Stablecoins like Tether’s USDT have quietly become the everyday money for millions of Venezuelans struggling with a collapsing financial system, as the country battles an annual inflation rate of 229%.
What was once a tool for tech-savvy crypto users has now gone mainstream. Locally known as “Binance dollars,” USDT is being used to buy groceries, pay condo fees, cover salaries, and even settle vendor transactions.
Venezuela’s official currency, the bolívar, has lost much of its relevance in daily life due to hyperinflation, strict capital controls, and multiple exchange rates. At present, three different dollar rates coexist: the official Central Bank rate of 151.57 bolívars per USD, the parallel market rate of 231.76, and the Binance rate for USDT at 219.62. Thanks to its liquidity and stability, most vendors and consumers now rely on USDT as the more trusted reference.
USDT Becomes Everyday Money in Venezuela
Venezuela has climbed to 18th place globally and 9th when adjusted for population in Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index. A major driver of this rise is the country’s growing reliance on stablecoins. In 2024 alone, 47% of all crypto transactions under $10,000 in Venezuela were made using stablecoins, while overall crypto activity in the country jumped by 110%.
In particular, Tether’s USDT has become the preferred payment method for both small street vendors and medium-sized businesses, overtaking Venezuela’s weakened national currency, the bolívar.
Although larger state-controlled companies still adhere to the Central Bank of Venezuela’s (BCV) official exchange rate, most individuals and private merchants lean on the USDT rate offered by Binance, which is seen as more stable and accessible. This shift has been fueled by strict capital controls and the rise of parallel currency markets, where regime-linked firms reportedly receive official U.S. dollar allocations and then resell them at higher parallel market rates for profit.
