Almost half of consumers across the Asia Pacific region say they could use stablecoins within five years. Yet very few can explain what a stablecoin actually is, per CoinDesk's report on a new Visa survey.
đ The news
Visa surveyed 14,250 people across the region. 46% said they are likely to use stablecoins like $USDC within five years, and 16% said they used one in the past 12 months.
đ Why it matters
âą APAC has about 2.5 billion middle-class consumers, per the Asia Business Council, so 46% would be about 1.2 billion people
âą Around 49% think stablecoins could become a common way to send money across borders
âą Visa has expanded its stablecoin settlement network and plans to support more tokens and chains
đ The numbers
âą Only 6% correctly understood how stablecoins work
âą About half believed stablecoins can only be used to trade other crypto
âą Fraud and scams were the top barrier named by people who knew about stablecoins but had not used them
âïž Bull vs bear case
Bull: interest is already high before most people understand the product, and big payment brands are building the rails.
Bear: low understanding plus fear of scams is a recipe for slow adoption, and one bad fraud wave could set it back.
đ What to watch next
âą Local-currency stablecoins, such as the Hong Kong dollar, won and yen tokens Visa partner Reap is preparing
âą Whether wallets make stablecoins feel like normal payments, not crypto trades
âą Whether the share of past-year users, now 16%, rises in Visa's next survey
âą How regulators in Hong Kong, Korea and Japan treat local stablecoin issuers
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đĄ My take: In my opinion the 6% figure is the real headline. Adoption here will depend less on crypto features and more on familiar apps hiding the complexity and protecting users from scams.
đŹ What would make you use stablecoins for everyday payments?
#Stablecoins #Visa #Payments