Bitwyre’s Sovereign Desk: 2025 APAC Stablecoin Outlook Part I
Part I: Stablecoins Surge Across APAC – Adoption and Use Cases
Stablecoins have rapidly moved into the mainstream of finance in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. In the first half of 2025, the stablecoin market has soared to unprecedented levels, with a global supply reaching $225 billion by May 2025, up 41% from 2024 . Monthly trading volumes hit $625 billion in May, a 53% jump year-on-year . Much of this growth is centred in APAC, where institutions and individuals are embracing stablecoins at the highest rates globally.
Within bustling financial hubs like Singapore, Hong Kong, and emerging markets in Southeast Asia, stablecoins are being used for everything from cross-border remittances and ecommerce payments to corporate treasury management. This first part of the report explores how stablecoins have surged across APAC in Q1 and Q2 of 2025, observing the key drivers of adoption, real-world use cases, and regional highlights.
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Remittances and Cross-Border Payments
One of the most transformative uses of stablecoins in APAC is in remittances and cross-border payments, a lifeline for millions of families and businesses. The Philippines, for example, received over $41 billion in remittances in 2025, a massive flow of money that traditionally has been burdened by high fees and slow transfers. Stablecoins are now redefining this process. Sending money home via stablecoins can cut fees from 8–12% down to under 1% and reduce transfer times from days to minutes, something that both the retail and institutions can benefit from.
A Filipino overseas worker who sends $1,000 in USDC (USD Coin) can have their family receive it almost instantly through a local wallet like Coins.ph or GCash, instead of waiting for bank wires or cash agents.
In Indonesia and Vietnam, migrant workers and freelancers have turned to dollar-pegged stablecoins like USDT and USDC to receive payments. Traditional routes often required multiple currency conversions and hefty commissions; in contrast, a stablecoin transfer can be done 24/7 with near-real-time settlement.
Importantly, stablecoins mitigate exchange rate uncertainty: by using digital USD, senders and receivers avoid sudden swings in local currencies during the transfer process. This is a huge benefit in countries like Pakistan or Myanmar, where currencies have faced volatility and people seek refuge in dollars.
Even though we exclude Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in this analysis (per scope), it’s notable that the broader trend of using stablecoins as a de facto dollar substitute applies similarly in other South Asian and Southeast Asian corridors. Stablecoins are effectively leapfrogging traditional remittance systems, much as mobile money once did in parts of Africa, but here with the power of blockchain to move actual dollars instantly.
Beyond person-to-person remittances, business cross-border payments in APAC are also getting a stablecoin boost. Asia is deeply integrated into global trade networks, and companies often struggle with the pain points of international wires such with high FX spreads, banking delays, and cut-off times. Now, exporters and freelancers across Asia are defaulting to stablecoins for invoicing and settlement, treating them as digital dollars.
Eric Barbier, CEO of Singapore-based payments firm Triple-A, observes: “Global trade corridors move billions daily — and now they’re doing it faster with stablecoins. Adoption is being driven by traditional B2B players like ship brokers and steel traders, not just crypto tech firms”. In other words, it’s not only crypto enthusiasts using stablecoins; it’s also the more practical parties like logistics companies, manufacturing firms, and outsourcing agencies seizing the efficiency gains. Their clients and suppliers are spread across countries, and stablecoins offer the speed and reach needed to stay competitive in a global economy.
Instead of waiting days for a letter of credit confirmation or a SWIFT payment to clear, a company can receive USDC or USDT within minutes, improving cash flow. For regions like Lagos to Shenzhen or Manila to New Delhi, stablecoins are shortening distances. No wonder 49% of Asian fintechs cite expansion to new markets as a primary driver for using stablecoins, because it’s about unleashing cross-border growth without the traditional friction.
Institutional Adoption: Treasury Management and Trade Settlements
By early 2025, Asia leads the world in institutional stablecoin usage: 56% of surveyed institutions in the region are already using stablecoins in operations (the highest rate globally), and another 40% are in pilot stages. This means banks, fintechs, exchanges, and even corporates are weaving stablecoins into their financial infrastructure.
The motivations often go beyond just lower transaction fees. In fact, a regional survey found liquidity management to be the top benefit, cited by 41% of institutions, whereas only 25% pointed to lower fees . What does this imply? Essentially, stablecoins are being used to unlock the “velocity of money”, freeing up capital from slow banking pipelines so it can circulate faster.
Trade finance is one area seeing experiments with stablecoins. In Japan, which has a clear legal framework for stablecoins since 2023, major banks like MUFG, SMBC, and Mizuho launched Project “Pax” to pilot cross-border payments using stablecoins on blockchain in lieu of correspondent banks. The pilot, which kicked off in late 2024, routes payments over a permissioned blockchain but still interfaces with SWIFT messaging for compliance - showing how traditional and crypto infrastructure can blend. The goal is to address the G20’s identified pain points in cross-border transfers: cost, speed, access, transparency. Early indications are promising: stablecoin-based transfers can indeed cut out multiple intermediary banks.
In South Korea, stablecoins sparked so much excitement that by mid-2025 the central bank (BOK) paused its own CBDC (central bank digital currency) project to focus on stablecoin policy. South Korean regulators observed a surge in stablecoin trading after local exchanges listed USDT in late 2023, becoming a catalyst for stablecoins to quickly grow to account for a significant share of exchange flows.
The attraction was simply that Korean crypto investors could easily move in and out of crypto positions via stablecoins without currency risk. By Q1 2024, stablecoin outflows from Korean exchanges to global markets spiked sharply (see chart), reflecting arbitrage and capital flight opportunities once USDT became accessible.
This trend, combined with the broader enterprise use cases, led Korean policymakers to draft a Digital Asset Basic Act to explicitly allow won-denominated stablecoins under regulation. While Part II will delve into regulatory responses, it’s telling that rather than fight the tide, authorities in tech-forward economies are exploring how to integrate stablecoins safely.
Hong Kong too, eager to establish itself as a crypto hub, finalised a new Stablecoin Ordinance in Q2 2025 to license and supervise stablecoin issuers, allowing regulated stablecoins to be marketed to the public by year-end . In short, institutions and regulators are moving past the question of whether stablecoins will play a role, to how to harness them.
Retail and Fintech Innovation: Stablecoins in Everyday Apps
For retail, stablecoins aren’t just a back-end plumbing for banks, they’re increasingly touching everyday life in APAC via fintech apps, payment platforms, and even retail transactions. Take Singapore, often a bellwether for fintech trends: in March 2024, super-app Grab (known for ride-hailing and food delivery) began allowing users to top-up their GrabPay e-wallet with cryptocurrency, including XSGD (the Singapore dollar stablecoin), USDC, and USDT. This means an ordinary Singaporean can sell some crypto or stablecoins and seamlessly spend the SGD value on taxis or groceries via Grab, all within one app.
By Q2 2024, the total value of crypto received by Singapore merchants (through payment processors enabling crypto/stablecoin payments) reached nearly $1 billion in a single quarter, the highest on record. Even in a country with extremely efficient traditional payment systems (instant bank transfers are the norm), consumers and merchants showed a willingness to use stablecoins. In other words, enough people hold some form of crypto or stablecoins that accepting them becomes a competitive edge for merchants.
In countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, where digital wallets and “super-apps” are widespread, stablecoin integration is following a similar path. Major e-wallet providers have started to explore stablecoin features. For instance, Philippines’ PayMaya (rebranded as Maya) and Indonesia’s GoPay have flirted with crypto trading features, and it’s plausible they will integrate stablecoin-based remittances or payments as regulation permits.
Already, the Philippine crypto exchange and wallet Coins.ph allows merchants to accept payments in stablecoins and convert them to Philippine pesos behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, fintech startups like TransFi are partnering with local e-wallets and banks to enable direct stablecoin-to-bank account payouts. The mix of traditional fintech and stablecoin rails is blurring the line between “crypto” and everyday money.
The appeal for fintechs is not only to attract crypto-savvy customers, but also to solve real problems: ensuring liquidity 24/7, reaching unbanked users (who may have a phone but no bank, yet could handle a stablecoin wallet), and bypassing notoriously slow interbank networks for cross-border transfers.
Local currency stablecoins have also found niche success, illustrating how stablecoins can adapt to local needs. Singapore’s XSGD (pegged to the Singapore dollar) is a standout example of a non-USD stablecoin gaining traction. Launched in late 2020 by StraitsX, XSGD has facilitated over US$8 billion in transactions and grown into one of the world’s largest non-USD stablecoins.
With the market cap of ~US$10+ million as of the writing of the report, Singaporeans and regional users transact billions through it shows a strong retail base using XSGD for payments and perhaps arbitrage. Data from Chainalysis indicates over 75% of XSGD’s transfer value is in transactions of $1 million or below, with about 25% under $10,000 – a pattern consistent with retail and small business usage.
By contrast, USD-pegged stablecoins in Singapore are mostly moved in giant chunks (many above $1M), likely by institutions. This highlights how local stablecoins can complement global ones: XSGD is used for day-to-day transactions within Singapore’s ecosystem (where having SGD is convenient for compliance and familiarity), while USDC/USDT handle bigger cross-border flows.
Similarly, Indonesia’s XIDR (rupiah stablecoin) and Malaysia’s plans for a potential digital ringgit stablecoin cater to domestic use cases, such as settling trades on local crypto exchanges in local currency to make compliance easier.
Across APAC, the pattern is clear – stablecoins are becoming embedded in the fabric of fintech and commerce. Payment giants are not standing on the sidelines either. Mastercard’s APAC division partnered with Australian startup “Stables” in 2023 to launch a stablecoin-funded prepaid card, allowing users to spend their USDC balance anywhere Mastercard is accepted.
Visa has been expanding stablecoin settlement capabilities and, while much of its publicised efforts have been in other regions (CEMEA and US), those same capabilities are expected to roll out in Asia so that a local bank could settle a transaction with Visa in USDC instead of using the dollar correspondent system.
Regional Highlights and Differences
While stablecoins are a broad phenomenon, APAC is a diverse region, and each market has its own flavour of adoption:
Singapore and Hong Kong – Crypto-Friendly Financial Hubs
These city-states are crafting regulatory frameworks to embrace stablecoins as part of their fintech agenda. Singapore’s Monetary Authority (MAS) in 2023 issued detailed stablecoin regulations (capital and reserve requirements, redemption at par, etc.), which gave licensed players clarity to operate. As a result, companies like Circle obtained licenses in Singapore to offer digital payment token services, and local champions like StraitsX thrive issuing XSGD under supervision.
Hong Kong, after years of ambiguity, pivoted in 2023-2025 to become a crypto hub with a new law that will license HKD-backed stablecoin issuers by late 2025 . Hong Kong’s regulators explicitly want to encourage innovation while ensuring proper reserves and audits for stablecoins.
With both global and Chinese banks present in Hong Kong, we anticipate new HKD stablecoins to launch once the regime is live – potentially digitising the Hong Kong dollar for use in DeFi and cross-border trade. Notably, stablecoins already make up about 40% of Hong Kong’s crypto transaction value each quarter , reflecting strong demand that will likely grow further under clear regulations.
South Korea and Japan – High Adoption Amid Guardrails
South Korea has one of the world’s most active crypto trading communities, and stablecoins play a growing role in that ecosystem. After the TerraUSD collapse in 2022 (a stablecoin project from Korea that imploded), Korean authorities became cautious, but by 2024-2025 they shifted to enabling fiat-backed stablecoins under strict oversight. As mentioned, a consortium of eight major Korean banks is developing a KRW-pegged stablecoin by 2025/26 to offer a safe, regulated alternative to dollar stablecoins.
Their aim is explicitly to “protect the [won] currency from growing US dollar dominance” in digital assets . Meanwhile, Japanese law (effective 2023) allows banks and licensed trust companies to issue stablecoins, and several yen-backed stablecoins have launched or are in pilot – e.g., MUFG’s Progmat platform has powered trials of a JPY stablecoin for retail use .
Moreover, Japan’s megabanks are testing stablecoins for cross-border remittances as noted earlier. Japan’s approach splits stablecoins into categories (payment-type vs crypto-asset-type) and imposes rules accordingly ; this government-led clarity has made Japan a pioneer in stablecoin regulation in East Asia. Both Korea and Japan illustrate a balancing act: high-tech economies integrating stablecoins into financial services, but in a controlled manner to mitigate risks.
Southeast Asia – Payment Innovation and Dollarisation Needs
Beyond Singapore, the broader Southeast Asian nations present perhaps the richest ground for stablecoin utility. The Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia all rank in the top 10 of Chainalysis’ Global Crypto Adoption Index , thanks largely to grassroots usage of crypto for remittances, commerce, and DeFi.
In the Philippines, as we described, stablecoins are revolutionising remittances and freelance payments. Vietnam has a thriving community of crypto-savvy users (from traders to blockchain game players) who often cash in and out through stablecoins on peer-to-peer marketplaces. Indonesia, with its large unbanked population and multiple islands, sees stablecoins used in everything from simple store-of-value to facilitating online commerce on social media marketplaces (where sellers might accept USDT from a buyer in another country, something not feasible in the traditional system due to currency controls).
That said, regulatory stances vary: Indonesia’s central bank disallows crypto as a means of payment domestically (they want only the Rupiah to be used), so stablecoins can’t legally be used in shops – but they are allowed as traded commodities/investments via licensed exchanges. This means Indonesians can trade and hold stablecoins (and many do to hedge rupiah depreciation), but officially converting them for buying goods is not sanctioned.
The reality on the ground often outpaces laws, though, and many small merchants or freelancers likely accept stablecoin payment informally, then convert to cash when needed.
India and Mainland China – Cautious Giants
Not all major APAC economies are on board the stablecoin train. India and China, notably, have taken restrictive or prohibitive stances. China banned virtually all cryptocurrency trading and usage in 2021, and this extends to stablecoins due to fears of capital flight and loss of monetary control.
No Chinese company dares launch a yuan-pegged public stablecoin on blockchain, instead, China is focused on its official Digital Yuan (e-CNY) to digitise its currency under the central bank’s full control. Interestingly, offshore versions of the yuan stablecoin exist (like CNH₮ issued by Tether, pegged to offshore CNH), but its usage (~US$2.8M market cap) remains tiny and mostly outside the mainland. India, similarly, has voiced strong concerns: the Reserve Bank of India has suggested that stablecoins pegged to foreign currencies (read: USD stablecoins) could pose a threat to India’s monetary sovereignty .
India’s regulators have even considered banning stablecoins, given the country’s experience with capital controls and a desire to funnel innovation into a potential Digital Rupee CBDC instead . India’s crypto user base is enormous (it leads Chainalysis’ adoption index), but due to a 30% tax and strict reporting, much activity has gone underground or overseas.
Indian users do utilize stablecoins – for example, to move money in and out of exchanges or for remittances to family abroad – but these uses are not openly endorsed by authorities. As we transition to Part II, it’s evident that concerns about currency substitution and financial stability are prompting governments like India and China to push back on private stablecoins.
Sources: Chainalysis, Fireblocks, IMF, Coindesk, Cointelegraph, Finextra, Tech in Asia
The Sovereign Desk editorial is open for conversation. If you’ve observed notable flows, rumours, or data points that warrant attention, please reach out to us:
Dendi Suhubdy at [email protected]
Faisal Mujaddid at [email protected]
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