When the Trump administration pushed global tariffs to 15% in late February, geopolitical risk in the Middle East flared again, and Kevin Warsh's nomination to chair the Federal Reserve sent a hawkish jolt through bond markets, gold did the thing gold is expected to do in periods of stress. It went up.

Bitcoin did something different. It tracked the Nasdaq. From its October 2025 peak above US$126,000, it fell nearly 50% to the high US$60,000s by early March. The divergence is the story. Gold acted more like a refuge. Bitcoin acted more like a high-beta tech stock with extra leverage strapped on.

For a CFD trader, meaning anyone trading the price move with borrowed exposure rather than owning the underlying, that distinction is not academic. It tells you what you are actually trading when you take a position in either market.

What drove the move

Gold is being lifted by three currents at once: central bank stockpiling, investor demand as a hedge against currency debasement, and reactive inflows on tariff and geopolitical headlines.

Bitcoin's drivers are noisier especially as it still benefits from institutional adoption, spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and a long-running narrative about being "digital gold". But its short-term price is increasingly set by leverage. Algorithmic risk desks now bucket Bitcoin alongside tech equities, so when the VIX, Wall Street's fear gauge, spikes, those models may cut Bitcoin exposure automatically. That is mechanical, not philosophical.

Why the market cares

That is why two assets both routinely labelled "safe havens" can trade in opposite directions on the same day.

What CFD traders can watch

The catch with gold is that the run already looks stretched. The roughly 14% drop across a couple of January sessions was a reminder that crowded trades cut both ways, especially when leveraged institutions need to raise cash and sell what is liquid. Bitcoin can move several percent in an hour for reasons that have nothing to do with the macro story in the morning's news. With CFD leverage, that volatility is amplified in both directions.

What could go wrong

The bottom line

Gold and Bitcoin are not the same trade in different clothes. Gold has behaved more like an old-school crisis hedge in 2026. Bitcoin has behaved more like a leveraged growth asset that performs best when central banks are pumping liquidity into the system. Both can be useful to track via CFDs. Neither is a guaranteed shelter. Knowing which one you are actually trading, and why, is the difference between hedging risk and accidentally doubling up on it.

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Latin America recorded $730 billion in crypto volume in 2025. Across the region, 57.7 million people now own some form of digital currency rankingslatam, a base that is growing faster than anywhere else in the world

As institutional capital arrives and regulation matures, these are the publicly traded names investors are watching closest.

Why LATAM is a crypto powerhouse right now

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Top LATAM crypto stocks to watch

1. Nu Holdings (NYSE: NU)

Digital banking · 127M users across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia

Nubank could be one of the most direct listed proxies for LATAM's fintech and crypto boom. The company integrated cryptocurrency trading directly into its Nu app and partnered with Lightspark to embed the Bitcoin Lightning Network for faster and more cost-effective Bitcoin transactions. 

In Q3 2025, revenue jumped 42% year-on-year to $4.17 billion, customer deposits rose 37% to $38.8 billion, and gross profit was up 35% to $1.81 billion. 

The stock has returned roughly 36% over the past year and tripled the S&P 500's returns over the last three years. The company dominates Brazil, with over 60% of the adult population using Nubank.

Nu Holdings also recently secured conditional approval to launch Nubank N.A., a US national digital bank. However, the announcement triggered a pullback, with investors cautious about capital deployment timelines and expansion costs. 

UBS has lowered its price target to $17.20, citing some market caution despite positive operational shifts.

What to watch 

• Credit quality trends in Brazil and Mexico.
• Pace of USDC adoption via Nubank rewards.
• US bank charter timeline and early cost disclosures.

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2. MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI)

E-Commerce/Fintech · 18 countries across Latin America

MercadoLibre is not a pure crypto play, but Mercado Pago (its fintech arm) has become one of the most important financial rails in LATAM. The company holds around 570 BTC on its balance sheet as a hedge against regional inflation, and has issued its own US dollar-pegged stablecoin, Meli Dólar.

Full year 2025 net revenue from Mercado Pago reached $12.6 billion, up 46% year-on-year, while total payment volume hit $278 billion, up 41%. Fintech monthly active users have grown close to 30% for ten consecutive quarters, and the credit portfolio nearly doubled to $12.5 billion year-on-year.

The catch for MercadoLibre is profitability. Overall margin compression of 5–6% is attributed to persistent investments in free shipping, credit card expansion, first-party commerce, and cross-border trade. 

The stock has declined around 14.5% over the past six months, with the market repricing the stock around what management has framed as a deliberate investment phase heading into 2026.

The longer-term case remains compelling. Mercado Pago has introduced crypto-asset management and insurance products across its core markets, positioning it less as an e-commerce company and more as a full-scale digital bank with crypto infrastructure built in.

What to watch

• Mercado Pago loan loss trends and credit portfolio quality.
• Stablecoin integration and crypto volume through its payment network.
• Whether the Argentina credit card launch can reach profitability.

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3. Méliuz (B3: CASH3.SA)

Fintech/Bitcoin treasury · Brazil's first listed Bitcoin treasury company

Méliuz is the most direct equity expression of the corporate Bitcoin treasury trend in LATAM. In early 2025, Méliuz became the first publicly traded company in Latin America to formally adopt a Bitcoin treasury strategy, receiving shareholder approval to allocate cash reserves toward Bitcoin accumulation.

Rather than issuing cheap dollar-denominated debt to buy BTC, Méliuz uses share issuance and operational cash flow. The company also sells cash-secured put options on Bitcoin to generate yield, a playbook borrowed from Japanese Bitcoin treasury firm Metaplanet, keeping 80% of BTC holdings in cold storage

CASH3 essentially acts as a leveraged vehicle for BTC exposure, capturing upside intensely in bull cycles, but generating greater volatility on the way down, especially where debt is involved.

The stock surged approximately 170% in May 2025 following the announcement of the Bitcoin strategy. However, it has since pulled back to its April 2025 levels, broadly tracking Bitcoin's price action and highlighting the stock's volatility.

What to watch

• Bitcoin price direction.
• BTC per share metric.
• Expansion of yield-generation strategies
• Any moves to list shares internationally.

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4. OranjeBTC (B3: OBTC3.SA)

Pure-play Bitcoin treasury · LATAM's largest corporate Bitcoin holder

Where Méliuz is a fintech business that also holds Bitcoin, OranjeBTC is the opposite: a company whose entire purpose is Bitcoin accumulation. 

The company listed on B3 in October 2025 through a reverse merger with education firm Intergraus, marking Brazil's first public debut of a firm whose business model centres entirely on Bitcoin accumulation.

OranjeBTC currently holds over 3,650 BTC and raised nearly $385 million in Bitcoin, with backing from notable investors including the Winklevoss brothers, Adam Back, FalconX, and Ricardo Salinas. 

Its $210 million financing round was led by Itaú BBA, the investment arm of Brazil's largest bank, in a significant vote of institutional confidence.

In 2026, OBTC3 has fallen around 32% year-to-date, making it the hardest-hit of the two Brazilian Bitcoin treasury stocks. The stock hit an all-time high of 29.00 BRL on its listing day (October 7, 2025) and an all-time low of 6.06 BRL in February 2026. 

It currently trades around 7.06 BRL, a steep discount to its debut, but one that closely mirrors Bitcoin's own pullback from peak levels.

OranjeBTC is the most volatile name on this list and should be treated as a high-beta Bitcoin vehicle. Liquidity is thinner than established names.

What to watch

• Bitcoin per share trajectory.
• Any capital raises or new BTC purchases.
• Potential international listing ambitions.
• How the market-value net asset value (mNAV) discount/premium evolves relative to Bitcoin's price.

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5. Hashdex — HASH11 (B3: HASH11)

Crypto Asset Management · Brazil's leading crypto ETF issuer

Hashdex offers a different kind of exposure to crypto. Rather than a single company's balance sheet or business strategy, HASH11 is a diversified basket of crypto assets wrapped in the familiarity of a regulated Brazilian ETF structure. 

Brazil hosts 22 ETFs offering full or partial exposure to crypto assets, with Hashdex funds attracting 180,000 investors and daily transaction volumes averaging R$50 million. 

Hashdex launched the world's first spot XRP ETF (XRPH11) on Brazil's B3 in April 2025, tracking the Nasdaq XRP Reference Price Index and allocating at least 95% of net assets to XRP. 

The company also operates single-asset ETFs for Bitcoin (BITH11), Ethereum (ETHE11) and Solana (SOLH11), alongside its flagship HASH11 multi-asset index fund. 

In mid-2025, Hashdex launched a hybrid Bitcoin/Gold ETF (GBTC11) that dynamically adjusts allocations between the two assets.

For investors who want diversified crypto market exposure rather than single-asset risk, HASH11 is the most accessible on-ramp through Brazil's regulated equity infrastructure. 

However, as a multi-asset crypto index, HASH11 is still subject to the broad performance of digital asset markets. And unlike the equity names on this list, there is no operating business creating independent value.

What to watch

• Crypto market sentiment broadly.
• Potential expansion of Hashdex products into the US market. 
• AUM growth as institutional adoption accelerates in Brazil.
• Relative performance of HASH11 vs single-asset alternatives.

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‍What to watch next

Institutional infrastructure is still in early innings — Deutsche Börse's Crypto Finance Group entered LATAM in early 2026, and local exchanges have opened over 200 BRL-denominated trading pairs since 2024. The pace of that buildout will set the tone for all five names.

Regulatory progress in Brazil, Mexico, and Chile is the key enabler for the next wave of capital. Any setbacks would hit the higher-beta names like OBTC3 and CASH3 hardest.

Stablecoin volume is the region's most reliable real-time signal. Despite a global slowdown in early 2025, LATAM still recorded $16.2 billion in trading volume between January and May, up 42% year-on-year. Watch whether that momentum holds — a reacceleration lifts all five; a reversal pressures them equally.

Latin America (LATAM) saw over $730 billion in crypto volume in 2025, a 60% year-on-year surge that made the region responsible for roughly 10% of global crypto activity. 

In 2026, institutional players are starting to take the region seriously, regulation is crystallising, and the structural drivers from 2025 show no sign of fading. But the region is not a single story, and 2026 will test whether the current momentum is built on solid fundamentals or speculative optimism.

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Quick facts

• LATAM monthly active crypto users grew 18% year-on-year (YoY), three times faster than the US.
• Argentina reached 12% monthly active user penetration, accounting for over a quarter of the region's crypto activity.
• Over 90% of Brazilian crypto flows are now stablecoin-related.
• Three LATAM countries rank in the global top 20: Brazil (5th), Venezuela (18th), Argentina (20th).
• Peru's crypto app downloads grew 50% in 2025, with 2.9 million downloads.

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From survival tool to financial infrastructure

Latin America did not embrace cryptocurrency because of speculation. It embraced it because traditional financial systems repeatedly failed ordinary people. Over the past 15 years, average annual inflation across the region's five largest economies ran at 13%, compared to just 2.3% in the US over the same period.

In Venezuela, it reached 65,000% in a single year. In Argentina, it exceeded 220% in 2024. For millions of people, holding savings in local currency was a slow act of self-destruction. Stablecoins became the natural response. Digital assets pegged to the US dollar offered a reliable store of value, borderless transferability, and access without a bank account. 

Unlike in the West, where crypto is seen more as a speculative instrument, in LATAM it has become a necessary financial tool. However, adoption drivers are not entirely uniform across the region. Brazil and Mexico are institutional stories, driven by regulated market participation and established financial players. 

Argentina and Venezuela remain store-of-value plays, with crypto serving as a direct hedge against fiat collapse. And Peru and Colombia are more yield-seeking markets, where crypto offers returns that traditional savings accounts cannot match. 

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How fast is LATAM adopting crypto?

LATAM’s on-chain crypto volume rose 60% year-on-year in 2025. The region has recorded nearly $1.5 trillion in cumulative volume since mid-2022, peaking at a record $87.7 billion in a single month in December 2024.

Monthly active crypto users across LATAM also grew 18% in 2025, three times faster than the US.

Stablecoins are the primary vehicle driving this adoption. Of the $730 billion received in 2025, $324 billion moved through stablecoin transactions, an 89% year-on-year surge. In Brazil, over 90% of all crypto flows are stablecoin-related, and in Argentina, stablecoins account for over 60% of activity. 

Looking ahead, the Latin America cryptocurrency market is forecast to reach $442.6 billion by 2033, growing at a compound annual rate of 10.93% from 2025, according to IMARC Group. 

For traders, the speed of adoption matters less as a headline than what is driving it: a region of 650 million people building parallel financial infrastructure in real time, with stablecoins as the foundation.

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The institutional turn

For most of LATAM’s crypto history, adoption was bottom-up. Unbanked or underbanked retail users drove volumes through local exchanges. That picture is now changing at the top end of the market.

In February 2026, Crypto Finance Group, part of the leading global exchange operator Deutsche Börse Group, announced its expansion into Latin America, targeting banks, asset managers, and financial intermediaries seeking institutional-grade custody and trading infrastructure. 

Traditional banks and fintechs are following suit. Nubank now rewards customers for holding USDC. Brazil's B3 exchange approved the world's first spot XRP and SOL ETFs, ahead of the US, in 2025. Centralised exchanges, including Mercado Bitcoin, NovaDAX, and Binance, have collectively listed over 200 new BRL-denominated trading pairs since early 2024.

In March 2025, Brazilian fintech Meliuz became the first publicly traded company in the country to launch a Bitcoin accumulation strategy, now holding 320 BTC.

“Crypto adoption in LatAm is already global-scale. What the market needs now is institutional-grade governance, and that’s exactly why we’re here,” — Stijn Vander Straeten, CEO of Crypto Finance Group

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Crypto remittance use case

Latin America receives hundreds of billions of dollars annually from workers abroad, making remittances one of the most concrete and measurable crypto use cases in the region. Traditional transfer services charge an average of 6.2% per transaction. On a US$300 transfer, that is roughly US$20 in fees.

Blockchain-based infrastructure more broadly offers dramatic fee reductions. Bitcoin brings costs to around US$3.12 per US$100 transferred. While cheaper alternatives like XRP or Ethereum layer-2 infrastructure can reduce that to less than US$0.01.

For a migrant worker sending US$1,500 home to Peru, switching from a legacy bank saves more than the average Peruvian weekly wage in fees alone.

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LATAM’s crypto regulatory environment

The variable that will most determine whether LATAM  lives up to its 2026 potential is crypto regulation. And here, the picture is genuinely mixed.

Brazil leads the region with its Virtual Assets Law, which covers asset segregation, VASP licensing, AML/KYC requirements, and capital standards. It also implemented the Travel Rule for domestic VASP transfers, which came into force in February 2026. However, some more controversial proposals, including a US$100,000 cap on cross-border stablecoin transactions and a ban on self-custody wallet transfers, remain under active consultation.

Mexico's 2018 Fintech Law remains one of the world's earliest formal recognitions of virtual assets. Chile's 2023 Fintech Law established licences for exchanges, wallets, and stablecoin issuers, formally recognising digital assets as 'digital money.' 

Bolivia reversed a decade-long crypto ban in June 2024 by authorising regulated digital asset transactions. Argentina introduced mandatory exchange registration in 2025. And El Salvador continues to expand tokenised economic initiatives despite removing Bitcoin's legal tender status.

Ten countries across the region now have formal crypto frameworks of some kind. But for traders, regulatory divergence remains a live risk, and given Brazil receiving nearly one-third of all LATAM crypto volume, any significant policy reversal there could have outsized consequences.

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What traders should watch

Brazil's institutional momentum is the most significant structural trend. With $318.8 billion in on-chain volume in 2025, Brazil effectively is the LATAM market. 

The outcome of the Brazil stablecoin consultation could have a big influence. A restriction on foreign stablecoins in domestic payments would directly impact the most traded asset class in the region's dominant market. 

Argentina is the volatility play. Monthly active user penetration of 12% and 5.4 million crypto app downloads in 2025 signal deep and growing retail engagement. 

Colombia is an early-warning market to watch. The peso's 5.3% depreciation in 2025 and deepening fiscal crisis are driving stablecoin inflows in a pattern that mirrors Argentina's trajectory in earlier years. If Colombia's macro situation deteriorates further, crypto adoption could accelerate.

There is also an exchange concentration risk at play. Binance crypto exchange is the primary exchange for over 50% of LATAM crypto users. If the exchange faces any regulatory action, operational disruption, or competitive shock, it could have an outsized market impact.

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Bottom line

Latin America's crypto market has entered a new phase. The structural drivers that caused initial crypto-demand in the region have not gone away: inflation, remittances, financial exclusion, and currency instability are all still at play.

What has changed is the layer being built on top of them. Institutional infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, corporate treasury adoption, and global exchange capital flowing into a region that was, until recently, largely self-contained. 

Brazil's near-250% volume growth in 2025 and its position receiving nearly one-third of all LATAM crypto are the defining market developments. Its regulatory trajectory, stablecoin policy decisions, and ETF pipeline will effectively set the tone for the region in 2026. 

For traders, the headline growth figures are real, but so are the concentration risks, regulatory uncertainties, and country-level divergences that sit beneath them.

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