Visa Poll: Add FDIC, and Stablecoins Go From "Crypto?" to "Sign Me Up" 🇺🇸

Stablecoin adoption in the United States could climb from 36% to 56% if the tokens carried bank-level fraud protection and deposit insurance, according to Visa's Money Travels 2026 report released Wednesday. The hypothetical scenario does not imply such safeguards exist or are imminent, Visa said. Baseline familiarity remains the larger obstacle: 56% of U.S. respondents had never heard of stablecoins, and many who had wrongly assumed the dollar-pegged tokens fluctuate like $BTC.

Provider reputation moved the needle as well. Willingness rose to 45% when a stablecoin was offered through an existing financial provider, and roughly six in 10 Americans said they would trust a traditional bank (61%) or a global payment network (60%) with digital currency services. The pattern extended beyond U.S. borders. In Latin America, intent to use stablecoins for cross-border transfers more than doubled, from 34% to 74%, under the same protected-asset scenario.

Fraud concerns color the picture. About 36% of U.S. remitters reported encountering a cross-border payment scam, and 44% said they worry about AI deepfakes impersonating family members. "Our research shows what matters most to those who rely on that lifeline: trust," said Vira Platonova, global head of Visa Direct.

Visa has been building stablecoin infrastructure for years. The company's stablecoin settlement volume is now running at an annualized rate above $20 billion, up from a $3.5 billion run rate when U.S. settlement in USDC on Solana began last December. In August, Visa Direct added stablecoin payouts through Zerohash. Wall Street is tracking the trend as well: BlackRock put stablecoins' market cap above $300 billion this month, with more than $11 trillion in adjusted transaction volume last year, and expects AI agents to drive the next wave of adoption.

Morning Consult conducted the survey from Feb. 24 to March 2, polling 45,445 people across 20 markets, including 2,192 U.S. adults.