Brazil’s Gen Z Is Reshaping the Crypto Boom—and They’re Betting Big on Stablecoins

Forget Bitcoin's wild swings. Brazil's youth are building their financial future on a different digital asset: stablecoins.

The New Guard's Playbook

This generation isn't chasing speculative moonshots. They're using dollar-pegged tokens as a practical hedge against local volatility—a digital life raft in turbulent economic waters. It's a quiet revolution in how a country interacts with money.

Bypassing the Old System

Why queue at a bank? A smartphone and an internet connection now grant instant access to global dollar liquidity. This tech-first approach cuts out traditional middlemen, offering speed and transparency that legacy finance struggles to match. It's a direct line to stability, no permission needed.

The Pragmatic Pivot

The narrative isn't about getting rich quick. It's about financial sanity. For many young Brazilians, preserving purchasing power isn't an investment strategy—it's a necessity. Stablecoins provide that anchor, turning a crypto wallet into a next-generation savings account.

A cynical observer might note that when the youth of a major economy seek refuge in digital dollars, it says more about traditional finance's failures than crypto's promises. The trend is clear: the future of finance is being written not by Wall Street veterans, but by a generation with smartphones and a deep distrust of the status quo.

Brazilian crypto shift

Mercado Bitcoin’s Renda Fixa Digital (RFD) products more than doubled in volume this year, distributing about 1.8 billion reais (roughly $325 million) to users. On average, returns reached 132% of Brazil’s benchmark CDI rate, making tokenized income an attractive alternative in a high-rate environment. 

Similar offerings are gaining traction on local platforms like Liqi and AmFi, reinforcing the country’s growing real-world asset (RWA) ecosystem.

Income over speculation

Behavior varies sharply by income bracket. Middle-income investors tend to park up to 12% of portfolios in stablecoins while keeping most exposure in tokenized bonds and other low-volatility assets. Lower-income users, by contrast, still allocate more than 90% to traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, accepting higher risk in search of outsized returns. The result is a market split between preservation and speculation.

The broader activity supports this trend. Overall crypto transaction volume on Mercado bitcoin rose 43% year over year, with Mondays emerging as the busiest day for onboarding and trading. This pattern suggests crypto is becoming part of a weekly financial routine rather than a one-off speculative bet.

Regulation meets demand

Brazil’s central bank rolled out new licensing and capital rules for crypto service providers last month, adding guardrails without halting innovation. According to Fabrício Tota, VP of Crypto Business at Mercado Bitcoin, regulatory clarity and the rise of stablecoins have boosted confidence among younger users.

That confidence shows up beyond spot markets. While global exchange-traded crypto products saw $2.03 billion in outflows recently, Brazilian investors added $2.4 million in inflows, bucking the trend as others de-risked. In a risk-off global backdrop, local appetite held firm.

For Brazil’s Gen Z, crypto isn’t about rapid gains. It’s about income, stability, and fitting digital assets into everyday money management. If 2025 has a lesson, it’s that the next wave of adoption may look boring, and that’s exactly why it’s sticking.

Also read: Valour to List solana ETP (VSOL) on Brazil’s B3 Exchange