Bolivia plans to include USDT in the national payment system: stablecoins alongside the boliviano and the US dollar circulating in parallel

Bolivia’s Minister of Finance announced that the government is evaluating the inclusion of Tether’s USDT, so that stablecoins can circulate alongside the Boliviano, and the U.S. dollar—becoming one of Latin America’s most proactive stablecoin policy moves.
(Background: Bolivia’s 4th-largest bank launched USDT trading and cross-border remittance services—accelerating stablecoin development)
(Additional context: 80% of oil revenue is settled using stablecoins, and Venezuela has turned USDT into a second U.S. dollar)

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• U.S. dollar shortages are the catalyst
• From the 2024 unblocking order to full digitization
• USDT’s expansion across Latin America

At a news conference on Monday, José Gabriel Espinoza, Bolivia’s Minister of Finance, announced that the government is assessing a regulatory framework that would allow USDT issued by Tether to circulate freely in the country “as another currency,” in parallel with the Boliviano and the U.S. dollar. According to CriptoNoticias, if the framework is approved, it will officially recognize USDT’s use in everyday transactions, savings, and trade, no longer relying entirely on cash or traditional banking systems.

U.S. dollar shortages are the catalyst

Since 2011, Bolivia has maintained an official exchange rate of 1 U.S. dollar to 6.86 Bolivianos, until early this year when pressure on foreign-exchange reserves forced the government to abandon the long-standing fixed exchange rate—triggering a U.S. dollar shortage and causing black-market dollar premiums to surge sharply. As the gap between the official and parallel-market exchange rates widened, demand for substitutes for the U.S. dollar grew, and stablecoins such as USDT were gradually used for payments.

At the same time, Espinoza noted that solid anti–money laundering mechanisms are needed before going live, because Bolivia is still on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gray list.

From the 2024 unblocking order to full digitization

This proposal is the latest step in Bolivia’s ongoing embrace of digital assets after the country lifted its cryptocurrency ban in 2024. Since President Rodrigo Paz Pereira took office in late 2025, he has pledged to bring digital assets into the formal financial system, allowing banks to offer crypto-related products such as stablecoin accounts.

USDT’s expansion across Latin America

USDT is currently the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization, and according to CoinMarketCap data, it has exceeded $184B. In Latin America, Venezuela has settled 80% of its oil revenue using USDT, and Brazil has also opened 24,000 ATMs to send and receive USDT.

If Bolivia passes this framework, it will become the first country in the Americas to formally incorporate stablecoins into its national payments system, ahead of the semi-official adoption models in neighboring Venezuela and Brazil.