yield, payments and cards, with Bitcoin and stablecoins handling settlement in the background rather than sponsor-bank sub-ledgers. In practical terms, Lightspark's Grid Global Accounts compete most directly with emerging stablecoin-native banking stacks that let platforms embed accounts, payments and yield behind an API. Offerings around Stripe's Bridge, Agora and Bastion, for example, focus on either white-label stablecoin issuance, enterprise stablecoin infrastructure, or stablecoin payments that settle into fiat balances. Lightspark built the accounts on top of its Grid network and Spark, a Bitcoin Layer 2 that supports stablecoin issuance and low-cost transactions while remaining compatible with Lightning. The firm already connects to real-time and domestic payment systems in over 65 countries and works with partners such as Cross River Bank to support 24/7 fiat settlement via RTP, FedNow and multi-rail infrastructure. "Marcus has THE most fascinating back story: Former CEO of PayPal, has moved money traditionally, and is behind Libra at Meta a global bank account and "stablecoin" that regulators pushed back on," Simon Taylor, the Founder of FintechBrainfood observed. "Now this is a global stablecoin bank account distributed through an API, post-GENIUS Act, sold to businesses and machines." Marcus positions the launch as an alternative to classic BaaS architectures built on middleware, card processors and FBO accounts at sponsor banks. He argues that in the legacy model, platforms build user relationships but lose fees and data to intermediaries each time money moves, while under the new model they keep yield, interchange and FX margin alongside transactional intelligence. Regulatory clarity and AI agents shape the timing. Lightspark's announcement leans on a changed regulatory and technology backdrop compared with Marcus's earlier Libra attempt at Meta. Since then, the US GENIUS Act has created a federal framework for payment stablecoins, and MiCA has taken effect in the EU, giving enterprises clearer rules on issuance, reserves and supervision. Meta's Libra project, which Marcus led before it rebranded to Diem, never made it to full launch after intense pushback from regulators and policymakers around the world. Facebook announced Libra in 2019 as a global stablecoin backed by a basket of currencies and governed by the Libra Association, but the plan quickly drew scrutiny from US and European authorities over monetary sovereignty, financial stability and data concerns, prompting high-profile backers such as Visa, Mastercard and PayPal to walk away. Under pressure, the initiative pivoted to a narrower model of single-currency stablecoins and rebranded as Diem, yet it still failed to secure regulatory comfort; by early 2022 the Diem Association agreed to sell its intellectual property and other assets to Silvergate Capital for about 182 million dollars, effectively winding down the project and forcing Meta to shut its linked Novi wallet pilot later that year. Jared Kirui is an Editor at Finance Magnates with more than five years of experience in financial journalism. He covers online trading, fintech, payments, and crypto industries with a focus on companies, regulation and compliance, executive moves, trading technology, and market analysis. His work has been featured in other media outlets, including Benzinga, ZyCrypto, The Distributed, and The Daily Hodl. Education: Bachelor of Commerce degree (Finance option), University of Nairobi * 2779 Articles * 54 Followers