the numbers, not the hype
three sources, three angles, same picture.
| what | figure | who measured |
|---|---|---|
| crypto bought by brazilian residents through licensed providers, first half of 2026 | $14.7 billion, up 135% on a year earlier | central bank of brazil |
| share of those flows that is stablecoins | about 90% | central bank of brazil, receita federal |
| growth of brazil's stablecoin economy, 12 months to june 2026 | 495%, against 89% for the rest of the region | chainalysis |
| stablecoins as a share of latin america's cross-border crypto value | 32.1% | chainalysis |
| mexico's crypto value that moved through stablecoins | $47 billion of $77.6 billion, 61% | chainalysis |
| brazilian wallets holding at least $10,000 in stablecoins | up 347% since july 2024 | chainalysis |
chainalysis puts it plainly in its 2026 report: in brazil, stablecoins are "more of a b2b tool", and the growth is driven largely by businesses using them for liquidity and cross-border transfers. argentina is the region's second market at $88.5 billion, where the digital dollar has been the household hedge for years. the difference in 2026 is that companies moved in.
what companies actually do with digital dollars
four jobs come up again and again. none of them is speculation.
- get paid for exports. a buyer in the united states or europe sends USDC or USDT on friday night. the money is in the exporter's wallet before the bank opens on monday, with no correspondent bank in the middle and no "pending" for five days.
- pay suppliers abroad. electronics from asia, software from the us, freight. the invoice is in dollars anyway. paying it in a stablecoin means one transfer, one confirmation, and a receipt that lives on a public network.
- keep working capital in dollars. cash that would sit in a local account losing to inflation or waiting for a wire sits in digital dollars instead, ready to move the moment it is needed. no yield promise here: the point is speed and the currency, not a return.
- accept them from customers. this is the newest one. a gym chain, a language school, a saas with customers across the region, a marketplace: their customers already hold USDT or USDC, and a checkout that takes it as it is removes a card fee, a chargeback window and a currency conversion from the sale.
a freelancer in colombia paid in USDT, a shop in buenos aires that prices in USDC, a startup in são paulo with its treasury on base: the money is already on-chain. the gap is on the receiving side, in the companies that still only take a card or a wire.
what changed in the rules in 2026
brazil is the clearest case, and the one to read carefully.
- since february 2, 2026, central bank resolution 521 treats buying, selling and transferring a dollar stablecoin as a foreign-exchange operation. the firms that do it for you need a license from the central bank, and transfers to and from self-custody wallets are covered too.
- since october 1, 2026, resolution 561 bars licensed payment firms from settling cross-border remittances in stablecoins on behalf of their customers. that leg has to go through a regular fx transaction.
- what stays allowed: receiving, holding and transferring digital dollars through licensed providers, and converting them to reais with one of them.
in practice this splits the job in two. the stablecoin side, where the money lives on a public network: addresses, detection, consolidation, payouts. and the local-currency side, where a licensed exchange or payment institution turns dollars into reais, pesos or soles and files what the regulator asks for. a company that wants to accept digital dollars needs both, and should not expect one vendor to be both.
dolaramp is the stablecoin side only. it does not convert to local currency, does not do pix or spei, and does not hold your keys. for the local-currency leg, use a provider licensed in your country.
two ways to start
the question we hear from companies is not "should we". it is "where does this plug in". there are two honest answers.
1. an api inside your own system
for a company with a product, an erp or a billing system: the dolaramp api gives you a hotwallet per network, a deposit address per customer or per invoice, a signed webhook the moment a deposit confirms, and gasless sweeps and payouts. your system sees a dollar arrive and marks the invoice paid, the same way it does with a bank transfer today, except in seconds.
- USDT, USDC and PYUSD on solana; USDT on tron and gram (ton); USDC on base; USDC and USDT on arbitrum.
- receiving is free. the free plan has no monthly fee and covers up to 1,000 addresses.
- a consolidation or payout costs from $0.10, taken in the stablecoin itself. nobody has to buy a gas token. on tron the network's own GasFree fee of 1.50 USDT applies.
- the money sits in your hotwallet, on your keys. we do not take a percentage of the sale.
2. a checkout in front of your customers
for a company that sells and wants to add "pay in digital dollars" next to the card: dolaramp pay. the buyer picks a network, gets an address and a qr with the tokens you accept, pays from any wallet or exchange, and you get a signed confirmation when it lands. what the buyer sends is what you receive, on the same network, with no conversion and no reversal window. when we ran our own checkout on tron, a payment was confirmed and credited 36 seconds after the block.
what to decide before you start
| decision | our suggestion |
|---|---|
| which stablecoin | take the one your customers already hold. in brazil and argentina that is mostly USDT; corporate buyers in the us lean to USDC. taking both costs nothing extra. |
| which network | let the payer choose among the ones you accept. tron for USDT in latin america, solana and base for USDC, arbitrum for either. forcing one network is the number one reason payments land on the wrong one. |
| who converts to local currency | a licensed exchange or payment institution in your country. decide this before the first dollar arrives, not after. |
| who holds the keys | you. a hotwallet whose secret only you know, with the key exportable at any time, is the difference between accepting digital dollars and lending them to a processor. |
| how it shows in the books | a deposit event per payment, a monthly statement per network, and the transaction hash on every line. ask your accountant what else they need before you go live. |
what this does not solve
- it does not make the regulation go away. the local-currency leg is licensed work in brazil, mexico and most of the region, and the rules moved twice in 2026 alone.
- it is not a yield product. digital dollars are dollars; they do not pay interest by themselves.
- a transfer on a public network is final. a refund is a new payment, not a reversal.
- if none of your customers or suppliers holds stablecoins yet, start with the one corridor that does, usually a foreign buyer or a foreign supplier, and grow from there.
faq
What is a digital dollar?
A stablecoin: a token on a public network that is redeemable one to one for a US dollar held by its issuer. USDT (Tether), USDC (Circle) and PYUSD (PayPal) are the three most used. It moves in seconds, any hour, to any wallet in the world.
Can a company in Brazil accept stablecoins?
Yes. Since February 2026 buying, selling and transferring stablecoins is treated as a foreign-exchange operation and goes through providers licensed by the central bank. Receiving digital dollars on-chain and holding them is allowed; converting them to reais is the licensed provider's job.
Does dolaramp convert digital dollars to local currency?
No. dolaramp handles the stablecoin side only: addresses, deposit detection, consolidation and payouts, on five networks. Conversion to reais, pesos or any local currency goes through a licensed exchange or payment provider of your choice.
What does it cost to start?
Nothing to start. Receiving is free and the free plan has no monthly fee, up to 1,000 addresses. A consolidation or payout costs from $0.10, taken in the stablecoin itself. On TRON the network's own GasFree fee of 1.50 USDT applies.