The UAE and Singapore are positioning themselves as the leading testbeds for stablecoins as the two countries work to build a financial corridor linking the Middle East and Asia, according to industry data. The Asia-Pacific digital asset market is currently expanding at an annual growth rate of 69 to 70 per cent.
The UAE has built out its regulatory infrastructure through the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, established in 2022, and the Abu Dhabi Global Market's cryptoasset framework, introduced in 2018. The UAE Central Bank has also rolled out a dedicated stablecoin regulatory framework. Singapore, meanwhile, has relied on its Payment Services Act, passed in 2020, to provide similar legal clarity.
Nischint Sanghavi, Visa's head of digital currencies for Asia Pacific, said the company's strategy is to "enable interoperability across different forms of money." Wang Hao, chief executive of Changer.ae, pointed to a practical limitation facing the technology: "If a token arrives in seconds but the supplier cannot use the proceeds until Monday, what have we actually improved?" SB Seker, Binance's head of Asia Pacific, said most businesses in the region are now willing to accept stablecoin payments.
Analysts say stablecoins are shifting from crypto trading tools into cross-border payment and corporate treasury instruments, with the UAE and Singapore acting as a development hub that could extend the technology into less-connected ASEAN and North Asian markets. The trend follows the United States' GENIUS Act, passed in July 2025, which set out a federal framework for stablecoin issuance.