A new survey from Visa shows that stablecoin consumer interest is rising fast across Asia Pacific, even though most people in the region still don’t fully understand how the digital tokens work. The Visa Consumer 360 study found that 46% of consumers in the region expect to use stablecoins within the next five years, indicating that the technology is extending far beyond its crypto-trading origins.
Key takeaways
- 46% of Asia Pacific consumers expect to use stablecoins within five years, versus 16% who already have in the past year.
- 66% recognize the term “stablecoin,” but only 6% can accurately explain how one works.
- 41% wrongly think stablecoins always rise in value.
- 38% of aware non-users avoid stablecoins over fraud or scam fears.
- The study covered 14,250 people across 14 Asia Pacific markets in June and July 2026.
Rising consumer interest in stablecoins across Asia Pacific
Visa, the payments company, released the survey findings on stablecoin awareness and sentiment in Asia Pacific, drawing on responses from 14,250 consumers aged 18 to 65 across 14 markets, including Mainland China, India, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia. Fieldwork ran between June and July 2026.
The headline number is the gap between curiosity and current behavior: 46% of respondents say they’re likely to adopt stablecoins within five years, compared with just 16% who have actually used them in the past 12 months. That gap points to a large pool of potential users who haven’t yet crossed over.
The interest isn’t limited to trading. Consumers increasingly see stablecoins as useful for everyday online purchases, travel spending and overseas shopping. Cross-border money movement stood out as a particularly strong use case, with 49% of respondents believing stablecoins could become a common way to send money across borders within five years, a result that points to potential relevance for remittances and international transfers.
Awareness is high, but real understanding lags behind
Stablecoins have become a familiar term, but familiarity isn’t the same as comprehension. Visa’s data shows 66% of Asia Pacific consumers are aware of stablecoins, yet only 6% demonstrate an accurate understanding of how they actually work.
That knowledge gap shows up in persistent misconceptions. Roughly 41% of consumers wrongly believe stablecoins always increase in value. Separately, 49% of those aware of stablecoins still think they can only be used to buy or sell other cryptocurrencies, which suggests many people haven’t yet connected the tokens to everyday payments despite growing stablecoin awareness in Asia Pacific.
Trust and regulatory preferences shape what happens next
Among those who know about stablecoins but have never used them, 38% point to fears of fraud or scams as their main reason for avoiding them, whereas 36% simply say they don’t understand the technology well enough. Those figures suggest that education and security, not just awareness campaigns, will determine how quickly adoption grows.
When asked who they’d trust to offer stablecoin services, consumers leaned toward regulated players. Government or central bank-linked entities drew the strongest preference at 27%, followed closely by banks or regulated financial institutions at 26%.
Visa’s role in turning interest into everyday use
Visa stated that it is collaborating with banks, regulated financial institutions and payment partners to integrate stablecoin functionality into the payment experiences consumers are already familiar with and trust. The company pointed to this collaboration as central to closing the gap between stated stablecoin consumer interest and actual day-to-day use.
“We’re seeing a meaningful shift in how consumers across Asia Pacific think about stablecoins,” said Nischint Sanghavi, Head of Digital Currencies, Asia Pacific at Visa. “Consumers are beginning to see how stablecoins could support the ways they already spend and move money, particularly through online purchases, travel and cross-border transfers. The opportunity now is to turn that interest into trusted and familiar payment experiences that work at scale.”
Sanghavi added that the research “confirms what we’ve been building toward,” saying consumers want stablecoins “to feel like a natural part of the payments they already trust, not a separate system,” and that Visa’s role is to connect the technology with the secure, familiar payment experiences people rely on daily.
Commissioned in 2026, the Visa Consumer 360 study carried out its fieldwork from June through July across Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, India, Australia and New Zealand.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
