Brazil Leads Latin America’s Expanding Crypto Footprint

Brazil is dominating the Latin America (LATAM) cryptocurrency market with $318.8 billion in crypto transactions between July 2024 and June 2025, accounting for nearly one-third of all crypto activity in the region.

This dramatic increase represents one of the most significant growth stories in the region, establishing Brazil as LATAM’s clear crypto leader, according to data from blockchain data platform Chainalysis.

Beyond leading in total transaction volume, Brazil’s period-over-period growth rate of 109.9% underscoring its position as the region’s most dynamic crypto market. This exceptional growth trajectory stood in sharp contrast to other major LATAM markets.

While crypto policy and regulation in LATAM tend to lag behind adoption, Brazil is one of several countries that have already implemented meaningful crypto regulations, including its 2022/2023 Brazilian Virtual Assets Law (BVAL), which set requirements for crypto firms (including KYC and transaction reporting) and established the Banco de Brasil (BCB) as the relevant AML/CFT authority. In Brazil, there is still enthusiasm to progress further, suggesting that momentum will continue at pace with the release of a series of consultations (Nos. 109, 110, and 111/2024), from which rules are expected by the end of 2025, the data said.

The growth in the Brazilian crypto economy has been driven largely by institutional and large institutional transfers, both of which grew in excess of 100% period-over-period. But the data also suggest that Brazil’s growth is broad-based, with meaningfully large increases for all transfer sizes.

Following Brazil is Argentina, which has been ranked second regionally with $93.9 billion in transaction volume, consistent with trends observed in previous Adoption Index of Chainalysis. Mexico ($71.2 billion), Venezuela ($44.6 billion), and Colombia ($44.2 billion) round out the top five.

Smaller markets such as Peru ($28 billion), Chile ($23.8 billion), and Bolivia ($14.8 billion) also play meaningful roles, while El Salvador, despite its well-known fondness for bitcoin, contributed more modest volumes ($3.5 billion), Chainalysis said.

Between July 2022 and June 2025, Latin America recorded nearly $1.5 trillion in cryptocurrency transaction volume, establishing the region as one of the most dynamic in the world.

The trajectory has been volatile but unmistakably upward: from $20.8 billion in crypto transaction volume in July 2022, activity surged to a record $87.7 billion in December 2024, with multiple months in late 2024 and early 2025 sustaining levels above $60 billion.

Key Growth Phases

The key growth phases are between November 2022 and March 2023, monthly totals jumped above $34 billion and $37 billion, respectively. Late 2023, which delivered a string of record highs, including $46.3 billion in November and $45.1 billion in December.

At the end of 2024, volumes more than doubled over the previous year’s peak, culminating in the $87.7 billion December high.

While volumes cooled slightly in the first half of 2025, with figures moderating to $47.9 billion by June, the region remains on a significantly higher baseline than in 2022 or 2023, highlighting enduring momentum behind crypto adoption, despite short-term volatility, Chainalysis said.

Centralised exchanges (CEXs) remain the dominant entry point for crypto across most regions, but Latin America stands out with 64% of activity taking place on CEXs, second only to the MENA region (66%) and significantly higher than both North America (49%) and Europe (53%).

This reliance on centralised platforms reflects both accessibility and trust: for many users in the region, exchanges offer the most straightforward way to acquire cryptocurrency, trade crypto, and move money across borders.

Prominent local platforms such as Mercado Bitcoin (Brazil), Ripio (Argentina), Bitso (Mexico and Colombia), and SatoshiTango (Argentina) have become household names, building strong user bases by offering fiat on-ramps, remittance services, and integrations with local payment systems.

Stablecoin Usage

Stablecoin usage surged significantly, with officials reporting that over 90% of Brazilian crypto flows are now stablecoin-related, underscoring their crucial role in payments and cross-border transfers. This flourishing stablecoin market, combined with increasing transaction volumes, cements Brazil’s position as a regional growth hub.

Institutional engagement with crypto, which Chainalysis has tracked in previous years, remains a vital driver of this growth with many of the BCB’s past regulatory decisions serving to help create the dynamic ecosystem into which larger institutions can enter.

Encouraged by this, traditional banks like Itau and neobanks such as Mercado Pago and Nubank have entered the space.

Chainalysis expects Brazil to maintain its central position, building on strong institutional interest. This trajectory depends on striking the right regulatory balance to ensure retail activity remains safe, well-supported, and attractive to participants.