Latin America's Crypto Inflows Surge 42.5% Year-Over-Year

Latin America's crypto boom is particularly strong in Brazil, with the region experiencing nearly $415 billion in crypto inflows from mid-2023 through mid-2024, marking a 42.5% year-over-year increase. This growth positions Latin America as the world’s second-fastest-growing market for crypto adoption. Within the region, four countries rank among the top 20 for crypto adoption, with Brazil notably placing ninth. The country's strong user engagement and constructive regulatory environment set it apart, focusing on fintech collaboration, institutional readiness, and regulatory progress.

Brazil's approach to crypto integration is more measured and infrastructure-driven compared to El Salvador, which was the first nation to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Recent legislative developments in Brazil include a bill (PL 957/2025) that allows up to 50% of wages to be paid in Bitcoin, with the rest in the country’s native reais. This move would make Brazil one of the first countries to officially accommodate crypto payrolls. Additionally, the central bank has signaled a more open stance toward stablecoin usage by reconsidering a prior ban that limits transfers of stablecoins to self-custody wallets.

Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil’s largest crypto exchange, has secured major partnerships, including becoming Ripple’s first Brazilian client for a blockchain-based payment solution. The exchange has also announced a deal to tokenize $40 million of Brazilian assets on the Plume Network. Traditional banks in Brazil are also catching up, with BTG Pactual launching blockchain investing tools and a pilot digital-real/CBDC program pushing banks like Itaú into crypto services.

Despite this momentum, Brazil and much of Latin America are still lacking consistent, in-depth media coverage of these shifts. Outset PR’s Q1 2025 report highlights a shrinking media ecosystem communicating these developments, despite a thriving crypto economy. The report reveals a sharp disconnect: despite clear signs of strong user interest, Latin America’s crypto news outlets aren't performing well. In the first quarter, only a handful of crypto sites managed growth while 73% of active crypto media lost traffic.

January’s Bitcoin rally brought a short-term boost in crypto coverage on mainstream finance outlets, but niche crypto news sites and blogs suffered as market momentum shifted. By February, only 12 crypto outlets saw traffic growth, while the majority lost visibility due to market downturns and early algorithmic shifts. Google’s March core update then shuffled rankings further, with only about half of the 55 monitored outlets recapturing traffic by March. Outset PR tracked a steep and uneven recovery, with many outlets failing to regain January traffic levels.

In practical terms, Latin American crypto media are highly concentrated and exclusive. There are just six top publishers that accounted for around 69% of all visits to crypto-focused outlets in Q1. Despite such a large market share concentrated across a small handful of players, none of these niche sites averaged more than 1 million monthly visits. The rest of the field is fragmented: many crypto outlets in the region struggle to reach even 10,000 visits per month, with the lowest tier capturing just 8% of total traffic. Several previously recognized sites, such as bitcoinmexico.net and latamblockchain.com, are now defunct, dormant, or largely irrelevant, according to the report.

Adoption is surging, but discoverability isn’t. In Brazil, most web users learn about crypto from large general-media brands rather than pure-crypto outlets. These legacy outlets cover crypto on occasion and often gear content to market hype. Their editorial focus can spike PR impressions during bull runs, but they offer no guarantee of engaged crypto readers or evergreen visibility. Outset PR’s data suggest that relying on broad “LATAM” press packages without context can backfire. Budgets get spent on clicks that vanish once Google’s algorithm changes or interest drops.

For crypto brands in Brazil and Latin America, the takeaway is clear: do not equate adoption with media reach. Campaigns must target the right mix of outlets – the few niche sites that actually have crypto-savvy audiences, plus mainstream portals at critical moments, such as around big regulatory or price news. And they must continuously update their playbook: Outset PR stresses using real traffic and search analytics—not just clippings or old rankings. In short, while Brazil’s crypto narrative is vibrant on the ground, PR teams need data-driven media strategies to ensure the message doesn’t get lost in a crowded and volatile landscape. The region’s next challenge for the industry isn’t building a viable crypto ecosystem, it’s being seen.