Stablecoins have evolved into everyday tools in LATAM

According to OpenTrade, stablecoins have evolved into essential, everyday tools that protect purchasing power, facilitate, secure, and instant remittances, and provide a digital safe-haven for savings in Latin America.

The firm explained that, amid continued financial instability and inflationary pressures, the assets have become a preferred method for everyday and cross-border transactions.

At the moment, stablecoins are taking up a bigger slice of LATAM’s crypto activity. GO Markets shows the region’s on-chain volume climbed 60% last year to over $730 billion, propelled by stablecoin growth.

From the $730 billion total in 2025, $324 billion came from stablecoin transactions, up 89% year-on-year. Locals are using the assets as a store of value, for payments, for remittances, and for tokenizing real-world assets.

This shift reflects a growing preference for dollar-denominated digital assets as a hedge against local currency depreciation. Stablecoins are also increasingly preferred over Bitcoin for practical use cases such as payments and transfers, rather than speculation.

Brazil has seen over 90% of crypto volume linked to stablecoins

Among Latin American countries, Brazil and Argentina stand out for their very impressive levels of stablecoin activity. Over 90% of crypto flows in Brazil are tied to stablecoins. In Argentina, they account for at least 60%.

Stablecoin activity, nonetheless, is not associated solely with crypto exchanges. Overall. Latin America also dominates real-world stablecoin payments.

Roughly 7 out of 10 people in the region use stablecoins for international transfers because they are tired of losing a huge chunk of their paycheck to bank fees, according to a Fireblocks report.

In the US-Mexico corridor, Bitso handles $6.5 billion in annual remittances, about 10% of all remittances sent home. Locals are essentially opting out of their domestic currency’s volatility to retain value.

Meanwhile, the use of digital currencies for retail payments is also rising in the region. Venezuela has the highest stablecoin penetration in retail payments across LATAM, now covering 34% of retail activity, the highest regional share.

Speaking on stablecoins’ adoption, Leandro Davo, Argentina Ecosystem Lead for Avalanche, noted that crypto assets are no longer a passing phase but rather a more consistent trend in the region.

Felipe Galvis, who oversees Latin America business development at OpenTrade, also sees stablecoins as highly transformative. He argued that stablecoins may help preserve the value of citizens’ savings in local currencies, adding that most hyperinflation season drain people’s buying power.

Additionally, Juno’s Ben Reid noted, “Local stablecoins, when connected to local ramps, are an incredibly attractive way to enter markets like Mexico or Brazil without having to become a regulated bank.”

Before, only Latin America’s freelance workers were earning profits from stablecoins, but more recently, businesses joined the loop. Leandro even commented, “We’re seeing everything from local remittance apps, to dollar-based savings wallets, to companies issuing credit lines collateralized in stablecoins.”

Did fintechs open the door for stablecoin growth?

A major factor behind stablecoin adoption in LATAM is the growth of the fintech sector. The LATAM ecosystem hosts over 20 unicorns.

Nubank alone has scaled to 118 million customers, reaching more than 60% of adults in Brazil and expanding into Mexico and Colombia, with plans to enter the US.

In the pre-fintech era, banking in Latin America was highly concentrated, costly for users, extremely profitable for incumbents, and often frustrating for customers. Starting in 2018 and gaining speed through the COVID-19 period and beyond, fintech growth surged across the region.

Latin America and the Caribbean now have over 3,000 fintech firms, and the sector is expected to expand at a 27% compound annual growth rate from 2022 to 2028.

The sector’s growth ideally opened the door for more stablecoins. Sthefano Batista, Head of LATAM BD, even asserted that access to fintech platforms gives digital currencies an immediate pool of potential users. Leandro also contended: “Fintechs are bridging the gap between stablecoins and daily life – the user doesn’t even need to know they’re using blockchain.”