The adoption of stablecoins is spiking rapidly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, a report by Binance said on Tuesday. The exchange zeroed-into this conclusion after assessing investor habits on its Earn feature — that lets users subscribe to various financial products and generate incomes via rewards. The report essentially said that traders from the MENA region are increasingly making stablecoins a part of their trading and savings activities — holding the majority portion of stablecoins deposited into Earn.
In its report titled “Stablecoins: Transforming the Financial Landscape”, Binance said that stablecoin balances from the MENA region on the platform have doubled by 100 percent in the last one year. The exchange’s global stablecoin trading volume rose from seven percent in 2023 to 11 percent in 2026, it claimed.
“Users are also exploring how stablecoins can support other financial needs, from maintaining liquidity and preserving value to earning rewards on eligible holdings. Trading remains a central part of the digital asset ecosystem,” said Tarik Erk, Head of MENAT and Senior Executive Officer at Binance.
Stablecoins are crypto assets that are backed by reserve assets like fiat currencies or gold in 1:1 ratio. Issued by private companies, these digital assets derive their value from the underlaying asset — keeping them stable during volatile market days. Transactions facilitated via stablecoins leave immutable and permanent logs on blockchain, that brings more financial transparency to the table.
With regions like the U.S. and the E.U. imposing heavy regulations over stablecoins, those processing frequenst cross-border transactions have started to use these assets for the speed and cost-efficiency of transfers.
Binance said stablecoins deposited into Earn in the MENA region grew by 60 percent, contributing to over $1.2 billion in cumulative rewards distributed to global stablecoin holders since 2022.
“Together, these developments are creating an environment in which users can engage with digital assets through a wider range of practical and increasingly integrated financial experiences,” Erk added.
The research also pointed out that globally, 30 percent of users hold more than half of their portfolios in stablecoins, compared with just four percent in 2020.
In emerging market, the figure stands at a rise of 36 percent — highlighting that long-term hold value of stablecoins is also increasing under clear regulations.
At present, Tether’s USDT is the world’s largest stablecoin with the market cap of $184 billion. USDC is the second largest stablecoin with $73.2 billion in market cap. The overall capitalization of the stablecoin market stands at $303.8 billion, as per CoinGecko. A majority of stablecoins are pegged against the USD.
Despite their growing popularity, stablecoins are still at risks of being de-pegged and being reliant on traditional commercial banks to hold their reserves. Bugs, hacks, or vulnerabilities in smart contracts can also harm stablecoin infrastructures resulting in irreversible fund losses.
