Bitso’s latest report, Crypto Landscape in Latin America 2025, shows that dollar-pegged stablecoins accounted for 40% of all crypto purchases in the region in 2025. Based on data from nearly 10 million customers across key markets including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, the report suggests that crypto use cases in Latin America are shifting beyond speculation.
Stablecoins Lead Buying Activity
Among purchased assets, USDC represented 23% of total buys, ahead of Bitcoin at 18% and USDT at 16%. Bitso interpreted this as a sign that users are increasingly prioritizing financial stability and liquidity over short-term trading strategies. In that context, stablecoins are becoming more important for savings, payments, and cross-border value transfers.
The pattern appears across the region, though with notable country differences. Argentina showed the strongest preference for dollar-linked assets, with USDC and USDT together making up more than 70% of all crypto purchases. Brazil was the most balanced market, where stablecoins accounted for 34% of purchases and Bitcoin reached 22%. Colombia and Mexico fell somewhere in between.
Bitcoin Remains the Main Store of Value
Even with the rise of stablecoin buying, Bitcoin still represents 52% of total portfolio holdings in the region. That figure was down by only 1 percentage point from the previous year, indicating that BTC remains deeply entrenched as the main reserve asset for Latin American crypto users. The report points to an emerging pattern in which stablecoins serve transactional needs while Bitcoin functions as a long-term store of value.
According to Bitso, this reflects a broader structural change in how crypto is being used in Latin America: less as a speculative instrument and increasingly as financial infrastructure. The report argues that stablecoin adoption in the region is driven less by decentralization narratives and more by demand for reliable access to a stable currency—something traditional financial systems often fail to provide consistently.