Major automotive manufacturers in Bolivia have started accepting Tether to address the scarcity of U.S. dollars.
Three global automotive giants—Toyota, Yamaha, and BYD—have begun accepting payments in Tether (USDT) in Bolivia, responding to the country’s drastic decline in U.S. dollar reserves.
The announcement came from Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, who confirmed the implementation of this new payment method. Operational confirmation came from crypto security company BitGo, which documented the first purchase of a Toyota vehicle in Bolivia using USDT.
Images shared by Ardoino show dealerships displaying signs promoting USDT as an “easy, fast, and secure” payment option for car purchases.
BitGo also announced its strategic partnership with Tether and Bolivia Toyota to facilitate self-custody of funds and ensure secure transactions.
Bolivia’s policy shift
Until June 2024, Bolivia was considered one of the last countries in Latin America hostile to cryptocurrencies. However, the critical economic situation pushed the government to reconsider its stance, lifting the long-standing ban on digital assets and authorizing banks to process Bitcoin and stablecoin transactions.
The first sign of this shift came in March, when the state-owned oil and gas company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos received government approval to accept cryptocurrencies for fuel imports, as a solution to the growing U.S. dollar shortage.
Foreign reserves crisis
Data from Trading Economics paint a worrying picture: Bolivia’s foreign currency reserves have collapsed by 98%, dropping from $12.7 billion in July 2014 to just $171 million in August of this year. This collapse has led citizens and businesses to seek more stable alternatives to the local currency.
Fears of losing purchasing power in the national currency have pushed many Bolivians to favor the U.S. dollar or, increasingly, stablecoins. The country’s main bank described digital assets as “a reliable and viable alternative” to traditional currencies.
Retailers in Bolivian airports have begun pricing essential products in USDT as a strategy to navigate the currency crisis.
Gabriel Campa, TowerBank’s head of digital assets, explained to Bitfinex how Bolivian import businesses are using USDT to bypass the U.S. dollar shortage. The process involves purchasing stablecoins locally or via offshore bank accounts, converting them into U.S. dollars to pay foreign suppliers, and then determining the product prices in USDT.
