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Buying a Toyota in Bolivia now works a bit like ordering coffee with Apple Pay, except the currency is Tether’s USDT and the purchase is a Land Cruiser. BitGo Bank & Trust has provided the wallet infrastructure enabling TOYOSA S.A., Bolivia’s exclusive distributor for Toyota, Lexus, and Yamaha, to accept stablecoin payments at its dealerships.
The first vehicle purchase using USDT was recorded on September 20, 2025, with the broader partnership officially announced between September 19 and 22. Customers can complete transactions by scanning QR codes at Toyosa and Crown dealerships.
How the plumbing works
BitGo, which secured a national bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in December 2025, handles institutional custody and settlement for the USDT payments. Towerbank provides the regulated payment processing and fiat integration layer.
The acceptance program has already expanded beyond Toyota. By late 2025, USDT payments were also live at BYD and Yamaha dealerships operating under the Crown Ltda. distributor. That’s three major vehicle brands in a single Latin American market now taking stablecoins at the point of sale.
Worth noting: despite the headline framing around “bitcoin payments,” the actual transactions flowing through this system use USDT, not Bitcoin. Stablecoins peg their value to the US dollar, which eliminates the volatility problem that has historically made Bitcoin impractical for pricing goods like a $40K SUV.
Bolivia’s dollar problem created a crypto opening
This initiative didn’t emerge from a vacuum. Bolivia has been grappling with a chronic US dollar shortage that has squeezed importers, businesses, and consumers who need hard currency for international trade. When the country lifted its ban on crypto transactions in June 2024, it effectively opened a pressure valve.
The results have been dramatic. The Central Bank of Bolivia reported $294 million in crypto-asset payments during just the first half of 2025. That represents a 630% increase compared to the $46.5 million recorded for all of 2024.
By mid-2026, BitGo’s Latin America leadership was showcasing the Bolivia initiative at the Bolivia Crypto Experience Summit, positioning the country as a case study for stablecoin adoption driven by genuine economic need rather than speculative enthusiasm.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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