Key Takeaways
- Sandeep Nailwal noted Polygon hit $309M in stablecoin volume in May, next leading Latam blockchain markets.
- Visa found that non-dollar stablecoin supply reached $1.2B, next transforming emerging payment markets.
- BRLA hit a $3.2M market cap, next scaling non-dollar stablecoin adoption across 1 emerging market hub.
Polygon Registers Around $309 Million In Latam Stablecoin Volumes In May
While dollar-pegged stablecoins have risen as a mainstream use case for blockchain tech, industry figureheads believe that stablecoins from emerging markets will also become relevant soon.
Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder and CEO of the Polygon Foundation, highlighted the rise in activity that these stablecoins have experienced on top of the Polygon network in May.
“Polygon leads stablecoin adoption in LATAM,” he stressed, revealing that Polygon surpassed all other chains in May, registering $309 million in stablecoin volumes in the region, with over half of the active wallets in the region.
Nailwal underscored the relevance of this incipient movement, with non-dollar stablecoin volumes across all chains up 16x in 3 years. Holders have also risen 30x.
“We keep seeing that same trend land on Polygon, emerging market stables just hit a new monthly high in May with BRLA and COPM both in the top 3,” he disclosed.
BRLA is a fully collateralized Brazilian real stablecoin with a market capitalization of over $3.2 million connected to the Pix payment system, while COPM is a Colombian peso-pegged stablecoin.
While Latam has embraced dollar stablecoins due to their proxy function in economies with high inflation and devaluation levels, non-dollar stablecoins would have other functions, including the digitization of payments and increasing financial inclusion.
“Emerging market stablecoins are the thing to watch as all the world’s money moves on-chain. Dollar stablecoins get all the headlines for now, but the emerging market story is only just getting started, and it’s growing on Polygon,” Nailwal concluded.
Nailwal is not the only one noticing a growth in the non-dollar stablecoin sector. A Visa-commissioned report issued in May found that the total supply of these reached $1.2 billion, while monthly transfers registered $10 billion.