The UK Government might be keen to see stablecoins enter the mainstream, but new YouGov polling shows that the public will take more convincing to swap their hard currency for unfamiliar digital assets.  

Despite the Treasury and financial regulators, including the FCA and Bank of England, being busy laying the groundwork for wider adoption of stablecoins, YouGov’s survey of almost 2,300 adults found that 81% Brits have never heard of them.

However, when the concept behind stablecoins is boiled down to plain English, that they are digital tokens that keep a steady value and behave like cash rather than more volatile cryptocurrencies, the picture shifts.

Once explained, more than 60% of the public then agrees they understand the core idea of stablecoins and their value, suggesting that complexity is not the issue, but that regulators, issuers, platforms and the government have not done enough to communicate their potential.

But if the public must be educated, YouGov’s data shows that this should come from trusted sources if stablecoins are to take hold.

While close to a quarter of UK adults said they would trust their own bank (23%), the government (22%) or financial regulators (21%) on the subject, far fewer have faith in crypto platforms (5%) or tech firms (4%). 

If the government wants the UK to catch up with the US and keep its place as the “world leading financial centre in the digital age”, it will need to be mindful of allowing the crypto industry itself to take the lead in defining the broader introduction of stablecoins.

Even then, it will be an uphill battle, with 39% of the public saying they don’t want to learn about stablecoins at all and 34% saying they would not consider using them.

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That reluctance is likely tied to serious concerns surrounding security, with more than half of the public agreeing that cyber risks (53%) and the potential for fraud and scams (52%) associated with digital assets would stop them from adopting stablecoins. 

Added to that, almost half said they were concerned by the lack of regulation around stablecoins, with more than a third worried about their use in illegal activity, and 48% concerned about the risks of losing money.

Unsurprisingly, as a result, only 7% of Brits said they are very or fairly likely to consider using stablecoins anytime soon, evidence that, instead of working on pilot programmes and overarching frameworks, the government must spend more time building public confidence in stablecoins first.