Visa: Stablecoin Interest Rises to 56% With Bank Protection
Visa says consumers are more open to stablecoins when banks offer fraud protection and deposit insurance. The result highlights how important trust and regulation are for adoption.
Key Takeaways
- Visa says the willingness of American consumers to use stablecoins rises from 36% to 56% when fraud protection and deposit insurance are included.
- According to the survey, 64% of respondents trust the payment provider most, while banks and global payment networks are the most trusted.
- Awareness of stablecoins remains low: 56% had never heard of them, while the total supply of dollar-pegged stablecoins is above $295 billion.
American consumers are clearly more positive about stablecoins when bank-level protection is attached to them. In a Visa survey, the willingness to use stablecoins rose from 36% to 56% when hypothetical fraud protection and deposit insurance were added.
Trust Sits With the Provider
Visa published the survey on Wednesday under the name Money Travels 2026. It is based on a Morning Consult poll of 2,192 American adults, conducted between February 24 and March 2. Participants were first given an explanation of terms like stablecoins before answering.
According to Visa, trust for 64% of respondents depends more on the payment provider than on the technology itself. Willingness to use stablecoins also rose from 36% to 45% when they were offered through an existing financial institution. Traditional commercial banks and global payment networks were most often named as trusted providers of digital currency services, with 61% and 60% trust, respectively.
Stablecoins Remain Unfamiliar
At the same time, awareness of stablecoins is still low. Visa says 56% of respondents had never heard of them. Some people who did know the term also incorrectly thought stablecoins swing just as much as Bitcoin.
That lack of knowledge fits a market that is still growing fast. According to data from The Block, the total supply of dollar-pegged stablecoins is now above $295 billion (€259 billion), with Tether’s USDT around $183.4 billion (€161 billion) and Circle’s USDC at nearly $76 billion (€66.6 billion). Earlier this year, the Federal Reserve already pointed to the importance of safer and more liquid reserves, such as bank deposits or short-term U.S. government bonds, because the study says those are linked to lower run risk and stronger adoption.
Why This Matters for Europe
For European crypto followers, this study shows that stablecoins are not just a technical story, but mainly a question of trust. That also matters now that regulators and banks in Europe are increasingly looking at the role of stablecoins in payments, reserves, and consumer protection. The debate over bank deposits as a reserve requirement shows how sensitive that topic is in Europe. Visa said earlier this month that stablecoin settlement was already running at more than $20 billion (€17.5 billion) on an annualized basis, more than 15 times higher than a year earlier, with more than 160 linked card programs worldwide.
