Bolivia is assessing adding USDT to its national payment system, promoting the use of stablecoins for legal payments

BlockBeats message, July 13 — The Bolivian government is evaluating whether to include the stablecoin USDT issued by Tether in the national payment system, with plans to make it a compliant payment option in addition to the Boliviano and the U.S. dollar. At present, the proposal is still in the technical assessment stage. No specific implementation details have been announced, nor has USDT been granted legal-tender status.

Reports say that Bolivia’s Minister of Economy José Gabriel Espinoza stated that the government is developing a regulatory framework applicable to banks, digital wallets, and payment service providers, while also strengthening anti–money laundering supervision to meet the country’s current regulatory requirements, as it is still on the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) grey list.

Since the Bolivian central bank lifted restrictions on crypto-asset trading in June 2024, local crypto adoption has grown rapidly. Official data shows that in the first half of 2025, crypto trading volume increased to $294 million, up significantly from $46.5 million in the same period of 2024; after the restrictions were lifted, the total volume of crypto transactions nationwide rose by about 630% cumulatively.

As domestic U.S. dollar liquidity remains tight and the exchange-rate regime shifts to a floating exchange rate, more and more businesses and residents are starting to use stablecoins as tools for cross-border payments and value storage. Previously, Bolivia’s state-owned energy company YPFB had announced plans to use cryptocurrencies to pay for energy imports, and Yasta Wallet under the state-owned bank Banco Unión also launched USDT purchase services in April this year, for international payments and remittances.