Reuters reported that against the background of the 40-year peak of inflation and the general economic crisis, entrepreneurs of the Bolivian Administrative Center of Kochabamb began to use cryptocurrencies for calculations for goods and services.

According to Reuters, since January 2025, the small business of the Bolivian city of Kochabam switched to the active use of digital assets, which actually became an alternative to the national currency of Boliviano and US dollars.

Entrepreneur Pablo Unzueta told Reuters that digital assets, including bitcoin and stabilcoins, are becoming for local entrepreneurs almost the only way to protect the savings from the devaluation of Boliviano, who lost half of its cost over the past year.

Owners of cafes and spa sites began to receive payments in bitcoins through Binance exchange services, as well as install cryptomats to replenish the Blink cryptocurular balance, developed in Salvador.

“If you go to the bank, then today they have no dollars. Therefore, payment of goods in or the accumulation of savings in bitcoins is now the most innovative and promising what you can do in a kochamba, ”Unsueta said.

The representative of the Bolivian blockchain Palatus Mauricio Torrelio told Reuters that the current pace of introduction of cryptocurrencies in Bolivia can be comparable to Argentina and Venezuela, although in general the local crypto is still being formed. The daily volumes of trading of USDT stabilcoins are already at least $ 600,000, which indicates an increase in confidence in digital assets.

However, critics of the state acceptance of cryptocurrencies, in particular, the associate professor of the Department of International Development of Northumbrian University in the UK, Peter Hauson, warn that not everything is so rosy, and the Bolivians can become vulnerable to constant fluctuations in the cryptocurrency course.

“Cryptocurrency companies are trying to convince poor rural residents to invest the few money that they have in cryptocurrency. But, when their price begins to fall, not a single seller wants to accept it, ”he told Reuters.

Earlier, Wayar & Von Borries invited the Bolivian authorities to consider using USDT stablecoins as one of the index assets of commercial and civilian contracts.