Philippine businesses and independent operators lead five Asian economies in commercial stablecoin adoption, with 20% already using dollar-pegged digital tokens for international transactions and payouts, according to a report released Wednesday, Nov. 11, by fintech firm Morph^.

Download the Report here.

The study, titled ‘The Cost of Getting Paid’ and conducted with Studio by Informa TechTarget, surveyed 150 business operators and payments decision-makers across the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Vietnam^{. The findings show that local adoption is largely driven by structural frictions in conventional banking rails, where 83% of Philippine respondents reported that cross-border payment delays directly undermine their financial forecasting and planning.}

The 20% live adoption rate in the Philippines surpassed Singapore at 17% and Hong Kong at 14%, while surveyed commercial entities in Indonesia and Vietnam reported zero live usage^{. An additional 43% of Philippine respondents stated they are evaluating stablecoin integration over the next 12 to 24 months, indicating that 63% of the local sample is either utilizing or assessing digital currency rails for business cash flows.}

Traditional financial infrastructure continues to impose settlement lags on Philippine enterprises handling cross-border income^{. The data indicates that 77% of local businesses wait at least two business days for international invoice payments to clear into domestic bank accounts, with 23% waiting between four and seven business days. Furthermore, 60% of Philippine respondents reported losing at least 3% of their international earnings to intermediary bank fees and foreign exchange spreads.}

Despite growing utilization, respondents indicated that long-term commercial integration requires deeper connections with the domestic banking environment^{. Among Philippine businesses assessing adoption, 81% stated that instant conversion and withdrawal into Philippine pesos would have a very high impact on their confidence to adopt stablecoins—the highest level recorded among all five surveyed jurisdictions. In addition, all Philippine respondents identified regulatory compliance as an essential requirement.}

“The Philippines shows what changes once stablecoins are no longer only an idea,” said Renna Ba, director of operations at Morph^{. “The next question is whether a business can turn the payment into usable local liquidity without adding new friction. Faster settlement matters, but so does the ability to plan around the money, convert it when needed and account for what arrived. Adoption becomes durable when the full workflow works.”}

Payment reliability remains an issue across the region, where 87% of all surveyed businesses experienced at least one banking disruption over the past year, including unpredicted payment delays and blocked international wires^{. In response to these vulnerabilities, 94% of respondents across the five markets stated that having an alternative payment rail would serve as a valuable operational backup.}

This article is published on BitPinas: 20% of Philippine Businesses Now Use Stablecoins for Cross-Border Payments: Morph Survey

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