Emerging markets as stablecoin product labs
Kevin Kang, co-founder of Reap, on stablecoin-native business models in fintech
The key point is that Latin America is no longer just a demand market for dollar access, it is becoming a product lab for stablecoin fintech. In markets where local currency swings, cross border supplier payments, and patchy bank infrastructure are daily problems, startups can launch treasury, cards, and payments products that solve an obvious pain on day one. That speeds adoption and gives operators in the region room to invent workflows that would feel optional in the US or Europe.
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A concrete example is Kapital in Mexico. It gives SMBs a wallet to hold USDC beside local currency, uses stablecoins to pay overseas suppliers, and layers credit on top through Kapital Flex. That is not crypto for speculation, it is operating software for treasury protection and faster purchasing.
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The product pull is stronger because the baseline alternative is worse. Cross border wires can cost around $50 plus 1 to 3% FX, while stablecoin settlement can happen in minutes at near zero network cost. That makes new payment flows economically viable for smaller businesses, not just large enterprises.
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The regional backdrop is reinforcing this. Chainalysis found Latin America received nearly $415B in crypto value from July 2023 through June 2024, grew about 42.5% year over year, and saw stablecoin remittances gaining traction across Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, and Argentina. That kind of usage gives builders real transaction volume to design around.
The next phase is that more fintechs from LATAM, Africa, and Southeast Asia will look less like local copies of US neobanks and more like new financial operating systems built around stablecoin ledgers. As that happens, the most important infrastructure companies will be the ones that turn stablecoins from a treasury workaround into default rails for cards, vendor payments, lending, and payroll.