Argenintia, Nigeria and the Philippines are witnessing a significant rise in cryptocurrency adoption, a trend driven by inflation, currency controls, and high remittance costs. As Jina notes, this shift is felt by retail users, remitters, and fintech companies alike, with tokens increasingly serving as everyday financial tools for hedging and cross-border transfer. This movement is framed not as speculation, but as a practical response to economic realities, with crypto networks carrying tangible value for daily use.
Three Tracks Across Argentina, Nigeria and the Philippines
Jina outlines three distinct pathways demonstrating how cryptocurrencies function as savings vehicles and remittance solutions in different economic contexts.
In Argentina, inflation rates of 47.3 percent in April 2025 and 43.5 percent in May have pushed approximately one in five people toward crypto. Residents are purchasing dollar-linked stablecoins to preserve their wages’ value and pay for international goods, effectively bypassing strict controls on the official foreign exchange market.
Nigeria has recorded over $59 billion in crypto turnover, ranking it near the top of global adoption indexes. For many, crypto serves a dual purpose: it acts as a hedge against local currency volatility and a efficient rail for remittances. Migrants can send value back home in minutes, often at a fraction of the cost charged by traditional services like banks or Western Union.
The Philippines presents a two-fold scenario. The country’s eight million overseas workers increasingly use mobile wallets to receive crypto remittances. Simultaneously, a vibrant play-to-earn economy has emerged, where gamers on platforms like Axie Infinity earn tokens that are cashed out to cover everyday expenses like rent.
In these use cases, the stablecoin—a type of cryptocurrency pegged to a stable asset like the US dollar—anchors both savings behavior and cross-border settlement.
Market Shifts and Regulatory Responses
The influx of stablecoins is widening over-the-counter (OTC) liquidity and tightening spreads on local currency pairs. As crypto rails offer faster, cheaper alternatives, traditional remittance corridors are losing volume, forcing traders, treasuries, and settlement houses to adapt their operations and risk models.
In response, central banks are observing residents circumvent currency ceilings and are tightening know-your-customer (KYC) regulations or restricting bank channels that service crypto exchanges. The rise of play-to-earn models has also created micro-economies that require reliable on-ramps, off-ramps, and secure storage solutions for small-scale users.
As crypto becomes embedded in daily life, Argentina, Nigeria, and the Philippines face the dual challenge of implementing tighter supervision while fostering the deeper liquidity and secure custody infrastructure needed to support this growth. The central question remains how well regulators, banks, and local exchanges can scale this infrastructure to handle everyday volume without compromising on security or market stability.
