Marco Ricci: B2B Stablecoin Settlement Surges 70% Amid $550B Latin American Adoption

Marco Ricci, Chief Operating Officer of SQHWYD GLOBAL Ltd., today released the 2025 Emerging Markets Operational Review. The report offers a data-driven examination of how Latin America (LATAM) has cemented its position as the global leader in real-world crypto utility, decoupling from the price volatility of broader asset markets. Ricci’s analysis suggests that while the Global North focused on ETF inflows, the Global South spent 2025 building a parallel banking layer driven by necessity.

The 2025 Adoption Surge: A Flight to Stability

Ricci’s report highlights that Latin America received over $550 billion in on-chain value during 2025, a 35% increase from the previous year. Unlike North American markets, LATAM’s growth was not correlated with Bitcoin’s price action but rather with local currency inflation rates.

“2025 was the year the ‘Crypto-ization’ of the LATAM supply chain became visible,” Ricci states. “Stablecoins now account for 35% of all cross-border B2B settlements in the region for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), up from just 15% two years ago.”

The report argues that stablecoins have become the de facto M1 money supply for international trade in the region, bypassing the slow and expensive correspondent banking network.

Solving the SME Liquidity Trap via Pix

A core focus of Ricci’s operational analysis is the “SME Liquidity Trap.” In 2025, traditional banking channels continued to impose T+3 settlement times and exorbitant 4-6% FX spreads on cross-border trade.

“For a Brazilian exporter importing raw materials from China, that delay is a capital killer,” Ricci notes. “The friction of the legacy system acts as a tax on growth.”

By integrating with Brazil’s Pix payment system—which processed a record 55 billion transactions in 2025—companies were enabled to move from local currency to global liquidity instantly. Operational data shows that B2B payment volume in Brazil grew by 120% in 2025. This proves that when the “on-ramp” friction is removed, businesses prefer the speed and finality of blockchain settlement over SWIFT.

The Rise of Yield-Bearing Assets

Ricci also identifies a significant shift in asset preference during 2025. While non-interest-bearing stablecoins (like USDT) dominated previously, 2025 saw a massive rotation into yield-bearing tokenized treasury instruments.

“Inflation in the region remained sticky in 2025,” Ricci explains. “Local businesses are no longer content with just holding dollars; they want the ‘risk-free rate’ of 4.2% available to US institutions to offset local inflation.” The report details how the rollout of tokenized T-Bills captured this demand, with regional Assets Under Management (AUM) in these products growing 200% quarter-over-quarter in 2025.