Stellar Lumens across Asia

Stellar Lumens in Asia is a bigger story than most people expect. At our latest check the Korean won was the single largest fiat currency for XLM spot trading in the world, ahead of the US dollar, and Japanese exchanges ranked XLM sixth among all coins by spot volume. XLM in Asia is not a niche altcoin: it trades in local currency on licensed platforms from Jakarta to Tokyo.

The catch is that crypto in Asia runs on a patchwork of national rules. Indonesia licenses traders through its financial services authority, Vietnam is still building its first legal exchange, and mainland China bans trading outright. This hub gives you the regional picture, then sends you to our in-depth guides for Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan.

How to use the Stellar in Asia map

The map at the top of this page is your shortcut. The four highlighted countries are our core markets, and tapping or clicking one opens its full guide: local regulators, taxes, where to buy and how deposits work. Every other shaded country with data shows a one-line status when you hover over it or tap it on a phone. Singapore and Hong Kong are too small to draw at this scale, so they appear as pins.

Each quick fact names the regulator and, where we could confirm it, whether XLM trades on a major local platform. We left countries off the map when we could not verify at least one solid fact. Listings change often, so treat any single line as a starting point and check the exchange itself before you send money.

Crypto in Asia: the regional picture

Asia is now home to several of the world’s busiest crypto markets. In the Chainalysis 2026 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Japan ranked fourth worldwide, South Korea fifth and India sixth. Thailand came eighth, Indonesia fourteenth, Vietnam eighteenth and the Philippines nineteenth. That puts at least seven Asian countries in the global top 20.

One warning before you read too much into those numbers. Chainalysis rebuilt its methodology for 2026 around total flows, balances, the peer-to-peer economy and cross-border flows. Comparing these ranks with older editions, where Vietnam and India sat near the top, mixes two different yardsticks. Under the new method Japan ranked fourth on both total flows and cross-border flows, and South Korea second on balances, which explains much of their strong showing.

Japan’s numbers show how mainstream XLM is there. According to the industry association JVCEA, XLM traded about ¥7.3 billion on Japanese exchanges in September 2026, behind only BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL and DOGE. Japanese users held around 564 million XLM on domestic exchanges at the end of that month, more than a year earlier.

CoinGecko’s exchange data tell a similar story from another angle. In a snapshot at our latest check, about 78% of global XLM spot volume was quoted in the stablecoin USDT, but among fiat currencies the Korean won led with 6.5%, just ahead of the US dollar at 6.3%. The yen showed only 0.3%, which understates Japan: most Japanese retail buyers use dealer-style desks that CoinGecko does not track. The rupiah and baht barely register, a sign that order books in Southeast Asia are still thin. For live numbers, check the XLM price page.

Remittance corridors that matter for Stellar

Stellar was designed for moving value across borders, and Asia is where much of the world’s remittance money flows. World Bank data for 2025 show India receiving about US$150.7 billion in personal remittances, the Philippines US$41.6 billion, Indonesia US$17.6 billion and Thailand US$11.9 billion. Vietnamese officials reported a record above US$16 billion for 2025; the World Bank series for Vietnam is empty, so that figure is the government’s own.

Money also flows out. South Korea sent about US$14.3 billion abroad in 2025 and Japan about US$7.2 billion, money that people living in those countries send to family and businesses abroad. Picture a factory worker in Busan sending part of her wages home to Hanoi each month: every percentage point in fees comes straight out of what her family receives.

The World Bank put the global average cost of sending $200 at 6.49% in early 2025, far above the UN target of under 3%. A Stellar transaction itself costs a fraction of a cent, but that is not the whole story: the fees that matter sit at the on-ramp and off-ramp, where local currency becomes a digital asset and back again. Our guide to cross-border payments on Stellar explains how those legs work, and why local anchors are the missing piece in much of Asia.

XLM in the four core markets

Each core market has its own full guide and a separate page comparing local exchanges. Here is a short teaser for each.

Stellar in Indonesia

Indonesia’s crypto market is supervised by OJK, which took over from Bappebti in January 2025. XLM trades against the rupiah on several OJK-licensed platforms, including Indodax, Pintu, Reku, Triv and Upbit Indonesia, although rupiah order books for XLM are small. Our Indonesia guide covers the 0.21% transaction tax and licensing, and the Indonesian exchange comparison checks which apps list XLM.

Stellar in Vietnam

Vietnam has a legal framework for crypto but, at our latest check, no licensed exchange. A five-year pilot under Resolution 05/2025 allows trading only in VND on licensed venues, and five applicants had passed initial review. Most Vietnamese investors still use offshore platforms. Read the Vietnam guide for the rules and the Vietnam platforms page for an honest look at current options.

Stellar in South Korea

South Korea is XLM’s largest fiat market. All five won-market exchanges list it, and Upbit, where it goes by its Korean name 스텔라루멘, carries most of the volume. A crypto gains tax is scheduled for 2027. The South Korea guide explains the user-protection law and taxes, and the Korean exchange comparison lines up Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Digital X and GOPAX.

Stellar in Japan

In Japan, XLM (ステラルーメン) is a classic listed altcoin, handled by 11 firms on the FSA register. Crypto regulation is moving from the Payment Services Act to the securities law, and a lower separate tax rate is expected later. The Japan guide unpacks those changes, while the Japanese exchange comparison explains order books versus dealer desks.

Pan-chan says

Start with the country you live in, not the cheapest-looking exchange. Local licensing decides which platforms can legally serve you, and it shapes your tax bill too.

Buy XLM in Asia: where it trades beyond the core four

Outside the four core markets, XLM is widely available in local currency, but not everywhere. In the Philippines, Coins.ph lists an XLM/PHP pair; the SEC Philippines licenses crypto-asset service providers and the central bank, BSP, regulates virtual asset providers. In Thailand, Bitkub, Upbit Thailand and Bitazza all list XLM against the baht, and SEC Thailand licenses exchanges under the 2018 Digital Asset Business Decree. Thailand also exempts capital gains on trades via SEC-licensed platforms from personal income tax from 2025 to 2029.

In Malaysia, Luno and Hata both list XLM/MYR, and exchanges must register with the Securities Commission. In India, WazirX and CoinDCX list XLM/INR; platforms must register with India’s financial intelligence unit, and gains face a flat 30% tax plus 1% tax deducted at source on transfers.

Some big financial centres are thinner for XLM than you might guess. At our latest check Upbit Singapore listed no XLM, and an XLM/SGD pair at Independent Reserve had not traded for several days. Singapore’s MAS licenses digital payment token firms and, since June 2025, also requires Singapore firms serving only overseas customers to be licensed or stop. In Hong Kong, licensed by the SFC, HashKey Exchange does not list XLM. Taiwan’s BitoPro does not list it either, and Taiwan’s new licensing law takes effect in 2027 at the earliest. In mainland China, the People’s Bank of China declared crypto trading illegal in 2021, including services offered by offshore exchanges.

Crypto regulation in Asia at a glance

The table below summarises who regulates crypto in each market and where things stand. It is a snapshot: rules move quickly here, so check the regulator’s own site before acting.

For the core four, the primary sources are worth bookmarking: OJK in Indonesia, the State Bank of Vietnam, Korea’s Financial Services Commission and Japan’s FSA register, which lists every registered exchange and the coins it handles. For what this means for XLM’s legal status in each country, see our regulation and safety guide.

Stellar ecosystem activity in Asia-Pacific

Most of Stellar’s verifiable activity in the region is institutional and centred on Singapore. In October 2026 SDF announced a strategic investment in Marketnode, a Singapore digital market infrastructure firm backed by Euroclear, HSBC, SGX Group and Temasek. Earlier, Marketnode said it would bring select BNY Investments funds onchain via Stellar for Asia-Pacific institutional investors. Franklin Templeton’s sgBENJI, a MAS-authorised retail money market fund with a minimum of about $20, also runs on Stellar. Our page on tokenized real-world assets puts these in context.

On the payments side, AEON Pay announced a partnership in April 2025 to accept XLM and Stellar USDC in Southeast Asia. Its often-quoted “20 million QR stores” figure is AEON’s whole network reach, not a count of merchants accepting XLM. In Thailand, the Bangkok remittance firm Lightnet was built on Stellar and raised a $31.2 million Series A led by UOB in 2020; its current use of Stellar is not something we could verify. In the Philippines, MoneyGram’s USDC cash-in and cash-out service on Stellar listed the country among its first markets in 2022, and Coins.ph received a Stellar Community Fund grant and was a launch partner for Mastercard’s Crypto Credential on Stellar. And at Consensus Hong Kong in February 2026, SDF announced that the TopNod self-custody wallet was coming to Stellar, though we could not confirm its launch status.

Now the honest part. We found no live Stellar anchor in Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea or Japan, and no rupiah, dong or won stablecoin on Stellar. The only yen-linked token, GYEN from 2022, has a tiny supply. SDF has said it plans anchor networks in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, but plans are not products. Until local anchors arrive, moving between XLM and local currency in these markets runs through exchanges, not through Stellar anchors.

Ryu says

Sending XLM between exchanges in different countries? Copy the destination memo every time, and expect travel-rule questions about who receives the funds.

Keep exploring

IndonesiaXLM/IDR price, OJK rules and local crypto tax.Read guide VietnamXLM/VND price, Vietnam's pilot rules and tax.Read guide South KoreaXLM/KRW market, regulation, tax and safety.Read guide JapanXLM/JPY data, FSA rules, tax and safety.Read guide 🌏 PaymentsHow Stellar remittances and payouts really workRead guide