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Current Affairs

Iran war pushes Asia’s Gulf migrants to use stablecoins for remittances

Asian migrant workers in the Gulf are testing stablecoins as a backup channel for sending money home, as the Iran war heightens fears that the…

By Samantha Johnson / May 13, 2026
Asian migrant workers in the Gulf are testing stablecoins as a backup channel for sending money home, as the Iran war heightens fears that the risk of US sanctions could disrupt remittances that millions of families and several Asian economies rely on.

Remittances from these workers account for 3 per cent to 5 per cent of gross domestic product in several emerging markets – in Nepal, it is as high as 10 per cent, according to data from the Global Settlement Network.

Concerns over remittance flows have escalated after the US warned against toll payments to Iran for ship passage through the Strait of Hormuz, which has largely been blocked amid the ongoing conflict between the two countries.

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“There has been a quiet but noticeable informal pivot among South Asian migrant workers, including a significant number from India, towards digital tokens such as stablecoins in the period following the Iran conflict,” said Anndy Lian, a Singapore-based adviser to governments on blockchain and information technology.

“Rather than routing everything through traditional dollar-linked banking channels, a slice of remittances is now moving via instruments like USDT,” he said, referring to the Tether stablecoin backed by the US dollar.

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A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value by pegging it to a reserve asset, which could be a fiat currency or other assets, such as gold.

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