The Rise of Stablecoins in Australia

Stablecoins have moved from a trading tool to a payment rail in Australia. Chainalysis counts about 2 million Australian stablecoin transfers in 2025–26, up from roughly 100,000 four years earlier and now about double the number of bitcoin transfers. Businesses use them to pay suppliers, move treasury between venues and settle outside banking hours, and the rules that govern them are being written now.

What is a stablecoin, and why does it matter to an Australian business?
A stablecoin is a digital token issued against a reserve, redeemable at a fixed value in a fiat currency, that moves on a blockchain. For a business the point is not the token but the rail: a US dollar or Australian dollar balance that settles in minutes, at any hour, to any counterparty with a wallet, without a correspondent bank in the middle. Importers fund suppliers with stablecoins, payments companies use stablecoins for cross-border remittance, and funds and treasuries hold stablecoins to move between venues and currencies without waiting for banking hours.

How much are Australians using stablecoins?
Chainalysis’ 2026 regional report, covering July 2025 to June 2026, puts Australia’s digital asset economy at approximately US$173 billion, the second largest in its Central and Southeast Asia and Oceania region after Singapore. Within that, stablecoin transfer counts rose from roughly 100,000 in 2021–22 to about 2 million in 2025–26, while bitcoin transfers fell from their 2023–24 peak to just over 1 million. Cross-border stablecoin value from Australia reached slightly more than US$3 billion in the year, with flows concentrated in East Asia. Institutional-platform activity grew 33% to approximately US$40 billion, of which market makers accounted for 35%. Overall activity fell 5.6%, largely because of a decline on decentralised exchanges; the institutional end of the market grew.

Which stablecoins do Australian businesses actually use?
US dollar stablecoins carry most of the flow. USDT against the Australian dollar is the most traded pair at Neo-X and the stablecoin most offshore suppliers and trading venues accept; USDC is quoted on the same terms. A USDT/AUD price has two parts, the AUD/USD exchange rate and the small premium or discount at which USDT trades against the US dollar, and a quote reflects both at the moment it is given.

Where do Australian-dollar stablecoins fit?
Australian-dollar stablecoins are newer and far smaller than their US dollar counterparts. They are issued by Australian companies against Australian-dollar reserves and are used mainly to hold AUD value on-chain, to move between AUD and USD stablecoins without reliance on the banking system, and to settle tokenised assets. Australian-dollar stablecoins were among the settlement assets used in the Reserve Bank’s Project Acacia. Neo-X has trading capability in, and partnerships with, all of the stablecoin issuers in Australia, and quotes Australian-dollar stablecoins against AUD, USDT and USDC on the same request-for-quote terms as any other pair.

What did Project Acacia find?
Project Acacia was a joint research project of the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC). Between August 2025 and February 2026 it completed 20 use cases, 12 pilots involving real money and real assets and 8 proofs of concept, using four forms of settlement money side by side: exchange settlement account balances, a pilot wholesale central bank digital currency, tokenised bank deposits and stablecoins. The final report, released on 18 May 2026, found that interoperable private tokenised money, meaning stablecoins or tokenised bank deposits, can support asset tokenisation. Next steps include a regulatory sandbox for digital financial market infrastructure, a tokenised government bond initiative, and consultation on settlement arrangements and access to exchange settlement accounts. The DFCRC estimates the potential economic gain at approximately $24 billion a year.

How are stablecoins regulated in Australia in 2026?
Two regimes apply today and a third is in draft. First, financial services law: ASIC’s Information Sheet 225 says certain stablecoins are likely to be non-cash payment facilities, which are financial products, so dealing or making a market in those stablecoins requires an Australian Financial Services Licence with that authorisation. Second, anti-money laundering law: exchanging and transferring stablecoins are virtual asset services regulated by AUSTRAC. Existing digital currency exchange providers were registered as virtual asset service providers from 31 March 2026, and obligations for the newly regulated services, including the travel rule on transfers, applied from 1 July 2026. Third, a dedicated regime: Treasury consulted from 12 March to 9 April 2026 on Tranche 1 of its draft legislation for payment service providers. Published legal summaries of that draft describe payment stablecoins being regulated as tokenised stored value facilities, with a licensed issuer, a right to redeem at a fixed value and regular reporting on reserves. The draft is not law, its detail may change, and Treasury has not published a date for a bill.

What are the risks of holding or settling in stablecoins?
A stablecoin is a claim on its issuer and its reserve, not a bank deposit. A stablecoin can trade below or above its fixed value, particularly in stressed markets; direct redemption is usually available only to the issuer’s own onboarded customers; and a transfer sent to the wrong address or on the wrong network may not be recoverable. The questions a treasury team typically asks are who the issuer is and what licence the issuer holds, what the reserve is made of and how often the reserve is independently attested, who can redeem and on what terms, which networks the token runs on, and how deep the market is in the pair the business needs.

How does Neo-X trade stablecoins for wholesale clients?
Neo-X quotes AUD against USDT, USDC and Australian-dollar stablecoins as one firm, all-in price for tickets from approximately A$100,000 to A$20 million, in either direction. The fiat leg settles same day across 27 currencies, the stablecoin leg settles on-chain to the client’s nominated address, and pre-funding is not required. Neo-X Financial’s AFSL 558430 authorises it to provide, and make a market in, non-cash payment facilities, the category ASIC’s Information Sheet 225 says certain stablecoins are likely to fall into.

How do I get started?
Reach out on sales@neox.au or (02) 9136 0264. Wholesale clients only.

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Neo-X Financial Pty Ltd holds AFSL 558430. Client-facing services are provided by Neochain Pty Ltd, CAR 001320366. Wholesale clients only. Neo-X acts as principal, makes markets and may hold positions in the assets it quotes. Nothing on this page is financial product advice. Market figures are from Chainalysis (30 September 2026) and the Reserve Bank of Australia and DFCRC (Project Acacia final report, 18 May 2026) and are approximate; ticket sizes are approximate and not quotes. Regulatory information is current as at 10 November 2026 and may change.