Crypto usage in Latin America shifted from a financial survival tool to a reliable infrastructure. Stablecoin usage rose by 60% year-on-year, showing the region built a lifeline of liquidity.
Crypto usage in Latin America accelerated in 2025, rising by 60%. According to estimates by Bitfinex, the region recorded more than $730B in crypto transactions, most of them using stablecoins.
In the earlier years of crypto adoption, Latin American countries were among the prime users of P2P services. Hyperinflation shocks and the difficulty of cross-border payments led to crypto as a makeshift solution. Payments and anti-inflation reserves used BTC, ETH, as well as LTC and DOGE, with some of the extra income coming from mining.
In 2025, stablecoins played a larger role as a tool for remittances and everyday P2P payments. As Cryptopolitan reported, the LATAM region adopted multiple chains, each with a significant supply of stablecoins.
Crypto usage becomes a key part of the local economy
According to Bitfinex, the dominance of stablecoins like $USDT is not just due to demand for digital dollars. The region shows a deeper shift, a market that has adopted crypto as part of its everyday financial infrastructure at scale.
Even without hyperinflation, the region has been constrained by high cross-border transfer costs and financial exclusion. The improvements in wallet and payment technology are meeting the demand for payment services. The previous makeshift workarounds are now turning into predictable and durable financial rails, commented Bitfinex.
In the past two years, crypto adoption shifted following the initial inflation shocks in Argentina and Venezuela. Inflationary pressures have not disappeared, and most destabilizing factors remain. According to Polygon, sending $10,000 in the region could easily incur exchange rate fees of up to $150. International wire fees in the region range from $25 to $50, while stablecoins transactions often incur minimal fees below $0.01.
Crypto has also emerged not just as a payment, but as a tool for growth, giving access to global permissionless trading. For a region otherwise distanced from global markets and burdened by bureaucratic obstacles, stablecoins open the door to DeFi, enabling trades in crypto, commodities, and stocks.
Some jurisdictions have partially legalized and regulated crypto usage, allowing its adoption for convenience.
How did LATAM stablecoin usage change?
Stablecoins are no longer niche transaction instruments, but are quickly evolving into parallel financial rails. Brazil currently ranks fifth in global crypto adoption, similar to the USA, according to Chainalysis data for 2025.
Brazil contributed $318.8B of the 2025 crypto transfers for 2025, nearly a third of the region’s total. Around 90% of those transfers used stablecoins. Those assets are not only used on exchanges, but serve as day-to-day money.
Stablecoin adoption also occurs through local fintech apps, which have become one of the main drivers of expanding access to $USDT, USDC, and other assets. Fintech apps also allow for regulation on par with banking standards, while also being able to use the cheap and efficient crypto rails, where the SWIFT system is too cumbersome and expensive for cross-border transfers.