Survey: 72% of Philippine Shoppers Open to Stablecoin Checkout

Seventy-two percent of Philippine consumers said they were more likely to shop at merchants offering stablecoin checkout, according to a September 2026 survey conducted by Sapio Research for the Digital Asset Appetite Index released by digital-asset payments firm Lydian.

Only 36% of Philippine respondents said they had completed a stablecoin transaction in the previous 30 days, the highest reported-use share among the Philippines, Argentina, Indonesia, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates. The gap separates stated merchant preference from actual recent use.

The survey covered 7,500 consumers aged 18 to 65, with 1,500 respondents in each of the five markets. It reported a national margin of error of 1.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

What do the two adoption figures measure?

The 72% figure measures whether consumers would be more likely to choose a merchant that accepts stablecoins; it does not mean 72% currently use or pay with them. The 36% figure measures a reported stablecoin transaction in the prior 30 days.

What is holding back everyday use?

The Philippines recorded the survey’s highest level of concern about fraud and security risks among the five markets. The reported barriers to everyday stablecoin purchases were:

• Fraud and security risks: 42% of Philippine respondents named this the main barrier to daily stablecoin purchases.
• Limited merchant acceptance: 37% cited too few merchants offering stablecoin checkout.
• Transaction-fee uncertainty and hidden costs: 26% cited this concern.

Together, those answers point to a conversion problem rather than a lack of stated interest: consumers may favor the option, but fewer merchants, fraud concerns and unclear fees can prevent a first or repeat purchase. Trust and distribution therefore matter as much as stated preference.

How do broader payment costs compare?

The survey also asked about payment costs generally, not only stablecoins. Forty-seven percent of Philippine respondents named high transaction charges as a primary payment pain point, and 40% cited money-transfer costs. Twenty-seven percent said they sent or received international payments at least once a month.

Digital transactions accounted for 64.7% of the Philippines’ total retail payment volume in 2025, according to the survey findings. That infrastructure gives stablecoin checkout an established payments context, while the cost data shows why lower-fee claims alone would not resolve merchant availability or security concerns.

A separate survey of Philippine businesses focused on cross-border stablecoin use. Earlier TokenPost coverage of business stablecoin payments examined business respondents in five markets rather than consumers’ shopping preferences; the new index centers on the consumer side.

What is already changing at checkout?

In May 2026, Maya, a digital banking and merchant payment provider, partnered with Lydian on a feature designed to let merchants accept dollar-pegged stablecoins with direct settlement in Philippine pesos. The arrangement links stablecoin acceptance to local-currency merchant settlement.

Nikolas Huth, Lydian’s head of growth, said: “The Philippines has a well-established digital payments ecosystem, and these findings suggest consumers are open to stablecoins becoming part of it. Trust is essential if stablecoins are to move beyond investment and remittances into everyday transactions.”

For merchants, the immediate operating issue is how to accept stablecoins without adding reconciliation, settlement and fraud-management burdens. Maya’s peso-settlement feature addresses part of that workflow, while the survey suggests broader deployment still depends on consumer trust, merchant coverage and transparent fees.

The next market-structure test is whether stablecoin acceptance expands beyond the Maya-Lydian arrangement and becomes routine at checkout; the 72% preference figure will matter more if the 36% recent-use rate begins to close the gap.