The moment when stablecoins become a mainstream consumer payment method has not quite arrived, but a Visa study found that more consumers are becoming open to using digital assets for everyday transactions.
The survey, which examined stablecoin awareness and consumer sentiment across Asia Pacific, found that nearly half of consumers say they are likely to use stablecoins within the next five years. By comparison, just 16% said they had used stablecoins in the past year.
“The interest is encouraging, but I wouldn’t treat it as a forecast,” said Joel Hugentobler, Cryptocurrency Analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research. “There’s still a gap between understanding the product and having a legitimate reason to use it. To me, the bigger opportunity is making stablecoins useful through payment apps and FIs that people already use and trust.”
Underscoring the Barriers
The study also highlighted some of the barriers to broader adoption. While most consumers are aware of stablecoins, many don’t fully understand how they work. For example, approximately 41% of respondents believed that stablecoins always increase in value. Another common misconception was that stablecoins can only be used to buy or sell other cryptocurrencies.
Security concerns also remain. Among respondents who were aware of stablecoins but never used them, more than a third cited concerns about fraud or scams. Those concerns have also been echoed by regulators worldwide, who have sought to strengthen frameworks around stablecoins and tighten compliance requirements related to fraud and money laundering.
Seeking Meaningful Adoption
Despite these hurdles, consumers appear largely open to using stablecoins for everyday purchases, including e-commerce, travel, and cross-border payments.
Cross-border payments, in particular, could be and important use case for stablecoins. The market has long faced challenges including payment delays, transaction fees, currency conversion complexities, and regulatory hurdles. Stablecoins could address some of these pain points by enabling transactions that are faster and potentially less costly.
Across Asia, there have already been efforts to streamline international transactions, including China’s integration of its payments ecosystems with neighboring countries. Such initiatives are making cross-border payments more seamless, but stablecoins offer another potential approach, with transactions that can be near real-time, relatively inexpensive, and programmable.
Still, the benefits of stablecoins have not yet fully translated into widespread consumer understanding or adoption.
“Customers need a clear benefit like lower costs or faster access to funds and shouldn’t need to understand blockchain tech behind the payment,” Hugentobler said. “Financial institutions need to make the user experience as simple as possible so customers can use a familiar payment service with stablecoins. And if they do that, we’ll see meaningful adoption.”
