Why emerging markets are leading stablecoin adoption
Market Insights
Written by
Gabriel Benegra
•
GTM
Reading time:
According to Goldman Sachs estimates, approximately 66% of the global stablecoin supply is held by individuals in emerging markets. The Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index confirms the pattern: seven of the top ten countries for crypto adoption are emerging economies, with India, Nigeria, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan and Brazil all ranking ahead of most developed nations.
85% of the global population lives in emerging markets. These are economies with the highest demand for dollar access, the highest cross-border fees and the weakest traditional banking infrastructure. Stablecoins were built for this exact gap.
Why emerging markets adopted stablecoins first
If you think the population of emerging countries leads adoption because of some brilliant newtonian innovation spirit, you should read Plato. As he wrote: necessity is the mother of invention.
Born of necessity, stablecoin adoption in emerging markets is a natural response to structural economic and financial failures: lack of banking infrastructure, capital controls and currency devaluation.
The legacy payment system dates back to the last century, when global financial institutions created SWIFT. The problem is that this model, built on correspondent banking, requires intermediation. In most countries outside the G20, any transaction passes through at least three countries and half a dozen institutions. This translates into higher regulatory risk, slow settlement and fees added at every stop.
Beyond that, in many emerging markets, accessing foreign currency through official channels is extremely bureaucratic. Nigeria's official foreign exchange market has historically rationed dollar access, creating a parallel market with significant premiums. Argentina imposed strict controls limiting individuals to purchasing $200 per month in foreign currency for years. Brazil, in the 1950s, had a curious system of three different exchange rates. In each case, these restrictions create economic barriers for both companies and individuals.
Finally, inflation and political instability are common features of these economies. In Nigeria, the naira lost roughly 70% of its value against the US dollar between June 2023 and early 2025. In Argentina, cumulative inflation exceeded 200% in 2023 alone. In Brazil, the trauma runs deep: between 1980 and 1994, accumulated inflation reached 13,342,346,717,671.70%. In these economies, dollar access is the primary tool for wealth preservation.
How stablecoins are solving these problems
By using stablecoins for payments, the need for intermediaries drops, reducing transaction costs. On low-cost blockchain networks, transaction fees are below $0.01. Even accounting for on-ramp and off-ramp costs, total fees typically stay under 1%.
Local infrastructure is being built to make dollar access possible in these countries, bringing economies outside the G20 closer to the global financial system.
Why developed markets are following
Chainalysis data shows that every major emerging market region is growing faster than developed markets. Asia-Pacific led with 69% year-over-year growth (reaching $2.36 trillion in value received), followed by Latin America at 63% and Sub-Saharan Africa at 52% ($205 billion). By comparison, North America grew 49% and Europe 42%. The gap is narrowing in absolute terms, but emerging markets are setting the pace.
Initial adoption in emerging markets was driven by necessity. It also proved the use case. Now G20 countries are looking for ways to integrate stablecoins into their own systems.
In both the US and Europe, regulations are advancing, enabling large companies and institutions to enter. B2B stablecoin payments surged from under $100 million per month in early 2023 to over $6 billion per month by mid-2025.
UnblockPay and the infrastructure layer
UnblockPay builds the stablecoin payment infrastructure that lets companies operate across Latam. A single API handles conversion, local rail routing (Pix, SPEI, SEPA, Wire and ACH) and settlement, without the correspondent banking chain that makes cross-border payments expensive for most of the world.
