Stablecoin Payments in Argentina: Fighting Inflation with USDC and USDT

Argentina is in the middle of a financial revolution — just not in the offices of its banks but on the screens of people’s smartphones and even in personal digital wallets like those offered by Starbucks. Inflation is rising to extreme heights in Argentina, and the Argentine peso is losing value at a rapid pace, prompting citizens and businesses to rely heavily on stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) as measures to survive in the country’s economy. For routine purchases or cross-border remittances, stablecoin payments in Argentina are a practical hedge against instability of the banking system.

In this article, we’ll examine the economics behind this behavior, show the explosion in use of USDT and USDC, and describe some broader implications for Argentina's financial landscape.

Argentina’s Crisis, Explained and Seeking Stability:

Chronic inflation has long plagued Argentina. The year 2023 would see inflation reaching an eye-watering 161%, resulting from years of monetary chaos and a complete lack of confidence in the national currency. Even in 2025, midyear data are through May, and inflation has receded to 43.5%, yet the underlying volatility is deeply embedded.

In this kind of environment, crypto inflation hedge Argentina strategies are now seen as more than mere speculation—it seems that they only make sense. Enter stablecoins, digital currencies pegged to the U.S. dollar or other fiat currencies. Argentinians have an extra reason to hold them: the capacity to hold and transfer value in a unit of account that is far more stable than the peso.

Also read: Stablecoin Rails for Fintech: Infrastructure, Custody, and Capital Efficiency

Stablecoin Adoption Grows in Argentina

Argentina now is the region with most stablecoins’ usage in Latin America, and overtakes Brazil also in crypto activity. From July 2023 through June 2024, Argentinians transferred about $91.1 billion in crypto, surpassing Brazil’s total of $90.3 billion. Remarkably, over 61.8% of total crypto transactions in Argentina were conducted with stablecoins — nearly 40% higher than the global stablecoin share of 44.7%.

Key highlights:

On Bitso, a leading Latin American exchange, USDT represented 50% of all crypto purchases in Argentina.
USDC in Argentina was next with 22% of the overall volume.
By contrast, Bitcoin accounted for just 8%, indicating that there has been a movement from volatile assets to stable value stores.
Stablecoin usage has soared, from 30 percent to 39 percent in just one year, on leading platforms.

Clearly, the use of USDT and USDC in inflation-ridden economies such as Argentina is no longer a fad — it’s a broad-based form of financial conduct.

Real-Life Use Cases: Beyond Speculation

Everyday Payments and Savings

Today in Business More than 100 businesses in Buenos Aires now accept stablecoins for payments through apps like Binance Pay and Lemon Cash. When you buy a coffee or reserve a hotel room through apps like Travala, you might as use a stablecoin to avoid the fees. In Argentina, citizens are turning to stablecoins as a way to hedge against inflation, replacing their savings stored in pesos with digital dollars.

Financial Inclusion

With so many Argentinians unbanked or underbanked, stablecoins provide a digital on-ramp to access the financial system. Freelancers, gig workers and remote workers now earn wages in stablecoins without high fees and delays from financial institutions. This is part of the overall Argentina fintech crypto movement towards more and better decentralized and accessible finance.

Cross-Border Remittances

Remittances process, as traditionally there are very expensive and slow. Crypto remittances through stablecoins in Argentina make possible the almost instant, low cost transfer of value — vital for families relying on money coming from overseas.

solutions such as TransFi are leading the way in this transformation through the direct and easy-to-use payout of stablecoins globally. TransFi With instant settlement, low transactions fees, and our regulatory-first attitude, TransFi connects the world of fintech and crypto users — meaning that freelancers and exporters in Argentina get paid faster, safer and cheaper.

Regulatory Landscape: Work in Progress

As of March 2025, Argentina has a national registration requirement for VASPs from the CNV. These rules include:

Anti-money laundering (AML) compliance
Transparency standards
Enhanced security protocols

However, the central bank does not consider crypto as legal tender, and the legal status of cryptocurrency is still uncertain. Smaller platforms could struggle to carry the regulatory costs, and users may start to favour peer-to-peer trades over compliance overheads.

On a promising note, the province of Mendoza accepts tax payments in stablecoins, suggesting local openness even as national certainty remains elusive. Meanwhile, the continued discussion between a CBDC and dollarisation, again, demonstrates Argentina’s pursuit of monetary stability.

Future Outlook: To a Digitally Dollarized Economy

The future for stablecoin’s payments in Argentina seems to be getting brighter:

Retail adoption is also poised to grow, led by consumers mindful of inflation.
Corporate adoption is poised to surge, as stablecoins make cross-border commerce more efficient.
Regulatory clarity, particularly around flows of digital dollar Argentina can lead to, will determine how deeply these tools weave into the economy.

There’s also a de facto digital dollarization underway. As the government mulls creating a central bank digital currency (CBDC) of its own, the Argentines have already adopted the digital dollar—via USDT and USDC.

This means that crypto solutions to inflation in Latin America are no longer speculative. In Argentina, you can see their impact on the street.

Also read: Business Use Cases for Stablecoins: From Remittances to Treasury

Conclusion

Argentina is showing that stablecoins can be more than just digital assets — they can be financial lifelines in inflation-prone economies. And as USDT and USDC reach critical mass with retail, remittances, and freelancing payments, it becomes increasingly undeniable that their stabilising influence on purchasing power cannot be overstated.

This isn’t a crypto-hype trend. It’s about humans using technology to get by in a broken economy and betting on economic survival in a system that forces them to be creative. If recent trends continue, Argentina could be the first major case of organic, bottom-up digital dollarization, not driven by central banks or court orders, but by code and necessity.

FAQs

What are stablecoins and why are they gaining followers in Argentina?

Stablecoins are a kind of digital currency that is tethered to stable treasuries such as the US dollar. In Argentina, it is mainly used to protect against the risk of both inflation and currency devaluation.

What are the most popular stablecoins in Argentina?

USDT (Tether) and USDC (USD Coin) are leaders in the local market; they account for more than 70% of crypto transactions in the country.

What are Argentinians doing with stablecoins in a day-to-day sense?

People use them for savings, for buying retail goods and services, for freelance pay and for international remittances through apps like Lemon Cash and Binance Pay.

Are stablecoins legal in Argentina?

Though not legal tender, stablecoins are permitted under emerging regulation. VASPs are registered with a National Securities Commission, but users are generally free to transact.

How does TransFi promote the use of stablecoins in Argentina?

TransFi facilitates compliant real-time global payouts in stablecoins- allowing freelancers and businesses to receive payments equivalent to USD in simplest way possible.

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