Crypto▼ Bearish
Stablecoins Drive 80% of Brazil Crypto Volume, IMF Flags Dollar Risk
Stablecoins now drive 80% of Brazil's crypto volume, the IMF says. The fund warns that cross-border flows are more sensitive to global shocks than traditional capital movements.
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Brazil has become a real-world test case for what happens when digital dollars flood an emerging economy. Stablecoins now make up roughly 80% of monthly declared crypto activity in Latin America's largest market, the International Monetary Fund said in a new report.
The IMF's analysis, which covered declared crypto transactions between August 2019 and December 2025, found that cross-border crypto flows grew faster than traditional capital movements and nominal GDP when measured against economic activity. Brazilian authorities reported more than $200 billion in stablecoin transaction volume over that period, representing 71.7% of all declared crypto activity.
By 2025, the stablecoin share had climbed to about 80% of monthly volumes. For context, Brazil's real GDP expanded by roughly 20% cumulatively between 2017 and 2024.
The data arrives as Brazil's Congress prepares to take up Bill 4308/2024, which would formally regulate stablecoins. The crypto industry has pushed back on parts of the legislation, especially around how it classifies stablecoins – a debate that mirrors the reserve-transparency questions U.S. lawmakers have been working through in their own stablecoin bills.
The IMF flagged that stablecoin flows are far more sensitive to global turbulence than traditional cross-border investments. Between one-third and two-thirds of the movement in stablecoin purchases is driven by outside financial forces, including the VIX volatility index, S&P 500 swings, and Bitcoin price moves, the fund said.