In Crisis, Stablecoins Become a Lifeline for Venezuela

Daily circulation turns into disaster relief tools, the earthquake in Venezuela serves as a typical example of stablecoin application.

Written by: Maria Clara Cobo, Bloomberg

Compiled by: Saoirse, Foresight News

The earthquake in Venezuela has revealed a long-established fact: a stablecoin economic system can simultaneously serve as an emergency financial infrastructure.

Volunteers rushed to disaster-stricken communities in Caracas, while Venezuelans living abroad directly transferred digital dollars into publicly accessible electronic wallets on social media platforms. Rescue organizers do not need to wait for funds to circulate through charities or banks; after converting to the local bolívar, they can almost immediately purchase essential goods such as food and bottled water.

Lennys Romero, 27, is one of the fundraising organizers. The day after the earthquake, she posted on X platform before going to bed, asking her 12,000 followers for help.

This Caracas resident planned to raise funds to send 500 meals to the disaster-stricken community of El Junquito in the western mountains of the capital, attaching her Binance wallet address in the post, hoping for assistance from compatriots abroad.

By the next morning, dozens of transfers had already arrived.

"I got up early to buy supplies, and every time I checked my phone, there were more donations in my account," Romero said. That day, she purchased bottled water, canned goods, toilet paper, personal care items, and delivered them to the disaster area in multiple trips, repeating the entire process the next day.

On the first day alone, Romero received donations of approximately $1,000 in USDT stablecoins. To alleviate donors' concerns, she publicly shared every purchase receipt on social media. She had also set up a Zelle payment channel, but her account was frozen due to unusual transaction activity, making cryptocurrency her primary means of receiving donations.

Note: Zelle is a domestic instant transfer tool launched by U.S. banks, supporting only domestic transfers and not cross-border remittances. The platform strictly enforces anti-money laundering controls; the volunteer Lennys Romero used it to receive disaster donations from overseas Venezuelan expatriates, but multiple small cross-border transactions were flagged as suspicious, leading to her account being frozen. As a result, the USDT stablecoin, which can be transferred globally in real-time without the restrictions of various countries' banking systems, became a reliable alternative for receiving disaster relief funds.

Data from crypto analytics firm TRM Labs shows that a few days after the earthquake in June, the inflow of stablecoins on Venezuela's leading crypto platform Kontigo surged by 61%; the platform's daily inflow increased from $397,000 in the ten days before the earthquake to $638,000, with the number of transactions remaining roughly stable.

Ari Redbord, Global Policy Director at TRM Labs, stated: "Data shows that when social order is significantly disrupted, digital assets can become an important cross-border financial channel."

Compared to the overall disaster relief investment, this amount is not large, but the funds reach frontline rescuers directly and arrive quickly, clearly demonstrating the complementary role of the crypto network to traditional disaster relief systems.

On July 1, 2026, in La Guaira, Venezuela, a shelter stores donated medical supplies after the June 24 earthquake; two strong earthquakes last week have caused nearly 2,000 deaths, and the frequency and intensity of aftershocks are gradually decreasing, while local rescue and cleanup efforts continue. Photo: Bloomberg

Stablecoins are a type of digital asset that maintains stable value and have become a core segment of the crypto market, with a total market capitalization exceeding $310 billion. Morningstar predicts that by 2035, the circulation of stablecoins could reach $14.5 trillion, driven by applications in cross-border payments and remittances from expatriates.

For a long time, crypto assets have been seen as tools for transferring funds in special scenarios such as wars, sanctions, and natural disasters; the previous conflict in Ukraine also spurred large-scale crypto fundraising. However, the situation in Venezuela is unique: before the earthquake, stablecoins had already been deeply integrated into local daily transactions. This disaster has confirmed the long-held view of stablecoin practitioners: blockchain dollars not only have lower transaction costs but, more importantly, can continue to operate normally when traditional payment channels are paralyzed or delayed.

Ana Ojeda, a lawyer in Venezuela's crypto sector and an industry blogger, has led multiple fundraising activities, directing funds to grassroots volunteers working with rescue teams in Caracas and the earthquake's epicenter in La Guaira.

Organizers do not use bank wire transfers but instead transfer stablecoins in real-time to frontline volunteers, who then convert them to bolívars and immediately purchase emergency supplies such as drinking water and medicine.

"Without stablecoins, we wouldn't be able to raise enough funds to meet the needs of the disaster area," Ojeda said. "Crypto transfers are instant, globally usable, and have open thresholds, allowing anyone to use them."

According to Ojeda's estimates, the Venezuelan crypto community has raised between $1.2 million and $1.3 million in digital asset donations since the earthquake; this figure consolidates data from various local crypto fundraising activities, but she admits that there is currently no unified accounting system.

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