Tether Takes the Lead in Brazil with Over $55 Billion in Transactions

In 2023, Tether (USDT) transactions hit $271 billion Brazilian reais ($55 billion), overtaking Bitcoin transactions at $151 billion reais ($30 billion) in Brazil.

A report from Brazil's Receita Federal reveals USDT now makes up 80% of all crypto transactions this year, marking it as the most favored cryptocurrency in Brazil.

Tether's popularity surged in 2021 amid a high inflation rate of 10.06%, leading traders to seek stablecoins like USDT as a financial safe zone. Between January and November 2021, Brazilians acquired $9.7 billion worth of USDT.

By August 2022, Brazilian companies conducted nearly 80,000 USDT transactions totaling $1.42 billion. In October, USDT transactions rose to almost $1.8 billion across 119,366 operations.

In a strategic move, Tether made USDT available at over 24,000 ATMs across Brazil in October 2022, partnering with local payments company SmartPay. This integration facilitated easier access to USDT, enabling Brazilians to fight inflationary challenges.

Following this, Tether introduced a feature allowing users to deposit Brazilian reais at ATMs and receive USDT in their wallets, further boosting its adoption.

While USDT leads,USD Coin (USDC) is the second most traded stablecoin with $23.9 billion transactions this year. Another notable stablecoin is BRZ, maintaining a 1:1 peg to the Brazilian real and gaining traction in the local crypto market.

Brazil now ranks as the fifth-largest country in cryptocurrency ownership. With new regulatory guidelines introduced in late 2022, crypto companies must obtain licenses and report suspicious activities, aligning with financial institution requirements. Additionally, crypto exchanges are mandated to disclose all user transactions, with capital gains from crypto sales taxed between 15% to 22.50% if exceeding 35,000 reais per month.