Stablecoins in inflationary economies — real usage cases

1) Executive summary

In high-inflation, FX-constrained economies, USD stablecoins (especially USDT) operate as de-facto digital dollars for household savings, remittances, trade settlement, and contractor payroll. Adoption accelerated through 2024–2025, with independent data showing large, rising stablecoin shares of on-chain activity and strong grassroots use across LATAM, Sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of Asia. Low-fee rails (notably Tron) and P2P channels are key enablers. Policymakers (IMF/BIS) acknowledge benefits (cheaper, faster cross-border value transfer) while flagging risks (dollarization, integrity, and money-market linkages). (Chainalysis)

2) The 2025 snapshot: adoption & volumes

• Global adoption context. Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index highlights robust grassroots usage in emerging markets (Nigeria, India, Vietnam, Ukraine, LATAM), with stablecoins prominent in remittances, commerce, and inflation hedging. (Chainalysis)

• Stablecoin share & growth. TRM Labs’ 2025 report estimates stablecoins ≈ 30% of all crypto transaction volume (Jan–Jul 2025). Press summaries of the study note ~$4T in stablecoin transactions over that period, +83% YoY. Separate trackers report all-in stablecoin payment volumes reaching new highs in September 2025. (TRM Labs)

• Rails reality (where activity happens). Multiple research shops find Tron carries a large share of small-ticket USDT transfers and retail P2P usage—an important practical detail for inflationary-economy use cases. (CoinDesk)

  
  

3) Why stablecoins take off in inflationary economies (push & pull)

• Macroeconomic push factors. Double- or high-double-digit inflation, FX controls, multiple exchange rates, and dollar scarcity drive households and SMEs to dollar substitutes. Current examples include Turkey (Sept-2025 33.3% annual inflation) and Argentina, where policy uncertainty and parallel FX markets spur dollarization tactics. (Reuters)

• Household/SMB pull factors (what people actually do).• Savings / informal dollarization: Holding USDT/USDC to preserve purchasing power and smooth daily expenses amid local-currency depreciation. (IMF commentary frames this as a “financial lifeline” in some high-inflation settings.) (IMF)

• Remittances & trade settlement: P2P and exchange wallets move value cross-border 24/7 with lower fees and faster settlement than many traditional corridors. (Chainalysis regional write-ups document these patterns in SSA and LATAM.) (Chainalysis)

• Payroll/freelancing: Contractors invoice in stablecoins to avoid FX slippage and slow bank rails; PSPs increasingly offer compliant acceptance and fiat settlement out. (Market-structure coverage + PSP feature launches underpin this trend.) (Yahoo Finance)

• FX gaps / rate arbitrage: In Argentina, retail users increasingly use stablecoins alongside official and parallel FX to navigate spreads; recent reporting shows surges into stablecoins during peso stress episodes. (Bloomberg)

• Policy & market linkages to watch. The BIS (2025) finds that stablecoin inflows lower 3-month U.S. Treasury yields by ~2–2.5 bps within ~10 days, while outflows raise them more—evidence that rising stablecoin usage connects crypto activity to traditional money markets. Enforcement actions (e.g., Nigeria’s exchange crackdown since 2024) also shape access paths users rely on. (Bank for International Settlements)

4) Real usage patterns (what people actually do)

Savings & informal dollarization.Households and small firms in high-inflation markets increasingly hold USDT/USDC as a cash-like USD buffer to hedge local-currency depreciation; analytics firms note that this role is especially pronounced in developing economies. (TRM Labs)

Remittances & cross-border value transfer.People use wallets/P2P rails to move value across borders, then cash out or rotate into goods. World Bank data show remittances remain large and costly in many corridors (Q1-2025 global average ~6.5%), while Fed and World Bank estimates project remittances to LMICs to grow further in 2025—creating a clear wedge for lower-cost, always-on stablecoin rails. (Remittance Prices Worldwide)

Trade settlement & B2B workarounds.Where USD is scarce or capital controls bind, firms use stablecoins to settle imports/exports or clear domestic wholesale payments. Venezuela’s PDVSA and regulated FX desks have shifted portions of flows to USDT, illustrating a sanctioned/FX-scarcity context for corporate usage. (Reuters)

Payroll & freelancing.Contractors and SMEs invoice in stablecoins to avoid FX slippage and payout delays; PSP/exchange tooling then converts to local currency as needed. Recent ecosystem reports document this pattern as part of stablecoins’ growing share of on-chain volume. (TRM Labs)

FX gaps / parallel-rate navigation.In Argentina, retail flows into stablecoins spike during peso stress episodes, used alongside official and parallel FX markets to manage spreads. Bloomberg’s October 2025 reporting documents a surge into stablecoins as the peso hit record lows. (Bloomberg)

5) Country mini-cases (latest facts)

Argentina.Persistent FX frictions and policy shifts (e.g., crawling-peg dynamics, later liberalization steps tied to the IMF) have coincided with repeated retail pivots into stablecoins during bouts of peso weakness; October 2025 coverage shows Argentines “dumping the peso” and rotating to stables as midterms neared. (Financial Times)

Turkey.Annual inflation rose to ~33.3% in September 2025, and subsequent policy moves included further—albeit smaller—rate cuts. This environment sustains retail demand for dollar substitutes, including stablecoins, in savings and commerce. (Reuters)

Nigeria.Despite a 2024–2025 regulatory crackdown on unlicensed exchanges—including Binance halting NGN services and facing lawsuits—grassroots crypto activity remains notable in SSA datasets, with stablecoins heavily used for remittances and trade. (Reuters)

Venezuela.Sanctions and dollar scarcity have pushed government-linked entities and private FX desks toward USDT for parts of settlement; Reuters reported PDVSA’s expansion of crypto use in exports (2024) and growing USDT use in 2025 as official dollar supply tightened. (Reuters)

Lebanon & Egypt (MENA).Lebanon’s prolonged financial collapse (World Bank: among the worst since the 19th century) has fostered alternative payment/savings behaviors, including increased interest in crypto and stablecoins; Egypt’s inflation eased to 11.7% in Sept-2025, yet FX constraints and high remittance reliance keep digital-dollar use in the conversation. (World Bank)

6) Rails & channels people use

Chains & tokens (the practical rails).Low-fee Tron + USDT dominates many small-ticket payments and P2P transfers: Q3-2025 research finds Tron had ~2.6M daily active users, ~74% P2P share, and ~65% of global retail USDT transfers under $1k—explaining why it’s prevalent in inflationary economies. (CoinDesk)

On-/off-ramps.Local exchanges, regulated OTC desks, and P2P platforms remain core. Enforcement actions (e.g., Nigeria’s 2024–2025 crackdown) directly shape which ramps are available, nudging flows toward compliant corridors or informal networks. (Reuters)

Merchants & platforms.In parallel to grassroots usage, mainstream PSPs and networks are adding stablecoin features (e.g., settlement/acceptance), which can serve expatriate/SMB merchants connected to inflationary markets—even when they opt to receive fiat. Track pilots and launches to see which corridors become “official” options. (CoinDesk)

Remittance cost & corridor economics.Use the World Bank Remittance Prices dataset to benchmark corridor costs and quantify potential savings where stablecoin rails are actually used; Q1-2025 files and the data-download portal provide country-pair detail for your charts. (Remittance Prices Worldwide)

7) Measurement: how to quantify “real use”

On-chain lenses (what to pull):

• Stablecoin share of crypto volume & growth. TRM’s 2025 H1 study: stablecoins ≈ 30% of all crypto transaction volume, >$4T moved Jan–Jul 2025 (+83% YoY). Use this for a global baseline and YoY chart. (TRM Labs)

• Country/region adoption mix. Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index (and regional deep dives) to profile grassroots usage across SSA, LATAM, and Asia; pulls include country rank and retail vs. institutional mix. (Chainalysis)

• Rails distribution. Track which chains/tokens actually carry the traffic (e.g., USDT on Tron vs. Ethereum). Supplement issuer dashboards (Tether transparency) with third-party chain analytics for context. (Tether)

• Micro-transfer intensity & retail usage. Use Chainalysis SSA lens and credible synthesis pieces showing retail-size transfers and P2P reliance; add series on median tx sizes by chain where available. (Chainalysis)

  
  

Off-chain lenses (to triangulate “real world” activity):

• Remittance costs (benchmarked quarterly): World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide (Q1-2025 data downloadable; global average cost series for your country pairs). (Remittance Prices Worldwide)

• Policy & macro backdrops: CPI prints, FX controls/events that coincide with on-chain surges (Reuters country wires are reliable for Turkey/Egypt; BIS paper for money-market linkages). (Reuters)

  
  

8) Constraints, risks, and frictions (observed in 2024–2025)

• Regulatory shocks to ramps. Nigeria’s 2024–2025 crackdown forced Binance to halt NGN services and triggered litigation—users pivoted to other ramps/P2P. Use these as case studies of sudden access changes. (Reuters)

• Dollar scarcity & sanctions workarounds. Venezuela’s PDVSA and local exchanges increased stablecoin use in FX-scarce conditions and amid sanctions; Reuters documents both the strategy shift (Apr-2024) and expanded USDT use (Sep-2025). (Reuters)

• Macro linkages & spillovers. BIS finds stablecoin inflows lower 3-month T-bill yields by ~2–2.5 bps within ~10 days; outflows raise them more—evidence these flows touch traditional money markets (policy-relevant for EMs). (Bank for International Settlements)

• Data caveats. Country attribution on-chain can be noisy (VPNs/mixers), and exchange takedowns bias surviving datasets; mitigate by triangulating on-/off-chain series (Chainalysis + World Bank). (Remittance Prices Worldwide)

  
  

9) Policy design ideas (pragmatic middle path for high-inflation markets)

1. License and supervise fiat on/off-ramps with proportionate KYC tiers (e.g., low-value thresholds), travel-rule compliance, and public incident reporting—reduce the incentive to go fully informal while preserving AML integrity. (Benchmark remittance cost metrics to test whether compliant ramps are actually cheaper.) (Remittance Prices Worldwide)

   
   

2. Publish transparent FX windows and narrow multi-rate gaps that push users to stablecoin detours; monitor spreads during CPI/FX events (Argentina/Turkey) to see if gaps predict on-chain surges. (Reuters)

   
   

3. Require issuer disclosures for coins serving residents: reserve composition, redemption SLAs, and concentration metrics (align with the disclosure style now common from large issuers). (Reuters)

   
   

4. Compete on UX/cost for remittances. Use RPW data to target corridors where legacy costs remain high; pilot regulated stablecoin corridors or instant-payment rails and re-measure cost/time. (Remittance Prices Worldwide)

   
   

5. Measure and publish. Adopt a country dashboard (CPI, FX, RPW cost, on-chain stablecoin volumes by chain) so policy debates are evidence-based and time-series driven.

   
   

10) Appendix: country mini-dashboards (what to chart)

• Turkey — CPI 33.3% (Sep-2025); rate-cut cycle under scrutiny. Track on-chain USD stablecoin inflows around CPI prints and lira moves. (Reuters)

• Egypt — CPI 11.7% (Sep-2025) (down from 38% in 2023); fuel-price hikes continue to pressure households. Watch USDT activity and remittance dependence. (Reuters)

• Nigeria — Exchange crackdown reshaped ramps; Binance NGN halted, tax and legal cases ongoing. Compare RPW corridor costs vs. observed P2P premiums. (Reuters)

• Venezuela — USDT increasingly used in official/private FX contexts; PDVSA raised crypto usage for exports (2024) and broader USDT use noted (2025). Map to informal dollarization metrics. (Reuters)

• Rails mix overlay — Track USDT supply by chain (issuer dashboards) and third-party reads on retail flow concentration (e.g., Tron’s H1-2025 surge, retail transfer dominance). Use cautiously as chain-analytics vary. (Tether)

• Global context tiles — TRM stablecoin share/volume and Chainalysis adoption ranks beside each mini-dashboard for quick “how big/how fast” context. (TRM Labs)