Bitget Wallet’s APAC Head Will Wu argues Asia’s stablecoin race will be won at the wallet layer, where global digital dollars meet local payment systems
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, Sept. 04, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bitget Wallet, the leading self-custodial wallet for everyday finance, said Asia’s stablecoin race is shifting from onchain transfer to local usability, with adoption increasingly determined by how easily digital dollars connect to local currencies and payment systems.
Speaking at FUTUREMODE 2026’s “Stablecoin Race for Asia” panel, Will Wu, Head of APAC at Bitget Wallet, said progress will be measured less by issuance growth and more by whether users repeatedly spend stablecoins in daily life. QR payment volume on Bitget Wallet across Asia nearly quadrupled in H1 2026, pointing to growing everyday use through local payment channels.
A key part of that transition is separating what users choose to hold from what merchants need to receive. A consumer may prefer to hold a dollar stablecoin while paying a merchant in local currency, without either side managing conversion manually. “Stablecoins have made it much easier to move digital dollars globally, but the next challenge is making them work locally,” Wu said. “Users should be able to hold the currency they choose and spend in the currency they need, without having to think about the infrastructure in between.”
Making that experience work requires more than fast blockchain settlement. “Local currency conversion, merchant acceptance, regulatory compliance and familiar payment rails all shape whether stablecoins become something people can use routinely,” Wu said. “For wallets, the opportunity is to bring those layers together behind a simple consumer experience, so users don’t have to navigate each step themselves.”
Wu said this points toward a more interconnected market rather than a winner-takes-all outcome. “By 2027, Asia’s winning model will look less like a single dominant stablecoin and more like a wallet-led experience connecting global stablecoin liquidity with local payment systems through regulated partners,” he said. “The real measure of success will be whether people can use stablecoins repeatedly in everyday life, not just how many new tokens are issued.”
Bitget Wallet is building toward this model through its Onchain Payments Matrix, a payment coordination layer connecting stablecoin issuers with card networks, QR payment systems, on- and off-ramp providers, and local financial rails. For more information on how Bitget Wallet is building connections between stablecoins and local payment infrastructure, visit https://web3.bitget.com/paymentsmatrix.
About Bitget Wallet
Bitget Wallet is a self-custodial crypto wallet built for everyday finance, trusted by over 100 million people to save, send, and spend digital dollars — and access global markets. It brings together stablecoin payments, Visa and Mastercard crypto cards, local buying and cash-out options, support for more than 100 fiat currencies, earning products, and access to more than 1 million crypto and tokenized real-world assets across 130+ blockchains in one account. Users retain full ownership of their assets, protected by hardware-backed key security, independent security audits, real-time risk monitoring, and a $300 million user protection fund. For more information, visit web3.bitget.com.
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