Sei Network, the high-performance Layer 1 blockchain, has announced a landmark global distribution partnership with Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi. The deal will see a native Sei wallet pre-installed on all Xiaomi smartphones sold in Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa starting in 2026, potentially giving the network direct access to a user base of over 170 million devices.
This strategic move fundamentally changes the user onboarding process, bypassing the need for users to find and download wallets from app stores. The partnership also includes plans to enable stablecoin payments at more than 20,000 Xiaomi retail locations, adding a tangible layer of real-world utility beyond trading.
Concurrently, Sei is advancing its technical roadmap with the "Giga" upgrade, which is currently in devnet testing. The upgrade targets extreme speed and sub-400 millisecond transaction finality, aiming to position Sei among the fastest blockchains by raw performance when it reaches mainnet in early 2026.
Institutional adoption is already underway. BlackRock has deployed $200 million in tokenized assets through Sei's infrastructure. Other major institutions like Brevan Howard and Hamilton Lane are also using the network for private credit and money market products, attracted by its fast settlement times. The network is already processing over $300 million in daily stablecoin volume.
Despite this growing activity, the SEI token price remains subdued, trading around $0.1127. Analysts suggest that if the Xiaomi partnership drives steady user growth and institutional flows continue, the market may begin to value Sei as active financial infrastructure rather than a speculative asset. Some projections indicate a potential re-rating could push the SEI price into the $0.25–$0.40 range.
