Crypto adoption is surging in Latin America, according to new figures. But many in the country leading the charge — Argentina — don’t even know they’re using it.
A report from crypto exchange Lemon shows that adoption in the region last year grew three times faster than in the US. And Argentina led with the highest number of monthly active users.
While Argentines have in the past turned to stablecoins to fight rampant inflation, Lemon attributed the surge in 2025 to payments infrastructure.
“Just as nobody talks about the Internet but everyone uses it every day, the same thing is happening with crypto in finance,” Maxi Raimondi, the company’s chief financial officer, said.
All in the apps
While Argentines did indeed buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in 2025, the increased adoption was mostly driven by their use of stablecoins, according to Lemon.
The reason: A record number of Argentines went on holiday to Brazil thanks to a weaker Brazilian real and stronger Argentine peso.
To buy things in Brazil, Argentine tourists had to download mobile apps that interact with Brazilian payment platform Pix.
Apps that interact with Pix — like Binance and Lemon — use stablecoins such as USDT to make payments, hence the increase in cryptocurrency adoption.
“In Argentina, four times more people are using crypto than in 2021, without even realizing it,” added Raimondi.
Pix is the preferred method of payment in Brazil, Latin America’s biggest economy. Debuted by the country’s central bank in 2020, it is more popular than credit and debit cards.
Crypto adoption in Argentina has surged in recent years, with people in the country buying digital dollars as a hedge against the world’s worst inflation. In 2025, though, inflation in the country dropped to its lowest in eight years.
Where else?
The report also showed that adoption surged in Peru — the region’s sixth largest economy.
According to Lemon, there were over 2.9 million crypto app downloads in the country in 2025, up 50% from the year before.
And transaction volume across exchanges in Peru beat that of Chile, a bigger economy. While Peruvian investors are interested in holding Bitcoin over the long-term, the report said, they are keener on digital dollars.
