Ethereum Adoption in Latin America | Riely (November, 2025)

Hello everyone. Today I'm going to uh share with you a little bit more about Latin America. So remind me how many of you will be in Argentina. Okay. And how many of you have been to Latin America?

Okay. Sounds great. Um so a brief intro. I'm Riley now working on Ecode at Geode. previously spent the past three years working on ecode at EF and then early this year we just spent out.

So at the New York we give grants and then we also build digital studio uh uh products at the New York. Um all right so today I'm going to share um a little bit more about Latin America's Ethereum ecosystem starting with a little bit more on the macro context both politically and economically some of the problem existed and then going to share a little bit more about the use cases in Mexico Brazil Argentina and then we'll share a little bit more opportunities for Ethereum builders and developers um I assume mo many of you here are developers and developers and builders. Um all right, so start with some quick quizzes. So okay, the first one. So um which Latin America countries experienced hyperinflation in the past 10 years and is now one of the fastest adopting um crypto markets.

So A is Brazil, B is Mexico, C is Argentina, and then D is Elsarado, C. Okay. Okay. D. Okay.

Okay. The right answer is C. Okay. Argentina. Okay.

Alaba, they did suffer um hyperinflation, but that's 20 30 years ago. Yeah. Okay. Number two, uh, which Latin American Latin America countries is ranked highest in the 2022 global crypto adoption index among all the options below. A is Brazil, B is Mexico, C is Argentina, and D is also C.

Argentina A. Okay. C. No. Okay.

The correct answer is Brazil. So, Brazil is leading the Latin America's crypto adoption. Actually, Argentina is very um on the top, but it's not the the the highest. Okay. So, let's take a quick look at the uh the the global crypto adoption.

So, um from uh from Latin America. So, if you take a look, Brazil is leading and then there's Venezuela. All of us know it also suffers a lot of inflation stuff. and then then goes to the Mexico and then Argentina. So Argentina is on tough but not that tough.

Okay. Um then I'm going to share a little bit more on why Latin America is interesting. So seems not many of you have been to Latin America and just sharing a little bit more context. So um many of the countries in Latin America you know like Argentina, Venezuela um and Salvador also um suffers very high inflation. There's a currency volatility, a lot of capital controls um which leads to stronger um demand for stable coin and digital assets.

Um so an example would be in Argentina you know there is very high inflation in 2023 and 2024 um which is more than 100% in the recent years um which driving a lot of crypto uh stable coin usages and then in countries like you know Brazil um anos Argentina the fintech infrastructure is there and is actually growing pretty fast um there's very high smartphone penetration but also at the same time the legacy banking infrastructure is often pretty weak. Um, an very interesting number about a quarter of Latin America actually don't have a bank account. Like around 40% of the people, the adults in Mexico are underbanked or no bank. So, and it is also one of the world's top remittances corridors. um a lot of unicorns um in Brazil um in Argentina there is a very entrepreneur and tech forward culture there and also historically there are um distrust towards the government and institutions um a lot of corruptions um political instability and financial mismanagement so many citizens they do distrust the institutions and then why Ethereum And everyone here understands how Ethereum works pretty much.

Okay, seems good. Okay, then maybe I don't really need to talk about this. Okay, so there's, you know, stable coin liquidity. Um, Ethereum is a home of stable coin and the mo major stable coins um used to protect savings from inflations. Um yeah, more liquidity leads to better pricing, easier transfers, stronger adoption.

There's very strong and on off and ramp support um from like big exchanges like Bitso, Ripio, Marcato, Bitcoin, um new bank. Um this trust and brand. So I guess everyone here heard about Bitcoin and then Ethereum comes next. Um there's a very large developer ecosystem um and app ecosystem as well and then there are cheaper fees nowadays with L2s. Um okay not going to dive too much deep and then we'll start with Mexico.

So one thing when you think about Mexico the words related probably will be remittances. So if you just look at the the the the the growth of the remittances market in Latin America, it's like really just um crazy. And then Mexico um on the other side is ranking actually top two um globally um among all the countries with the highest remittances corridor transaction volumes. Um so yeah just um in the past of five years if you look at the numbers it's growth is tremendous and the if you compare um you know the the volumes with remittances and oil experts uh exports and the um FDI it's actually more than oil exports and FDI so in Mexico it's huge um the personal remittances received percentage of GDP P it's pretty much close to 4% like while rest of the world it's like pretty much close to 1% in most of the countries. Um so and then take a look at the scale of the Mexico's remittances economy.

So as shared it's ranked uh number two um in the world. It's the second largest remittances recipients globally and it received um 64.9 billion in 2024 and which is 3.7 of the GDP um you know which means millions of families depends on those transfers um at their primary income and then if you especially for those like people who are born from very poor families uh that can helps a lot Um and then compare a little bit more with the traditional remittances. So um the traditional way um it's pretty much close to 5% of the fees for just the 200 transfers for Western Union or Monogram.

It would take one to three days to arrive. The processing time is t plus two. And then there is a physical location requirements. You have to be there at the store um to pick it. Um and then there's also the documentation barriers like the 40% people from the Mexican many of them is due to lacking of the documentations.

Um and then there's hidden FX marks um as well. Um so if you take a look at the average cost for remittances um it's close to kind of like 5.78 which is pretty high. Um okay then Ethereum um on the other side or several benefits. Um it reduces the logistics barriers.

You don't have to be at the shop. Um you don't have to wait there. Um it reduce a lot of logistics barriers and then there's immediate availability of the funds. You send and then you probably receive like in seconds. Um, and then the stable coin transfer offer, uh, price stability, dollar excess, you know, and it's kind of like universal whether you're from Berlin, we're from Argentina, you can send this like immediately.

Um, the cost was thanks to all the L2s like largely reduced. Um, so the total cost is like below 3% in general and then that's a big cost of savings compared to the traditional channels. Um yeah so one of the biggest players in the Mexico's crypto market would be um Bitso which is um actually exchange um it's the largest um crypto one of the first and one of the largest uh crypto unicorns in Latin America and it operates in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia. it has nine million retail users uh in Latin America and just in Mexico one country alone it has 4.4 4 million.

Um if you look at the growth trajectory towards handling the remittances in 2024 um it processed 6.5 billion dollars um which is more than 10% of the total remittances volumes between the US and Mexico corridor. Um at the same time they also partners with L2s uh they partner with Optum on launching a local stable coin called um MaxMBB um so which is for onchain payments payrolls and remittances. Okay so um let's take a look at what are the people holding and buying. Um so it's no longer just about trading.

So if you take a look there's well bitcoin is on top and then after that it's not uh well a lot of uh meme coins but on top of memecoins uh there's a stable coin um you know USDC and the US are pretty popular um is is pretty popular and then bitcoin um yeah so people use stable coin um as a saving in dollars seeking better currency conversions earn ys and savings um send money internationally rather than just purely trading. Um all right, next one. Brazil. So um I think a few months ago, okay, in July, I was reading this article by Paul Gman, which is one of the Nobel Prize. Um he was talking has Brazil invented the future of money and then I was thinking well in the Ethereum ecosystem well in crypto we say you know um E is the future of the money then I was like how could this two compare and then he was criticizing you know like he's saying okay Pix is actually inventing like the future of money and achieving what cryptocurrency you know boasters claimed um you know through blockchain low transaction cost and whatever and he's saying, "Okay, Pix also doesn't create an incentive to kidnap people, which I disagree, and torture them until they give up on the crypto keys."

That's a little bit crazy. Um, so how many of you heard about Pix Okay, too? Okay. So, I can explain a little bit. So, tor is an instant payment solution from um Brazil.

It's mobile first. It's free for individuals and the c like the the cost is ultra low for for for merchants. Um and then just in 2024 they transa it transacted um 1.5 like trillion dollars which is a lot a lot of money and then 42 if you look at the just at the the percentage of people um the payments in Brazil um pix is actually close to 50%. It's um it's 42% of all the digital payments um in Brazil.

Um and it is more popular than cash and cards combined already. Um which is super cool. Um next one. So well Pix is great. We can do both Pix and Ethereum.

You don't have to only Pix and only Ethereum. So Ethereum can help you. The Pix solves with largely the payment problems. Um but it does not really help with the broader financial markets like trading of stocks, bonds, um funds, properties and other assets like um in Brazil now they still continue to operate under the strict um eight to five um times and um often require like multiple uh intermediaries um and the settlement is pretty slow um and costly. Um Ethereum can largely solve that.

Um also uh Pix is permissioned um solution. Uh it requires central bank approval for integrations while for Ethereum basically anyone can build without permission. Um there's asset ownership largely your keys your money. Um and then the pix also offers you the global um accessibility. If you want to use pix you have to have a Brazilian bank account.

Um and then well for Ethereum just need to create a wallets in a second. Um yeah. Okay. Then next how many of you heard about directs? Brazil CBDC.

Okay. Usually people would think you know CBDC not that much related with Ethereum. Well Brazil is an exception. Um so Brazil CBDC. Okay.

Durex is a Brazil CBDC. um um the name um basically it combines both a central bank control and also with a pro uh programmable features. So it was built on a private permission version of Ethereum which is hyperledger basu I guess many of you are familiar with that. Um so the primarily the use was for tokenizing you know government debts um and hopefully eventually includes trade finance um interbank settlement tokenization of receivables and more like their goal is largely you know like unlock whatever new products on services for smart contracts and tokenized assets across Brazil's financial um system but it failed. Okay.

So they recently abandoned the blockchain for um the direct CBDC projects. Um it is not a failure. Um I think we learned a lot from that. Um largely the thing is about the direct trilma. Um you know solving all for privacy scaling and programmability with a decentralized Albert permission you know environment.

So um be more specific the challenge um at the hand was basically to ensure the level of privacy um as to complying with Brazil's data protection laws um while at the same time you given the central bank supervisory um um note for visibility. So but you don't want to um you know without like um breaking the composibility. So they tried several solutions. They tried uh rails which is developed by the the infrastructure firm um parfin and then they also tried sasser which is developed by um JP Morgan and consensus. They also tried the EY Starite but sadly either it's doesn't work or just like it kind of like serves so basic functions but it's just like too costly.

Um but you learned a lesson. Um privacy is very important. Um so I think this April Vitalik and PSC and a bunch of folks um they share this um privacy road map. It's like privacy read, privacy um right and so on. So if you're interested in privacy um take a look um okay next one Argentina.

Um starting with a little bit political view. So there's some public trust there happening um in Argentina. um for a while the corruption um rate is I mean is high um there's um high inflation in Argentina um like in extreme times like you want to buy something maybe today you're very busy and the second day um the price is different already um it is a little bit difficult for for for the rest of the world to imagine but it is happening um now it's like largely in controlled um but two years ago it is pretty Crazy. Um, so Argentina closed in 2023 with an annual inflation rate of two more than 200. Uh, the highest in over 30 years.

Like if you're holding Argentinian peso, like you have to figure out a way, um, to think about the inflation and then how to protect your money. Um, and then at the same time, they also have the strict foreign exchange control. If no, then you can just exchange whatever currency you want, but you can't. Um at the same time um because of that there are different types of dollars as well and exchange rates. There's official exchange rate um there are savers exchange rate there are blue dollars um there's even in extreme time there are code play dollars um during the codeplay concert.

So um now it's largely kind of like getting better um but it was a thing two years ago. Um okay. So and then if you take a look um stable coin make a lot of sense. Um if you take a look on all the transactions um volumes um for the retails um in Argentina stable coin is taking a large percentage it's among the top it's at 61% um which is pretty high com if you compare it to Bitcoin e and outcoin. Um people are using it for daily necessities.

Um okay. Um yeah. So here's another chart with stable coin trading volumes keep growing and then um the USD and Argentina peso um keep going down. Um okay then next share a little bit more beyond financial um use cases. There's a Quark ID.

Any of you heard about Cork ID? Okay. Okay then. So to what is Quark ID? Um Quark ID is a digital identity um system um the like decentralized a digital identity system which is led by the government of CD of Buenos and then they collaborated with several dub shops.

Um so they use blockchain for the security. They collaborated with ZK sync and polygon. And then they're using Ethereum for um anchoring the trust framework um in the networks. Um and then they're also using um zero knowledge proofs um which basically allow users to prove uh they have certain information without really um you have to reviewing actual data. And it's open source and interprobable like if your institutions you can just um um use it um without any um restrictions.

Um how it is better is way secure. Um it is way efficient. It saves a lot of cost. You don't have to spend several hours waiting at the hall and waiting for people to um issue you all the IDs. Um and then um at the same time if you just look at the numbers just like by integrating the ecosystem a single government department with 200 um inspectors have saved just like more than 500 uh $5,000 um in physical credentials alone.

Um how does it work? You can take a quick look. And then just in a month it on boarded 230 um,000 citizens which is more than 6% of the eligible population. Um it is the first city actually in the world to incorporate like blockchain into its identity system. Like a lot of government are talking about decentralized digital ID systems but none of them actually like implemented it but they Argentina they did it.

Um since Okay, next one. I'm going to go share a little bit more about communities. It's a community um event. So, if you're going to Argentina and then you're interested in hang out with locals, here are a bunch of local communities um that you can um hang out with. Um they've been building the ecosystem for a long time.

Uh especially like Ethereum Argentina, Chrissy Mantle, Seedor is Kibu, several of them they have their co-working space and then you can stop there um and have fun. Um yeah. So, and if you are interested in understand a little bit more about Argentina uh Mexico and Brazil, what's going on in the local Ethereum ecosystem there, I wrote um several articles um about it um in the our blog called um local Ethereum and then you can take a look um and then feel free to subscribe it. Uh we cover regional ecosystem intelligence um around the globe. Um next one just some quick challenges and opportunities.

Um many of you probably are familiar with some but the some of the ideas would be um infrastructures steel is a problem and gas fees on boarding um UIUX um those are kind of like steel matters. Um um EF has put in improving the UIUX um one of the goals um and um on and off ramp complexity and outdated regulatory framework is also a problem um language Spanish and Portuguese and that's very different than English um and you already saw the the Mexico local stable coin um but still the local the liquidity is still limited. Um there's limited institutional connections, the local crypto um communities. And then again, privacy, privacy, privacy, very important. Um next one would be basically hope to see you in Argentina.

Uh I think Ano already shared a bunch of information. And then next a little bit bonus. Um I think many of you are hackers or hackers by heart. So there's an interesting place at Hacker House called Gaza Volatile um in Argentina. Um they actually have produced some of the most valuable crypto companies um in Argentina.

Um I saw Santiago recently shared um his crypto journey. He's like crypto og um in um Argentina and then he shared you know his story also starts with this house. Um there's a co-working um and then it produced some of the best startups like opens up plane dententraland um nomic moo uh wallets so if you are going to be Argentina this can be an interesting place to visit um yeah and I guess thank you for listening. Yeah.

All right. There any questions on that?

I have a question.

So is it only Ethereum or L2 is dominating there?

Uh L2s and Ethereum like okay Trump is uh has a big presence but L2s and Ethereum are now do um catching

two is like standing out.

Bass is doing pretty good and Zync is doing well. Um, Arbitrum is leading uh largely uh they have the collaboration with Bitol which is like one of the local um exchanges and they offer a lot of the on offer solutions. Um

yeah.

So what's the trade for someone visiting Argentina? Bring a suitcase full of dollars or what's

We were just talking with Raul. Maybe Raul this is a good question for you.

Bring a big wallet

in general. USD uh in cash and then you can exchange it for the USD which is a bit higher than the official as a foreigner you won't have any restrictions to do so you just have to be careful where you do it and if not crypto also works in the places where you can exchange USD you can also exchange stable coins in general or any crypto that is actually there in general all of them are um credit card or debit cards is used is you can use in general ATX don't work that much uh for international cards for payments directly they do but they will take the official USD rate and you will lose in comparison to paying cash and you can get discounts if you pay in cash as well. So in general it is preferable if you take stables or crypto in a wallet or um cash US dollars not euros you can do as well but USD is there

is there like a premium on crypto on exchanges or how does the kind of capital controls play out in prices like

is there a premium to crypto prices like how there used to be in Korea back in the day you know do you have to have a Korean banking account to open an exchange in Korea Is there something similar in Argentina where there's like a premium on on

that? No.

So you cannot really do arbitrage nowadays

for checking applications like app or they might have this. Yeah, those are in general quite use applications in Argentina. They include mobile wallets.

All right. One more question. Why are you so specialized in Latin America? Just maybe because of this event or

Oh, no. I am actually not just specialized in Latin America global, but then you know many of you are going to Argentina and I assume many of you haven't been to Latin America before. So, just give you a little bit more context. Um because I think it's very different than um Berlin, very different than Asia, than a lot of parts of the world.

Yeah. So Riley's been doing a lot of like ecosystem development support over the years. So they've been exploring a lot of different regions around the world. So she knows a lot about other regions too. Like she could probably do the same presentation.

If you're interested,

feel free to stick around. But thank you so much and thanks to everyone and full again for hosting us. And yeah, feel free to stick around for a little longer just for chat and there were some drinks. So yeah, and then we'll probably wrap up around like 9:00 the latest. Yep.

Thank you.

Thank you.