FILIPINOS still have low awareness and trust in stablecoins as a remittance tool, a survey by Visa showed, with institutional adoption expected to provide a push.
According to Visa’s “Money Travels: 2026 Digital Remittances Adoption” report, which surveyed 3,101 Filipinos from Feb. 24 to March 18, only four in 10 have heard of stablecoins, but only about a third of those aware have a clear understanding of what they do.
“When it comes to stablecoins, this is the emerging method where you can bring benefits to further enhance cross-border payments. And this is an area where Visa has been exploring together with financial institutions worldwide. This will be something really catered to the different regulatory environment, the framework and the adoption of the local financial institutions, as well as the appetite of the local consumers and businesses. So, the bottom line here is Visa is involved with different markets globally in exploring, piloting, and commercially launching stablecoin related initiatives,” Visa Head of Visa Direct in Regional Southeast Asia Qinwen Xiao said at a media briefing on Thursday.
Only 3% of respondents said they know a lot about stablecoins, while 7% know some things about it, and 11% know a little. Meanwhile, 21% have heard of it but do not know anything about it, while 58% said they have never heard of stablecoins.
In terms of perception, 37% know a stablecoin is designed to stay close to a real currency like the US dollar, while 35% are aware that its value moves up and down like Bitcoin.
Some 26% think stablecoins are only for traders and not for everyday people, 18% think transactions are anonymous and cannot be traced, while 3% think their government has fully banned stablecoins.
The remaining 23% said they do not know about the topic and 2% did not answer the questions.
Filipinos have low confidence when it comes to stablecoins, with only 19% confident that they could recover funds coursed through these.
In terms of transfer methods, strong trust in the use of stablecoins for remittance was only at 9%, compared to cash remittance transfer at 41% and digital remittance transfer at 34%.
According to the survey, government or central banks (33%) were the top trusted providers for digital currency, followed by global payment networks (31%), traditional commercial banks (21%), tech giants (19%), and dedicated crypto exchanges (11%).
The top drivers of trust for stablecoins among Filipinos are strong security and fraud protection at 40%, followed by the ability to easily convert to local currency or cash at 26%, faster access to funds at 24%, and lower fees at 23%.
Still, Filipinos said they are open to learning about digital currencies to improve remittances, with 40% wanting more education about stablecoins, while 33% said current financial apps are easy to use. It added that 37% mentioned wanting more new digital money options and 27% said they are more focused on who is offering the service rather than the technology itself.
The study also found that the Philippines was the top receiver-led market among those surveyed, which included Australia, Mainland China, Japan, India, and Singapore, with 45% of Filipino respondents reporting having received money from overseas in the last 12 months.
Respondents cited economic as well as cultural reasons as key drivers for sending or receiving remittances, including support for essentials (34%), familial or cultural obligation to provide or receive financial support (33%), which are the highest among the six Asia-Pacific markets surveyed.
A further 30% cited gifts for holidays or special occasions as a key remittance reason — the second highest after Australia, Visa added.
Filipinos also mentioned digital transfers as the fastest remittance options, with mobile wallets at 44%, followed by digital transfers direct to a bank account at 31%, and by debit or credit cards on apps or websites at 20%.
Only 18% mentioned in-person transfers at a bank, money transfer agent, or store as the channels that enabled instant fund access.
Also, with 27% citing difficulty in transacting outside of normal banking hours, only 19% of Filipinos reported making in-person transactions at physical money transfer agents or stores.
Through its stablecoin initiatives, Visa said it hopes to address consumer pain points in digital remittance experiences, with high fees being the top cited area for improvement at 37%, followed by technical difficulties with the payment method at 15%, issues with calculating the exchange rate at 15%, time to access funds at 12%, and discomfort with sharing financial information at 11%.
Visa Philippines Country Manager Jeffrey Navarro said they see opportunities for further outbound remittance growth, driven by small and medium enterprises and for funding education abroad.
“We feel that while it’s still small, there are opportunities for growth on that,” he said, citing new stablecoin features via its Visa Direct solution. — Aaron Michael C. Sy