Author: Heechang Kang, CSO of Four Pillars
Compiled by: Jiahuan, ChainCatcher
This analysis is based on Allium's geographic payment data, covering $15.2 billion in on-chain transfers with identified sending and receiving countries. Since most on-chain transactions currently cannot be linked to specific countries, this data reflects only the identified sample.
Of the $15.2 billion in identifiable stablecoin transaction volume, domestic transfers accounted for 62.6%; of all identifiable transactions, 73.0% of funds ultimately flowed to the sender’s region. Therefore, cross-border remittances represent only a portion of current stablecoin demand.
The Asia-Pacific region leads the way, accounting for 41.0% of total sent transaction volume and 41.6% of global domestic transaction volume, while also showing net inflows, with particularly notable net inflows from Indonesia, Singapore, and South Korea.
For institutions evaluating stablecoin payment needs, domestic settlement services and cross-border payment channels in the Asia-Pacific region represent the most significant market opportunities currently.
1. Stablecoin trading is first and foremost an "onshore business".
Domestic transfers, which occur between wallets within the same country, reached $9.5 billion, accounting for 62.6% of the $15.2 billion in identifiable transaction volume.
Regardless of region or market size, in most markets with outflow activity, domestic transfers are the largest destination for funds.
Turkey ($2.28 billion), South Korea ($1.6 billion), Mexico ($1.53 billion), Indonesia ($1.09 billion), and the United States ($1.07 billion) collectively accounted for 79.5% of global on-chain stablecoin transaction volume.
These transactions are completed directly between public blockchain wallets, without going through bank card networks or banking payment systems.
The large volume of domestic transactions indicates that users are using stablecoins within their home markets for payments, trading, and dollar-denominated savings. Therefore, cross-border remittances are only one part of stablecoin use cases.
For institutions designing stablecoin services, domestic payments and settlements currently represent a larger actual transaction volume compared to products developed solely around cross-border remittances.
2. After cross-border movement, funds are also more likely to remain within the region.
When domestic transfers are included, 73.0% of trading volume occurs within the sender's region, i.e., within the same continent.
Among them, 79.5% of funds in the Asia-Pacific region remain within the region, 72.0% in the Middle East and Africa, 71.4% in North America, and 49.6% in Europe.
Looking at fund flows between regions, transactions are clearly concentrated within regions, meaning that most stablecoin transactions with identifiable sources and destinations still occur within the sender's region.
Excluding domestic transfers, regional transactions would account for 27.8% of the $5.68 billion in cross-border transaction volume.
Among these, intra-regional transactions in the Asia-Pacific region still accounted for 43.7%, or $995 million out of $2.28 billion in cross-border transactions. In comparison, North America accounted for 27.0%, while the Middle East and Africa accounted for only 6.3%.
As the largest market in the Middle East and Africa, most cross-border stablecoin funds from Turkey flow to Asia and the Americas.
Within the Asia-Pacific region, transaction volumes between Taiwan and Indonesia ($138 million), Indonesia and Taiwan ($124 million), and Indonesia and South Korea ($89 million) are already substantial.
The current trading volume has laid the foundation for building a regional stablecoin payment infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region.
Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, and Thailand collectively accounted for approximately $1 billion in cross-border regional transactions, along with $3.96 billion in domestic transaction volume.
Institutions can determine which cross-border payment channels are worth prioritizing based on these existing liquidity and bilateral demand patterns.
For institutions planning to build regional payment infrastructure, cross-border payment channels such as Taiwan to Indonesia and Indonesia to Korea have already established quantifiable bilateral demand, providing a market foundation for early investment.
Currently, Allium can identify the transaction volumes for the sending and receiving countries in only 2.9% of all observed transactions. As more transaction country data is identified, the rankings of these cross-border payment channels may still change.
3. Asia-Pacific has become the largest stablecoin trading market
The Asia-Pacific region is the largest in this dataset, sending $6.23 billion in stablecoins, accounting for 41.0% of identifiable transaction volume, and receiving $6.4 billion, accounting for 42.1%.
In terms of transaction volume, the Asia-Pacific region is significantly higher than North America at 28.6%, the Middle East and Africa at 22.0%, Europe at 7.5%, and Latin America at 0.8%.
Meanwhile, the Asia-Pacific region generated $3.96 billion in domestic trading volume, accounting for 41.6% of the global domestic stablecoin trading volume.
This concentration is also evident in major cross-border transactions. Of the 15 largest cross-border stablecoin payment channels globally, nine involve at least one Asia-Pacific market, and Indonesia alone appears in six of these channels.
The largest two unidirectional cross-border payment channels are Turkey to Indonesia ($206 million) and the United States to Mexico ($206 million).
When combining trading volumes in both directions, bilateral trading volume between Indonesia and Turkey reached $363 million, between Indonesia and Taiwan reached $262 million, and between South Korea and Turkey reached $190 million.
This data indicates that a significant volume of funds has flowed between Asian markets and markets outside Asia with higher stablecoin adoption rates.
The net inflow data also exhibits similar characteristics.
The Asia-Pacific region saw a net inflow of $167 million more in funds received than sent, while the United States recorded the largest net outflow in the sample.
Indonesia (+$111 million), Singapore (+$57.9 million), and South Korea (+$31.7 million) are among the markets with the largest net inflows in this sample.
Therefore, for institutions evaluating current stablecoin payment demand, the Asia-Pacific region has the largest identifiable transaction volume, the highest domestic transaction volume, and positive net stablecoin inflows.