Venezuela, sanctioned by the United States and excluded from the dollar system, has shifted to using Tether to settle 80% of its oil revenue.
Venezuela’s case is the most compelling real-world illustration of stablecoins—not because it chose crypto, but because it had no alternative.
This article traces the full path a sovereign state has taken under sanctions pressure to adopt USDT, while also revealing the real-world limitations of stablecoins in large-scale money laundering scenarios.
“I don’t think this is bad—the so-called ‘dollarization’ process… thank God it exists.” — Nicolás Maduro.
A recent New York Times report declared Venezuela “the first country to manage a substantial portion of its fiscal revenue using cryptocurrency.”
About half of Venezuela’s revenue comes from oil sales priced in U.S. dollars.
As a sanctioned country, Venezuela cannot legally receive or send U.S. dollars.
Previously, sanctioned governments typically converted oil into dollars through networks of shell companies and offshore banks—or exchanged oil for goods or infrastructure investments.
Now, they have a simpler option: accepting payment in stablecoins.
Asdrúbal Oliveros estimates that Tether’s USDT serves as the transaction medium for roughly 80% of Venezuela’s oil sales.
The Venezuelan government once banned stablecoin transactions, viewing them as a threat to the bolívar.
Since June, the government has allowed broader use of USDT, with banks selling USDT earned from oil revenues to domestic businesses and enabling payments to suppliers domestically and abroad.
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