The Future of Finance in Southeast Asia: Stablecoin Payment Landscape Analysis

Anyone who has sent money overseas knows the frustrating routine: pay a high fee, wait three to five business days, and hope it arrives. This slow, expensive system is what we've accepted as 'normal.' But what if sending $1,000 across the globe was as fast and cheap as sending a text message?

That's not a distant dream; it's the reality being built right now in Southeast Asia, powered by stablecoins. These are a new kind of digital money, and they are quietly starting a revolution in everything from international trade to daily payments.

4 Distinct Characteristics of Stablecoins

Stablecoins directly address the fundamental limitations and inefficiencies of traditional payment rails, offering a superior alternative for moving money in the digital age.

Speed

Stablecoin transactions are settled on the blockchain within seconds, regardless of the time of day or location of the parties involved. 

This is a dramatic improvement over the one to three business days often required for domestic bank transfers and up to five days for international wire transfers via systems like SWIFT. 

Cost

Stablecoins are cheaper because they remove the middlemen. The payment goes directly from you to the recipient, cutting out the series of banks that each take a cut along the way. As a result, international remittances that typically cost 6% to 8% of the transaction value can be executed for a fraction of a percent, often less than 0.1%. ransaction can be as cheap as under $0.01 for any size.

Availability

24/7/365 when you need stablecoins indeed. It’s always on, operating continuously without regard for banking hours, weekends, or public holidays.

Programmability & Transparency

Think of stablecoins as “smart money.” Businesses can set automated rules, like paying a supplier the exact moment goods are delivered. And since every transaction is recorded on a shared digital ledger that can't be changed, it's like having a public receipt book that provides perfect transparency for everyone involved.

The Southeast Asian Stablecoin Market

We need to go back a few years to really understand how important stablecoins are in Southeast Asia now, in the middle of 2025. Not too long ago, stablecoins like USDT were mostly seen as useful tools for cryptocurrency users. 

But that world is very different now. The story has changed a lot, from one about selling as a useful thing to one about payments as a must.

The global stablecoin market has grown into a major player in the financial world. Its market value reached $243 billion by the middle of 2025, up from $200 billion at the end of 2024, a solid 20% rise. Even though growth around the world is amazing, what's really important is what's going on here.

Southeast Asia has become the place where stablecoins are used the most. The average rate of adoption of cryptocurrencies in the area is 26.5%, and there are about 185.5 million stablecoin users.  This is active, high-speed use, not just inactive holding.

The amount of money moving around is the most important piece of information.  In Southeast Asia, the number of stablecoin transactions each month has grown from $50 billion in 2023 to an expected $115 billion by 2025.  This is a very fast yearly growth rate of more than 36%.

USDT's Volume in Asia

An additional statistic visualized from Fystack beyond SouthEast Asia, some key insights:

1. Tron still leads in USDT volume, however, Solana is surging rapidly in recent years
2. In the first quarter of 2025, the USDT's transaction volume in Asia reached $3.2T, a 69% increase.
3. In Vietnam, Solana is growing exponentially with 120% YoY

Why Are StableCoins Explosive in SouthEast Asia?

There are four main reasons for this. First, we're looking for security right now, when the world economy is uncertain and local currencies are changing all the time. And stablecoin is a safe way to do that. 

Second, the rise of freelance work and working from home made it possible for more people in Southeast Asia to make money in cash.  People started using stablecoins as a way to pay instead of the slow and expensive standard banking system. 

Third, small businesses that wanted to buy things from around the world or sell to people in other countries discovered that stablecoins could do so quickly and easily, rather than taking days. 

Fourth, it is reported from the World Economic Forum that:

“70% of the population remains unbanked or underbanked, with little or no access to credit or financial tools to invest and save for the future.”

For millions of people without easy access to traditional banking, stablecoins on a mobile phone represent their first real opportunity to access global financial services, save in a stable currency (like the US dollar), and participate in the digital economy.

A Country-by-Country Snapshot

While Southeast Asia shares common drivers for stablecoin adoption, the approach of each nation is unique

Vietnam

Vietnam is an interesting paradox. The country has one of the highest rates of crypto adoption in the world. This is driven by a massive peer-to-peer (P2P) market for USDT that thrives on exchanges like Binance P2P and Remitano for everything from trading to cross-border commerce.

This mass optimism, on the other hand, works in a regulatory grey area. The government hasn't set up an official legal framework for crypto payments yet, but there are signs that it will do so in a "test-and-learn" way. 

That sign encourages startups in the industry and there’s Gaian Network, a neobank offering a B2B toolkit (an SDK) for other businesses. Their model allows a customer to pay directly from their own personal crypto wallet. There's no need to deposit funds into a separate account first it’s a non-custodial approach where the user always has full control of their money. 

As Gaian is growing, the company witnessed an explosive payment volume in a short period of time. To handle their growing payment volume, Gaian partners with Fystack, using our MPC wallet infrastructure to automate their complex treasury operations securely.

You can read more about Gaian’s use case by leveraging Fystack’s MPC technology

Additionally, the central bank's fintech regulatory sandbox is promising. It has approved test programmes for new businesses, such as BasalPay, a blockchain-based payment company focused on streamlining cross-border B2B payments. You can see the company’s latest updates on X.

Singapore

When it comes to crypto, Singapore is known for having clear rules, establishing itself as the region's regulated hub. The country's financial regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has set up a reliable system for stablecoins, which has attracted companies from all over the world.

This trustworthy environment has allowed local projects like StraitsX to create XSGD, a stablecoin backed by the Singapore Dollar. Because it's pegged to their local currency, it's becoming a popular choice for everyday B2B transactions within the country. 

More about the company’s info on X.

Philippines

The Philippines has embraced stablecoins to solve a huge national challenge: remittances. The country’s central bank has been very supportive, encouraging new ideas to help millions of Filipinos working overseas send money back home more efficiently.

This has led to the creation of regulated, peso-backed stablecoins like PHPC from platforms like Coins.ph, known as the No.1 fiat & crypto e-wallet in the Philippines.

Coins.ph is a financial technology platform and digital wallet that allows users to buy, sell, and store cryptocurrencies, as well as perform traditional financial services such as sending money, paying bills, and reloading mobile phones.

Indonesia

The potential here is absolutely massive, especially for bringing more people into the financial system. But, the government is taking a very cautious "watch-and-wait" approach for now.

So what does that actually mean? It's kind of a "yes, but..." situation. The rules say it's totally legal to buy and trade crypto as an investment , but using it to buy coffee is still off-limits.

However, the government has its own huge project called Project Garuda. This is the official plan from Bank Indonesia to create a "Digital Rupiah," it’s basically the government's own version of a digital currency. 

For Indonesians, it's a clear sign they're serious about this technology, but they're building it their way, from the top down.

So, the current situation in Indonesia is simply described as “cautious.”

Thailand

Finally, Thailand has taken a balanced approach. The Thai SEC has approved major stablecoins like USDT and USDC for trading on regulated exchanges, legitimizing them as assets. 

However, similar to other nations in the region, the central bank remains cautious about their widespread use for payments, encouraging a focus on investment and trading rather than daily commerce.

Recently, they are actively exploring the future of digital payments through official pilot programs. A groundbreaking example is the Rubie Wallet, an initiative by SCB 10X. Operating within the central bank's regulatory sandbox, the Rubie Wallet was tested as a way for foreign visitors to make payments seamlessly. 

The system allowed users to convert US dollar stablecoins into a special Thai Baht stablecoin (THBX) in real-time, which could then be used for QR code payments at local merchants. This project represents a significant step by a major Thai financial institution to test real-world stablecoin use cases for enhancing tourism and modernizing commerce. See more updates from Rubie Wallet on X.

Here is a table to summarize the key points:

Why Not Stablecoins Yet?

So, with all this potential, switching to stablecoins seems like an obvious, potential, and high value solution. But it's a bit more complicated. Specifically for business owners in Vietnam, the road from potential to actually using this stuff is filled with some real hurdles.

First, there's the regulatory uncertainty, we’re all trying to figure out. But the one that keeps people up at night is security. Suddenly, you're your own bank, and that's a huge responsibility. 

You're faced with a ton of technical questions: Should you use a hot wallet or a cold wallet? What's the difference between Multi-Sig vs. MPC? It can feel overwhelming, and a single mistake can be costly. As if that wasn't hard enough, you also have to figure out how to best exchange your Vietnamese Dong for digital dollars and back again without losing a lot of money in fees.

Learn more about Which Wallet is Right For Your Business?

A Solution to Secure, Simple Stablecoin Payments

At Fystack, this is the problem we’re trying to solve. We realized that for businesses to feel confident, they don't just need a wallet; they need a complete toolkit that is both incredibly secure and simple to use.

Our approach starts with MPC (Multi-Party Computation). The easiest way to think about it is this: instead of one "master key" to your vault that can be lost or stolen, MPC technology splits that key into pieces and separates them. To approve a payment, the pieces work together without ever forming a whole key in one place. It’s just a fundamentally safer way for a business to manage its funds.

Additionally, we offer an on-premise service to help you deploy Fystack’s entire MPC wallet and payment infrastructure on your own servers. It’s the ultimate expression of "Your keys, your coins," a true self-hosted MPC wallet infrastructure for your digital assets.

If you are a Web2 Fintech company that wants to move on-chain, here’s why you should consider a MPC wallet.

What's Next?

The way people talk about crypto is changing.  We're past the craze of "100x gems" and into a new phase that's all about how they can be used in the real world.  Stablecoins are at the center of this change; they are quietly laying the groundwork for a world economy that is more open and works better.

This is a journey we're all on, and there’s still so much to learn. 

At Fystack, we’re building enterprise grade stablecoin infrastructure. We are constantly improving our offerings, with recent updates like our MPCium v0.3.2 release adding DH Key exchange and AWS KMS support to improve security of the platform.