a16z: One-Fifth of Argentina's Population Uses Cryptocurrency
a16z crypto analysis indicates that about one-fifth of Argentina's population uses cryptocurrency, making it one of the highest usage rates in Latin America. Buying cryptocurrency locally is primarily equivalent to buying US dollars.
In peso-denominated crypto transactions, 94% flow into stablecoins, the highest among the main currencies tracked by Artemis. Dollar stablecoins were initially used to cope with foreign exchange controls and hyperinflation, and continued to be used even after economic pressures eased, gradually becoming a habit.
Monthly inflation has dropped from a peak of 25.5% to 2.1%. Year-on-year inflation reached 289% in April 2024. After most personal foreign exchange purchase restrictions were lifted in April 2025, the gap between the official exchange rate and the crypto dollar narrowed; as of August 28, 2026, digital dollars were still about 4% more expensive than the official market rate.
On the salary side, there has been no zeroing out. Deel data shows that the proportion of Argentine contract workers receiving payments in USDC rose in tandem with inflation; after inflation fell, this usage declined and stabilized. As of July 2026, the proportion of USDC payments was about one-fifth of its peak, similar to inflation indicators.
The number of wallets is still increasing. In 2024, downloads of the top 15 crypto applications in Argentina rose by 93% year-on-year. The mainstream wallet Lemon continued to grow in downloads quarter by quarter during the period of falling monthly inflation. After the crisis eased, stablecoin salaries did not disappear but returned from emergency use to regular use.
In market mechanisms, buyers are families and contract workers who want to immediately exchange pesos for digital dollars, while sellers are USDT, USDC, and local wallet channels. This trend is driven by falling inflation but retained habits, with funds flowing from peso demand deposits to dollar stablecoins; benefiting are wallets and stablecoin issuers that provide exchange, payroll, and consumption cards, while traditional accounts that still absorb deposits in pesos are under pressure.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Argentina did not first learn to trade cryptocurrencies but rather to use on-chain dollars to escape pesos. The fact that 94% of peso crypto transactions go into stablecoins indicates that the demand is for value preservation and settlement, not volatility. After inflation dropped from 25.5% to 2.1%, the continued downloads and USDC payroll usage prove that once channels are established for salaries and wallets, they will not revert back with the price index.
The capital path involves families converting monthly salaries into USDC, contract workers exchanging cross-border labor for USDC, and wallets making profits from exchange rate differences and card networks. Deel turns payroll data into a usage thermometer. Money flows from peso payrolls into dollar tokens, and then into spendable wallet balances. Banks lose the time for deposits in demand accounts, while stablecoins gain habitual usage.
Comparable examples include Zimbabwe and Venezuela using foreign cash, and Turkey using foreign currency deposits. Argentina is in the stage of "crisis tools becoming routine": foreign exchange purchase restrictions have eased, the gap between official and blue market rates has narrowed, but digital dollars remain about 4% more expensive, indicating that convenience and portability themselves carry a premium. Lemon's continued growth in downloads shows that channels have replaced physical branches.
Structurally, this represents a transfer of pricing power. The mechanism is: when the local currency cannot serve as savings across months, pricing power shifts to dollar tokens that can be exchanged with one click. The central bank can lower inflation but cannot automatically reclaim the contract market that has learned to use stablecoins for payroll. Habits are harder to reverse than crises.
ABAB News · Law of Cognition
Channels formed during a crisis will not revert back with inflation.
If buying crypto is equivalent to buying dollars, transactions will flow into stablecoins.
Once salaries are settled in foreign currency, demand accounts lose their time for deposits.