Crypto Fever Grips B...

Crypto Fever Grips Bolivia: $430M in Transactions Drive 630% Year-On-Year Surge

By José Oramas June 30, 2025 In Banking, Bolivia, Payments

Gold bitcoin cryptocurrency with a waving Bolivia flag. 3D Rendering. — Source:AdobeStock

Bolivia’s crypto payments soared to over US$430M in a year, driven by Resolution 082/2024, which allowed banks and even the state oil firm YPFB to use crypto amid dollar shortages.
Retail users made up 86% of transfers, mostly via Binance and Tether, moving money to protect against the weakening boliviano, but informal trades likely push the true total even higher.
The central bank now releases quarterly data, with stricter oversight like daily bank reporting, wallet-VAT linking, and public safety campaigns.

Bolivia’s crypto payments have sharply increased in the past year, reaching over US$430M (AU$658M). This marks a 630 % jump since regulators green lit crypto payments on formal rails.

New data from Bolivia’s central bank shows users ran more than 10.000 operations worth BOB 611 million, which is about US$88M (AU$134M), by the end of May 2025 alone.

Naturally, the spike is driven by retail, as private individuals handled 86 % of transfers, with men making up three-quarters of that group. The count only covers channels cleared by ASFI, so informal peer-to-peer trades push the real total higher.

Big Exchanges Dominate Bolivian Crypto Landscape

Most of them moved their money through Binance and Tether to shield themselves from the falling boliviano. As the image below shows, crypto payments jumped from US$46.5M (AU$71M) in early 2024 to US$294M (AU$450M) for the same stretch this year.

USD amount transferred through Binance. Source: BCB.

The jump ties back to Resolution 082/2024, signed last June. It lets banks pass customer orders directly to crypto exchanges. In March, the government pushed further, clearing state oil company YPFB to pay for fuel imports with crypto. Bolivia’s dollar shortage and fuel supply gaps made that move inevitable.

This increase in the frequency of operations shows that R.D. N°082/2024, issued on June 25th of last year, is fulfilling its purpose of providing a new option to incentivize commercial activities and facilitate international transfers with competitive costs for users, in addition to modernizing financial operations.

Banco Central de Bolivia

The central bank says it will release exchange data every quarter. The tax office, SIN, is connecting wallet records to VAT files. Banks must report crypto outflows daily and check all transactions against OFAC sanctions lists. So far, 27 accounts are flagged for review, but no fines yet.

One clear warning: crypto held in custodial wallets is not covered by deposit insurance. If an exchange shuts down, money can vanish. Authorities now run public workshops on safe storage, offline keys, and spotting fake investment scams that keep spreading on WhatsApp in La Paz.