Latin America moved $324B in stablecoins in 2025

Latin America recorded $324 billion in stablecoin transactions in 2025, according to operator research compiled in The LATAM Stablecoin Economy 2026. The region’s total on-chain crypto activity rose 60% year-on-year in 2025, and monthly active crypto users increased 18% over the same period.

Regional monthly on-chain volumes climbed from about $20.8 billion in mid-2022 to a peak of $87.7 billion in December 2024. Centralized exchanges accounted for roughly 64% of crypto activity in the region, concentrating liquidity and supporting links between on-chain stablecoin balances and off-chain spending through card programs and local banking rails.

Country-level figures vary. Brazil received $318.8 billion in crypto value between July 2024 and June 2025, a 109.9% increase from the prior period, with more than 90% of those flows tied to stablecoins, a fact confirmed by the country’s central bank governor. Argentina received about $93.9 billion and recorded a 12% monthly active user penetration in 2025, with stablecoins making up more than 60% of crypto activity. Colombia ranked among the top five markets, with stablecoins representing 48% of exchange purchases in 2024. Bolivia posted $14.8 billion in crypto volume over 12 months; by April 2026 the state-controlled Banco Unión was selling USDT and the Economy Ministry was assessing recognition of USDT as a payment instrument.

Several macro conditions contributed to demand for stablecoins. Argentina’s annual inflation fell from 211.4% in 2023 to 31.5% in 2025 but remained high in real terms. Latin America and the Caribbean received about $163 billion in remittances in 2024, while the global average cost to send $200 was 6.36% in Q3 2025; median transfer fees on major retail stablecoin chains were roughly $0.09. National instant-payment systems operate at high volumes domestically but do not interoperate across borders. About 30% of adults in the region lacked a financial account as of 2024, and early 2025 estimates put digital currency holders at roughly 57.7 million people, or about 12% of the population.

Use cases shifted from retail hedging toward business settlement in 2025. Global B2B stablecoin payments rose 733% to about $226 billion. Corridor operators reported rapid growth: one Asia–Latin America settlement platform recorded more than 300% growth in 2025, and a trade-focused payments platform processed over $1 billion for more than 100 enterprise clients, reporting that over 90% of its volume was trade-related with typical tickets of $20,000 to $250,000 and settlement times reduced from multiple days to same-day or minutes.

Payroll and card-linked spending also expanded. A payroll platform’s research showed 25% of companies pay some workers in cryptocurrency, with stablecoins accounting for over 90% of crypto payroll flows and USDC holding a 63% share of those payments.

Investment activity reflected the transactional growth. Latin American startups raised $4.1 billion across 681 rounds in 2025, with fintech firms taking 61% of funding. Q1 2026 raised another $1.03 billion. Global stablecoin supply stood near $300–$316 billion in mid-2026, with USDT about 59% and USDC about 24% of supply. The LATAM report identifies potential growth areas for 2026–27, including broader small-business trade corridors, intra-regional settlement between national instant-payment systems, and Brazil’s integration of stablecoins into its supervised foreign-exchange framework under central bank Resolutions 519–521, effective February 2026.