US stablecoin adoption could surge with bank-like protections: Visa survey
The survey released by Visa posited that bank-like protections for stablecoins could increase adoption in the US as companies are preparing for the enactment of the GENIUS Act.
Visa's recent survey suggests that the adoption of stablecoins in the United States could rise significantly with the introduction of bank-like protections. The research, conducted between February and March, found that 36% of US users currently intend to adopt stablecoins. However, if stablecoins were offered through an established financial provider with bank-level fraud protection and deposit insurance, that percentage could increase to 56%.
The survey, which polled 2,192 US-based customers, also revealed that trust in payment methods depends more on the entity offering them than the technology itself. When stablecoin services are provided by a recognized financial institution, willingness to use them rises from 36% to 45%. The findings come as companies prepare for the potential enactment of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.
The bill, which has not yet received finalized rules from key US financial agencies, is set to take effect in January 2027.
Currently, stablecoins in the US lack many fraud protections and are not covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Although the GENIUS Act is expected to introduce guidelines to mitigate illicit activities, it won't include explicit fraud protection or FDIC insurance. Meanwhile, in Europe, the European System of Central Banks is considering altering rules that require at least 30% of stablecoin reserves to be held as bank deposits, or 60% for "significant" tokens.
Instead, they are advocating for liquidity thresholds for these assets, citing the potential risks of rapid deposit withdrawals. These proposed changes are part of the region's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, which implemented stablecoin regulations beginning in June 2024. Decta, a payments infrastructure company, reported that the market capitalization of compliant euro stablecoins more than doubled from 2025 to 2026, leading up to the end of MiCA's transition period.
USD-pegged stablecoins such as USDC and USDT remain dominant, together comprising nearly $260 billion in market capitalization.
Written by urgent.news from Cointelegraph's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
