Amid a deepening economic crisis and hyperinflation that has virtually wiped out the value of the Venezuelan bolivar, citizens are increasingly turning to stablecoins, primarily USDT, as a tool for financial preservation and everyday transactions. The country's crypto adoption index is now close to that of Germany, with stablecoins displacing Bitcoin and Ethereum for daily use due to their price predictability.
Retail users are accessing USDT through peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms, such as Binance, and often use VPNs to bypass local restrictions. They trade at unofficial exchange rates that are more favorable than the government's official rate, using stablecoins for remittances, groceries, rent, and school fees. "Stablecoins are better dollars, but the reason people get them is out of necessity and out of self-preservation," said Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, co-founder of Ledn.
This retail adoption diverges sharply from the state's use of cryptocurrency. The Venezuelan government reportedly uses TRON-based USDT to manage oil revenues. This separate activity was highlighted recently when $182 million worth of USDT reserves were frozen by Tether, just days after the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces. Tether has not confirmed the wallets' links to the state's oil trade, but large-scale USDT transactions on TRON are closely monitored for potential links to sanctioned regimes.
Despite Tether scaling back its direct operations in Venezuela, stablecoins remain widely accessible through regional and global exchanges and wallets. At times, local demand has driven the price of USDT as high as $1.40. The bolivar, which traded at 0.15 per USD a decade ago, has lost all effective purchasing power, cementing stablecoins as a critical financial lifeline.
