Before you say, “I don’t get crypto at all,” take a deep breath: chances are you’ve already used stablecoins.
No, I’m not talking about USDT or USDC. I’m talking about your prepaid lunch card, your Uber credits, and even those airline miles you never redeem.
The truth is, the concept of “stable digital money” didn’t start with blockchain. It was already part of your life, just packaged differently.
A stablecoin is basically a digital token pegged to something stable, usually the dollar, the real, or even gold.
The logic is simple: if 1 real equals R$1, then a stablecoin pegged to the real should also equal R$1.
That solves one of crypto’s biggest problems: volatility. While Bitcoin can swing 20% in a single day, stablecoins are built to stay steady.
In practice, they act as a bridge between two worlds:
the traditional money you already use,
and the blockchain ecosystem, full of new possibilities.
Blockchain didn’t invent the stablecoin. It just gave a new name to things we’ve been doing for years.
In Brazil, Alelo, Sodexo and Ticket cards work as parallel currencies: digital balances pegged to the real, accepted in specific stores and restaurants.
In the US, millions of people use reloadable debit cards in a very similar way, stable digital money limited to certain networks.
In Brazil, you can top up iFood, Uber or PicPay with R$50 and spend it inside those apps.
Globally, Apple Store, Amazon, and Google Play credits work the same way.
The value remains stable (R$1 = R$1 in credit), but it’s trapped in a closed ecosystem.
Brazilians know the Latam Pass, Smiles, Azul programs. Americans know Delta SkyMiles or American Airlines AAdvantage.
You earn, store, and spend these points like money. The catch? No transparency, no true stability. Airlines change redemption rates whenever they want.
In essence, miles are just corporate stablecoins, without liquidity outside the company.
Universal and global. A $100 Amazon or Mercado Livre gift card is basically a stablecoin with branding. You buy, transfer, and spend exactly that amount, but only within the platform.
Blockchain didn’t create stablecoins. It transformed the idea.
Transparency → your balance lives publicly on-chain, verifiable by anyone.
Interoperability → a stablecoin can move across apps, platforms, even countries.
Liquidity → you can swap into another currency instantly, without a banker in the middle.
Real ownership → no company can freeze your balance because they “changed the rules.”
Imagine if your prepaid lunch card worked not only at restaurants but also on Uber, Netflix, Airbnb and could be converted into dollars at any time. That’s the blockchain difference.
Stablecoins already process trillions of dollars annually. But beyond numbers, here’s what that means in everyday life:
In Brazil
Workers receive part of their salary in USDT/USDC to protect against the real’s devaluation.
Freelancers and students pay for courses abroad or get paid by overseas clients directly to a wallet, in minutes.
Platforms like Mercado Pago and Nubank already let users access stablecoins inside their apps.
Worldwide
In Argentina, people use stablecoins as an inflation hedge, even for groceries.
In the Philippines, overseas workers send remittances home via stablecoins instead of paying high bank fees.
In the US, corporations experiment with stablecoins for settlements and faster treasury flows.
As promising as they are, stablecoins come with challenges:
Centralization → the biggest ones, like USDT and USDC, still depend on companies holding reserves in banks.
Regulation → governments are rushing to catch up (see the EU’s MiCA framework).
Trust → if a company fails to back its stablecoin with real assets, it can collapse. Just ask anyone who lived through Terra/LUNA’s crash in 2022.
Even so, the trend is clear: more and more people will interact with stablecoins, knowingly or not.
The entry barrier is already gone.
People intuitively get stablecoins because they’ve been using versions of them for years, just in closed systems.
The real leap isn’t teaching people “crypto.” It’s showing them that crypto is just the natural evolution of what they already do.
Just like no one says “I’m using HTTP protocol” when they open Instagram, soon no one will say “I’m using a stablecoin.”
It will simply be… money.
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