Venezuela USDT P2P Trades Reach $1.4B, Rival Oil Exports

Between mid‑June and mid‑July, Binance’s peer‑to‑peer market for tethered dollars (USDT) in Venezuela recorded $1.4 billion in trades, according to analysts.

Alejandro Grisanti, director at Ecoanalítica, estimated the volume averaged about $44 million per day and calculated that the total equaled roughly 75% of the country’s monthly oil export value and 88% of foreign‑exchange sales reported by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) in June.

Grisanti wrote that the scale of P2P USDT trading highlighted limits in traditional foreign‑exchange channels and observed that “Binance has stopped being a marginal market to become one of the main channels for buying and selling foreign currency in the country.” He added that restricted access to dollars and other hard currency pushed users toward P2P platforms, and that P2P volumes could fall if the BCV increases official foreign‑exchange supply and routes more transactions through banks.

Tether’s chief executive pointed to rapid growth in the stablecoin’s user base, reporting 628 million users in Q1 2026 and 674 million in Q2 2026, an increase of roughly 46 million users in one quarter. He described money as “the ultimate social network.”

Network data show reported USDT transfer volume fell from about $700 billion in October to roughly $278 billion by mid‑July 2026. The available USDT supply began to decline in May 2026, dropping from about $190 billion to $184 billion over two months.

Observers linked part of the market retrenchment to broader crypto weakness: bitcoin traded above $120,000 late last year and was near $60,000 by mid‑2026 after a failed rally toward $80,000.

Analysts say the large P2P USDT flows occurred alongside limited official dollar availability and reduced foreign‑exchange allocations from the BCV. They added that changes in official FX policy or renewed crypto market momentum could alter trading patterns for dollars and dollar‑pegged tokens in Venezuela.