After several years in which the leader in adoption in Latin America was Brazil, in 2024 the first place as the country that uses cryptocurrencies the most in the region went to Argentina.
As indicated by the recent Chainalysis statistics, with figures for the period from June 2023 to June 2024, the volumes of transactions with stablecoins, bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies were shot in the South American country in the last year.
Thus, Argentina, which was in second place last year, has come to lead the region in terms of the volume traded in cryptocurrencies, reaching the estimated figure of 91.1 billion dollars, slightly exceeding Brazil’s 90.3 billion dollars. In the following positions in the ranking are Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Chile, as illustrated in the graph below:
In the specific case of Argentina, such high levels of adoption occurred in the midst of a strong economic crisis characterized by growing inflation, which led many Argentines to turn to cryptocurrencies as a refuge of value, the report explains. According to the Chainalysis team, the economic situation mainly drove stablecoinsplacing Argentina as the country that uses the most stablecoins not only in the region, but also in the world.
In that sense, Argentina’s share in stablecoin transaction volume is 61.8%which places it slightly above Brazil (59.8%) and well above the world average (44.7%). The second place among the most used cryptocurrencies in transactions was for bitcoin (14.7%), followed by altcoins (13.4%), and finally ETH, the Ethereum cryptocurrency (10%).
This year, unfortunately, Argentina’s economic situation has been especially volatile. In the second half of 2023, inflation was around 143%, the value of the ARS had plummeted, and four in ten Argentines were living in poverty. In December 2023, the newly elected president, Javier Milei, announced that the ARS would be devalued by 50%, which he described as “shock therapy,” and that the government would cut energy and transportation subsidies.
Chainalysis.
The report adds that the value of retail-sized stablecoins (i.e. transactions less than $10,000) received in Argentina is growing at a faster rate than the value received in any other type of asset, suggesting once again that Argentines look to stablecoins as a means to mitigate the effects of inflation and currency devaluation
For the Chainalysis team, there is such high interest in stablecoins highlights the role of cryptocurrencies in unstable markets and demonstrates how citizens can better control their financial future by adopting cryptocurrencies, regardless of official monetary policy.
As reported by CriptoNoticias, the first data on Chainalysis’ global cryptocurrency adoption ranking was released at the beginning of last month. In this case, the world score – again led by India – also places Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela in a prominent position, located among the 20 countries with higher volumes of cryptocurrency transactions.
