Bolivia Tells the Bolíviano to Move Over — Tether's USDT Wants the Front Seat 🚗

Bolivia is evaluating a regulatory framework that would allow Tether's USDT to circulate alongside the boliviano and the US dollar in its national payments system, Economy and Public Finance Minister Jose Gabriel Espinoza said at a Monday press conference. The proposal, reported by the Spanish outlet CriptoNoticias and the Bolivian newspaper La Razón, would recognize USDT for everyday transactions including payments, savings and trade, without requiring users to rely exclusively on cash or the traditional banking system. Espinoza cautioned that any rollout would need robust anti-money laundering safeguards because Bolivia remains on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, which identifies jurisdictions under increased monitoring for deficiencies in preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. "Remember that Bolivia is on the [Financial Action Task Force] gray list, yet another consequence of the problems they left us with in the past, and these crypto assets must be carefully evaluated," Espinoza said, according to La Razón.

The move builds on Bolivia's broader embrace of digital assets following the lifting of its longstanding crypto ban in 2024. President Rodrigo Paz Pereira's administration, which took office in late 2025, has pledged to integrate digital assets into the formal financial system, paving the way for banks to offer crypto-related products and services including stablecoin-based accounts. Local banks have already begun offering USDT-related services, with Banco Unión and Banco FIE providing stablecoin offerings and Banco Bisa launching crypto custody services in October 2024 that allow customers to store and transfer USDT but no other crypto assets. State energy company YPFB was authorized in March 2025 to accept crypto payments for fuel imports during the dollar crunch, and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino posted images on X in June 2025 of retail stores in Bolivia selling dairy products and chocolate for USDT.

The push comes against the backdrop of a prolonged US dollar shortage that has intensified pressure on Bolivian households and businesses. Bolivia maintained an official exchange rate of 6.86 bolivianos per US dollar for purchases and 6.96 for sales from 2011 until earlier this year, when mounting pressure on foreign exchange reserves forced the government to abandon the long-standing peg, Reuters reported. A parallel foreign exchange market subsequently emerged, with the dollar trading at a steep premium to the official rate and widening demand for dollar-denominated alternatives including USDT.

Data underscores how rapidly crypto usage has scaled in the country. Between July 2024 and June 2025, Bolivia ranked eighth in Latin America for crypto adoption with $14.8 billion in transactions over the period, according to Chainalysis, outpacing Ecuador and Puerto Rico. USDT, the world's largest stablecoin, has a market capitalization exceeding $184 billion, per CoinMarketCap. Tether separately said Tuesday it will invest $20 million in a strategic financing round for Mercado Bitcoin, the Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2013, as the two companies push to expand blockchain-based financial services across the region.