《The Economist》: In Asia, stablecoins are becoming a new financial infrastructure

Original Title: Asia is turning stablecoins into banking infrastructure
Source: The Economist

Translated by: Chopper, Foresight News

Whether in Lahore as a freelance coder or in Manila as a domestic worker, the smartphone has become the crypto bank for many. No longer do they have to pay the equivalent of a day's wages in remittance fees; instead, they can send and receive stablecoins at low cost and instantly.

This real-world demand explains why cryptocurrency is thriving in Asia, even in countries with cautious official attitudes, such as India. India taxes cryptocurrency gains at 30% and imposes fees of up to 1% per transaction. According to data analytics firm Chainalysis, the scale of cryptocurrency inflows into India is estimated to reach around $338 billion from mid-2024 to 2025, ranking top in the global cryptocurrency adoption index for three consecutive years.

Among the top 20 countries in Chainalysis' Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index, 9 are from Asia, including Pakistan (3rd), Vietnam, as well as advanced economies like Japan and Korea. While speculative trading remains popular, the region's dominance mainly reflects a shift in the utility of cryptocurrency: no longer just a speculative tool, it has become a new financial infrastructure. "Cryptocurrency is solving real-world problems," says Chengyi Ong from Chainalysis.

Cross-border remittances are a core use case. Southeast Asia has around 24 million overseas workers. World Bank data shows that by 2025, the average cost of sending $200 back home is 6.5%. This is a significant burden for overseas workers, especially in countries like the Philippines, where remittances account for 9% of GDP. Stablecoins are the solution, unlike Bitcoin, their price is almost stable. Ong states that stablecoins are "becoming the backbone of crypto activity."

From January to July last year, global stablecoin transfers exceeded $40 trillion. Although this is still a small percentage of the annual cross-border payment volume, stablecoins are quietly taking on a true payment function while higher-volatility assets like Bitcoin dominate global headlines.

The advantages of stablecoins are also driving corporate adoption. In traditional cross-border payments, each participating bank layers fees, delays, markups, and compliance checks. A Vietnamese company paying a supplier in Thailand typically needs currency exchange through correspondent banks, whereas stablecoin transactions settle faster with fewer intermediaries. According to crypto analytics firm Artemis, inter-corporate stablecoin monthly trading volume has surged from under $100 million in early 2023 to over $6 billion by mid-2025.

Asia's vast gig economy is also bypassing traditional banks. The World Bank says the region is home to over 210 million gig workers, about half the global total. Traditional payment systems often delay payments to drivers and delivery couriers, whereas stablecoins can enable instant settlements. Visa is testing a system that can send funds directly to users' stablecoin wallets. Pakistan has around 2 million freelancers, with annual remittances totaling $38 billion. Many workers opt to receive payments in stablecoin, which they can then convert to local currency through trading platforms or local merchants, typically at a fee of only 1%–3%, about half the rate of traditional channels.

Whether stablecoins become part of the formal financial infrastructure or degenerate into tools of fraud will largely depend on Asia. The same features that attract Filipino nurses for cross-border remittances (speed, low cost, no need for a bank account) could also be exploited by criminal groups in Myanmar and Cambodia. Asia has the market size, genuine demand, and regulatory resolve to address this paradox. If successful, stablecoins will reshape the global movement of money; if not, cryptocurrencies, though they have found a long-sought real-world use case, will remain in a legal grey zone.

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