Future of iGaming payments in Asia belongs to stablecoins: Expert
Stablecoins are now becoming part of the conversation about the future of iGaming payments in Asia as operators look for faster settlements, lower costs, and more efficient cross-border transactions. While cryptocurrencies were once viewed largely as speculative assets, the industry is increasingly exploring stablecoins as practical payment infrastructure that can work alongside existing financial systems.
Speaking exclusively to SiGMA News, Justin d’Anethan, Head of Partnerships at Arctic Digital, said the Asian iGaming industry has spent years searching for a more efficient way to handle cross-border payments, making stablecoins a natural fit.
“The online gaming industry has been complaining about cross-border payment rails for as long as I can remember. They’re typically slow, expensive, and fragmented across regions and platforms,” he said.
According to d’Anethan, stablecoins such as USDT and USDC are beginning to address many of those longstanding challenges by offering faster settlements, deep liquidity and increasingly seamless connections to traditional banking services.
“Stablecoins (USDT and USDC, mainly) started showing up as a genuine alternative, faster, cheaper, with deep liquidity and, now, easier on-ramp/off-ramp to bank accounts, credit cards and traditional rails. It’s offering the best of both worlds,” he added.
Stablecoins gain momentum
His comments come as stablecoin adoption continues to accelerate across the regulated iGaming industry. According to a report by payments consultancy PayTech Insights, cryptocurrency payments now account for 38 per cent of transactions across licenced gaming platforms, up from 24 per cent in 2024.
Stablecoins have emerged as a major digital payment option in the licenced iGaming sector, with USDT and USDC accounting for 71 per cent of all cryptocurrency deposits processed by regulated operators. Their ability to offer near-instant settlements, lower transaction costs and reduced foreign exchange friction has made them particularly attractive for operators serving customers across multiple jurisdictions.
Alongside US dollar-backed stablecoins, Asia is also witnessing growing interest in local-currency and asset-backed stablecoins. Singapore’s XSGD, Hong Kong’s FDUSD, Japan’s JPYC, and the Philippines’ PHPC are among the projects designed to support faster domestic and cross-border payments. South Korea is also seeing momentum around proposed won-backed stablecoins as policymakers work on a clearer digital asset framework. Beyond fiat-backed tokens, gold-backed stablecoins such as Tether Gold (XAUT) and Pax Gold (PAXG) are gaining attention among investors seeking blockchain-based assets linked to physical gold.
Near-instant settlements and the removal of many currency conversion costs are proving particularly attractive for operators serving multiple international markets. Together, these developments show how stablecoins are evolving beyond a single product category, with governments, financial institutions and businesses increasingly exploring regulated digital assets that can improve payment efficiency, reduce settlement times and better align with existing compliance requirements.
The ecosystem is also becoming easier to adopt. Singapore-based payment companies such as Triple-A, FOMO Pay and dtcpay have already expanded their stablecoin payment infrastructure, giving businesses easier access to regulated digital asset payment rails and simplifying integration for operators.
Compliance: The biggest hurdle
Despite the growing momentum, regulation continues to influence how quickly stablecoins can be adopted across Asia. However, d’Anethan believes the bigger obstacle is often compliance rather than regulation itself.
“In many cases, local regulations for cross-border transactions aren’t the issue but the processes for proper AML and KYC, which end up being super cumbersome for the users and for the companies,” he explained.
He pointed to jurisdictions that have already made significant progress in building clearer digital asset frameworks. “Some places have sorted it; typically the more tech-forward ones like Singapore, Hong Kong, parts of the UAE.”
Across Asia, regulators have increasingly shifted their focus from debating digital assets to creating frameworks that support compliant innovation. Singapore has developed one of the region’s most mature licencing regimes, Hong Kong continues expanding its digital asset framework, while Japan and South Korea have introduced regulations that support stablecoin development under clearly defined legal structures.
That regulatory progress is reflected in broader market growth. According to a blog post published by Chainalysis, Asia-Pacific has become the world’s fastest-growing crypto region, with monthly on-chain transaction volumes rising from around $81 billion in July 2022 to a peak of $244 billion in December 2024, then stabilising at approximately $185 billion by mid-2025.
Similarly, Japan recorded a 120 per cent year-on-year increase in crypto activity following legislation for yen-backed stablecoins, while South Korea’s KRW-denominated stablecoin market grew to roughly $59 billion after the introduction of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act.
Banks slowly embracing digital assets
Traditional financial institutions have historically been cautious about cryptocurrencies, but d’Anethan believes attitudes are beginning to shift. “Banks seem to hint at a shift in a similar direction. This is both because of client demand and, probably more importantly, a need to stay relevant through time and so competitive with newer platforms and existing competitors.”
Rather than embracing decentralised finance overnight, he said banks are gradually experimenting with tokenised money market funds, real-world asset (RWA) trading, stablecoins and other blockchain-powered financial products.
“I think it’s all moving slowly enough that few people notice, but eventually, it pays off and will look like an obvious shift that most people missed.” Looking ahead, experts believe competition between jurisdictions will be one of the biggest drivers of adoption, as governments seek to attract investment by offering greater regulatory clarity for digital assets.
“Ultimately, I think jurisdictional arbitrage and so competition will push many countries and regions to accommodate and clarify the processes needed to enable more digital asset adoption, in any way, shape or form. When and how exactly that happens remains to be seen,” d’Anethan concluded.
With payment infrastructure maturing, regulatory frameworks becoming clearer and financial institutions showing greater interest in digital assets, stablecoins are gradually moving from a niche payment option towards broader use within the licenced iGaming sector.
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