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.
š 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.
š Why it matters
ā¢ APAC has about 2.5 billion middle-class consumers, per the Asia Business Council, so 46% would be about 1.2 billion people
ā¢ Around 49% think stablecoins could become a common way to send money across borders
ā¢ Visa has expanded its stablecoin settlement network and plans to support more tokens and chains
š The numbers
ā¢ Only 6% correctly understood how stablecoins work
ā¢ About half believed stablecoins can only be used to trade other crypto
ā¢ Fraud and scams were the top barrier named by people who knew about stablecoins but had not used them
āļø 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.
š What to watch next
ā¢ Local-currency stablecoins, such as the Hong Kong dollar, won and yen tokens Visa partner Reap is preparing
ā¢ Whether wallets make stablecoins feel like normal payments, not crypto trades
ā¢ Whether the share of past-year users, now 16%, rises in Visa's next survey
ā¢ How regulators in Hong Kong, Korea and Japan treat local stablecoin issuers
āāāāāāāāāāāā
š” 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.
š¬ What would make you use stablecoins for everyday payments?
#Stablecoins #Visa #Payments