We Met Brazil’s Web3 Entrepreneurs — And Saw Why Stablecoins Are Becoming Everyday Money
When we arrived in São Paulo this fall, it was with a clear purpose: to understand firsthand how Brazil is quietly becoming one of the world’s most dynamic Web3 laboratories. Over several days, we met with entrepreneurs, policymakers, and builders who are rethinking financial infrastructure—not in theory, but in practice. From stablecoin-based remittances to Brazil’s ambitious DREX project, what we witnessed is a region where digital assets are no longer fringe—they’re infrastructure in the making.
Brazil’s Central Bank Experiments With the Future: DREX
Brazil’s central bank has moved faster than many of its global peers, piloting DREX, a tokenized version of the Brazilian real designed for wholesale settlement and programmable money. The conversations we had with fintech founders in São Paulo revealed a strong belief that DREX will not be an isolated experiment but a backbone for payments, lending, and asset tokenization. One founder told us: “When DREX goes live, it won’t just be a pilot. It will be a layer we can build on from day one.” For foreign observers, this proactive stance is striking. While many jurisdictions remain tentative, Brazil is already treating digital currency as a future-proof infrastructure project.
Stablecoins: Not Speculation, but Everyday Utility
At the same time, stablecoins—particularly Tether (USDT)—have already embedded themselves in the financial lives of ordinary Brazilians. Entrepreneurs in Rio described tenants requesting to pay rent in USDT. A São Paulo e-commerce founder explained how customers increasingly prefer stablecoins to credit cards, bypassing high interchange fees and avoiding local currency volatility. This theme repeated itself across our meetings: stablecoins here are not exotic. They’re functional, accessible, and—most importantly—trusted.
Insights From Local Builders
Community Finance in DAOs: In São Paulo, we met DAO builders experimenting with community lending pools. As one participant put it, “Institutions aren’t trusted. DAOs give us a way to build trust with each other instead.”
Fintech/Stablecoin Bridges: In Rio, a startup is developing off-ramps that connect stablecoins to Brazil’s instant payment system, Pix, while simultaneously preparing for DREX integration.
Regulatory Conversations: At a legal roundtable, experts highlighted how regulators view stablecoins with caution but acknowledge their role in financial inclusion. As one lawyer said, “The genie is out of the bottle—now the task is to guide its direction.”
Why Brazil (and LATAM) Matters
Latin America has long faced inflationary cycles, volatile currencies, and costly cross-border transactions. These conditions are exactly why digital assets find fertile ground here. But Brazil is emerging as the anchor hub: a large, digitally native population, forward-thinking regulators, and a culture of rapid fintech adoption. Our time on the ground confirmed a broader thesis: Latin America is not a follower in Web3—it’s leading. The innovations taking shape in São Paulo and Rio will ripple outward, influencing how financial institutions, investors, and regulators worldwide approach stablecoins and digital assets. For us, the trip was not just about observation—it was about connection. Meeting the people driving this transformation gave us insights we could never gain from reports alone. And it reinforced a simple truth: if you want to understand the future of money, you have to look closely at Brazil today.
