Nearly half of Asia-Pacific consumers — 46% — told Visa they are likely to use stablecoins within five years, up from 16% who used them in the past 12 months, according to a survey of 14,250 people the payments network released.

The result exposes a wide gap between intent and literacy. Only 6% of respondents demonstrated an accurate understanding of how stablecoins work, Visa said. About 49% of those aware of the tokens believed they could only be used to buy and sell other cryptocurrencies.

What did the survey measure?

Visa polled 14,250 consumers across Asia-Pacific on stablecoin awareness, usage intentions and perceived use cases. The instrument also captured attitudes toward fraud risk, cross-border payments and everyday spending. Respondents who had heard of stablecoins but never used them cited fraud and scams as the dominant obstacle, outpacing volatility and regulatory uncertainty.

Key figures from the report:

• 46% likely to use stablecoins within five years
• 16% used stablecoins in the past 12 months
• 6% accurately understand how stablecoins work
• 49% believe stablecoins will become a common cross-border payment method within five years
• 49% of aware consumers think stablecoins are limited to crypto trading

Why does Visa see a business opportunity?

The company positions the trend as a payments opening in a region with roughly 2.5 billion middle-class consumers, citing Asia Business Council estimates. Asia already leads global stablecoin flows and on-chain activity, and payment companies are racing to convert that demand into retail products.

"We're seeing a meaningful shift in how consumers across Asia Pacific think about stablecoins," Nischint Sanghavi, head of digital currencies at Visa's APAC division, said.

Sanghavi added that consumer knowledge of the instruments remains thin but appetite is climbing. "Consumers are beginning to see how stablecoins could support the ways they already spend and move money," he said. "The opportunity now is to turn that interest into trusted and familiar payment experiences that work at scale."

How is Visa positioning itself?

Visa has expanded its stablecoin settlement network and is working to support a wider set of tokens and blockchains. Its partner Reap is preparing local-currency stablecoins for 24/7 foreign-exchange settlement in Asia, including potential Hong Kong dollar, Korean won and Japanese yen instruments.

The push puts Visa into direct competition with stablecoin issuers, banks and rival card networks pursuing the same retail corridor. Card-linked stablecoin settlement, branded wallets and on-chain remittance rails rank among the product categories under active development in the region.

What could slow adoption?

Fraud perception ranks first. Survey respondents who had heard of stablecoins but never used them pointed to scams as the dominant concern, ahead of volatility, regulatory uncertainty and technical complexity. That risk calculus shapes how issuers design disclosure, custody and refund mechanisms for consumer-facing products.

Regulatory frameworks across APAC remain uneven. Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan operate advanced licensing regimes for stablecoin issuers, while several larger markets continue to draft or consult on rules. Divergence in redemption rights, reserve composition and disclosure requirements will determine which providers can scale consumer distribution fastest.

The next two to three years will determine which providers set the default rails for cross-border retail settlement, as regional licensing regimes tighten and consumer-facing products reach scale.