Visa survey finds stablecoin use intent could double with bank-style cover
A Visa survey of 2,192 US adults found stated willingness to use stablecoins for cross-border payments would rise from 36% to 56% if bank-level fraud protection and deposit insurance applied.
Key points
- Visa's survey of 2,192 US-based customers found adoption intention would climb from 36% to 56% under a hypothetical scenario with bank-level fraud protection and deposit insurance, Cointelegraph reported.
- About 64% of respondents said trust depends more on who offers a payment method than on the technology, and willingness rose from 36% to 45% when a stablecoin came via an existing financial provider.
- Morning Consult ran the poll between February and March, surveying 45,445 people across 20 markets, including the 2,192 US adults, according to Decrypt.
- Decrypt reported 56% of US respondents had never heard of stablecoins, and 36% of US remitters had encountered a cross-border payment scam.
- Visa's stablecoin settlement volume reached an annualized rate above $20 billion, up from a $3.5 billion run rate when it began USDC settlement on Solana in December.
A Visa survey of 2,192 US-based customers, published Wednesday, found that stated willingness to use stablecoins for cross-border transactions would rise from 36% to 56% under a hypothetical scenario that included bank-level fraud protection and deposit insurance, Cointelegraph reported. The results suggest trust and familiarity, rather than technology, are the main constraints on adoption.
Roughly 64% of respondents said trust depends more on who offers a payment method than on the technology itself, and willingness rose from 36% to 45% when a stablecoin was offered through an existing financial provider. Decrypt reported that about six in 10 Americans said they would trust a traditional bank (61%) or a global payment network (60%) with digital currency services.
Morning Consult ran the survey between February and March, polling 45,445 people across 20 markets, including the 2,192 US adults, according to Decrypt. Awareness emerged as a bigger hurdle than appetite: 56% of US respondents had never heard of stablecoins, and many who had assumed they swing in price like Bitcoin. Decrypt also reported that willingness in Latin America more than doubled from 34% to 74% with protections in place.
Visa said the question was hypothetical and the scenario does not signal that such protections exist or are coming. US stablecoin issuers are waiting on finalized rules under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, ahead of an effective date expected in January 2027. Cointelegraph reported that under GENIUS, US stablecoins are still not expected to carry FDIC insurance or explicit fraud protection, though the framework includes guidelines aimed at illicit activity.
US respondents asked about financial terms like stablecoins were looking for faster and cheaper ways to send money abroad, suggesting the pitch lands hardest with people already paying to move funds internationally. Visa said 36% of US remitters reported encountering a cross-border payment scam, and 44% worried about AI deepfakes impersonating family members. Visa's own stablecoin settlement volume reached an annualized rate above $20 billion, up from a $3.5 billion run rate when it began US settlement in USDC on Solana in December, and Visa Direct added stablecoin payouts through Zerohash in August.
Separately, the European System of Central Banks on Tuesday called for changing rules that require stablecoins to hold at least 30% of reserves as bank deposits, or 60% for significant tokens, pushing instead for liquidity thresholds under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, which began enforcing its stablecoin rules in June 2024. According to payments infrastructure company Decta, the market capitalization of compliant euro stablecoins more than doubled from 2025 to 2026 leading up to the end of MiCA's transition period, while dollar-pegged tokens such as USDC and USDT continue to lead with a combined market capitalization of about $260 billion.