There is growing consumer interest in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in using stablecoins for everyday spending, travel and cross-border transfers, according to a new survey conducted by Visa (V).

The payments giant said it found that nearly half of APAC’s 2.5 billion consumers are open to start using fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies within the next five years.

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

Sanghavi explained that although consumers have limited knowledge of stablecoins, they are increasingly interested in adopting them.

About half of the 14,250 people Visa surveyed said they believed stablecoins could only be used to buy or sell other cryptocurrencies.

The study found that 46% of consumers interviewed are likely to use stablecoins within the next five years, compared with 16% who have used them in the past 12 months. About 49% of them believe stablecoins could become a common way to move money across borders within the next five years.

The gap between interest and understanding remains wide. Only 6% of respondents demonstrated an accurate understanding of how stablecoins work, Visa said, while 49% of people aware of them thought they could only be used to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. Concerns about fraud and scams were the most commonly cited obstacle among respondents who were aware of stablecoins but had not used them.

5 billion middle-class consumers, according to the Asia Business Council . Asia already leads global stablecoin flows and onchain activity, and payment companies are working to turn that demand into everyday products, according to CoinDesk research .

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