When Local Currencies Decay, Stablecoins Become a Global Lifeline

A Globally Weakening Currency Landscape

The slow erosion of purchasing power has become one of the defining economic stories of the past decade, even though it rarely gets the attention it deserves. Across Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and increasingly in parts of East Asia, domestic currencies have depreciated in a way that undermines household stability and long‑term planning. The International Monetary Fund has documented that many emerging‑market currencies have weakened persistently as interest‑rate divergence and a strong U.S. dollar reshaped global capital flows. In Argentina, for example, cumulative depreciation since 2015 has now exceeded ninety percent, while in Nigeria repeated devaluations have erased more than half the naira’s value in a single year. Even in Japan, the yen touched a thirty‑four‑year low in 2024, a level that the Bank of Japan directly linked to structural pressures and global monetary divergence. These are not abstract capital‑market events. They filter directly into daily life, raising prices, shrinking real wages, and threatening the value of people’s savings.

Regional Currency Decay: The Strains in Asia and Latin America

The story of currency decay is not confined to one region. Asia illustrates this trend starkly. According to the IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and the Pacific, many Asian currencies depreciated significantly during periods of elevated inflation and uncertainty, and this depreciation has a meaningful “pass‑through” into consumer prices. In fact, IMF research suggests that a 10 percent depreciation in several Asian currencies can raise consumer prices by roughly 1.6 percent over a year.

Some central banks in Asia raised rates, but only modestly, because inflation remained relatively contained- a decision that exposed them when U.S. rates surged. Research from institutions like BBVA has highlighted significant pressure on the yen, won, and baht, and in Japan the authorities intervened aggressively in FX markets: media reports suggest the Bank of Japan committed over ¥15 trillion to stem depreciation. Meanwhile, structural vulnerabilities complicate the picture; for example, analysts at J.P. Morgan have pointed to large U.S. dollar exposures among Taiwanese insurers and export firms, which influence capital flows in volatile periods.

Latin America presents a starker, more existential version of these challenges. The region has long wrestled with volatile inflation, weak currencies, and a financial system that often fails ordinary savers. In Chile, for instance, local currency depreciation continues to feed into domestic inflation, according to the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Regional Economic Outlook. In Colombia, the peso has weakened sharply during stress cycles, imposing heavy costs on import‑dependent sectors. In Peru, while the sol has historically been more stable than other Latin currencies, IMF models indicate that it remains vulnerable to global monetary tightening and volatility. That same Latin America Outlook highlights that countries like Chile, Colombia, and Peru face exchange‑rate volatility driven by external shocks, risk aversion, and divergent monetary policies. Moreover, although some depreciation in Latin American currencies still feeds into inflation, economists have found that the magnitude of that “pass‑through” has declined over time thanks to stronger monetary institutions—but even modest FX shifts impose real costs on households. Political risk further compounds the problem: regional currencies remain highly sensitive to investor sentiment in countries where fiscal discipline or political stability is fragile.

The Broken Hedge

Even though the economic case for hedging is clear, the institutional infrastructure for doing so remains deeply flawed for most people. Corporations and wealthy investors may access derivatives or specialized FX accounts, but for most households, hedging remains out of reach. Studies from the Bank for International Settlements and leading global banks confirm that retail access to foreign‑currency instruments in emerging markets is extremely limited. In Latin America, capital controls, regulatory hurdles, and documentation requirements often exclude average savers from meaningful hedging. As a result, currencies continue to weaken, but many people cannot reliably shield themselves; they feel the loss, but lack the tools.

The Stablecoin Escape Valve

Stablecoins change this equation entirely. With nothing more than a smartphone, someone can access U.S. dollar–denominated value without going through traditional, expensive FX channels. The IMF’s fintech briefings have begun to recognize stablecoins as a “household‑level hedge” in markets where currency depreciation is severe. In Latin America, too, stablecoins are gaining traction: remittance platforms in Colombia, for instance, now allow recipients to receive USDC, buffering them against peso devaluation. This model bypasses banks, high broker fees, capital‑control restrictions, and legacy hedging instruments. A user can convert local currency into stablecoins, hold it, earn yield, transact globally, and redeem, all from their phone. The democratizing power of stablecoins is that the ability to preserve value against currency decay is no longer reserved for the wealthy.

The Tria Thesis: Preservation as Empowerment

The global stablecoin market recently topped $300 billion in market capitalization, and some projections foresee it reaching $500 billion by 2028. Stablecoins provide more than speculative opportunity. They offer resilience. When a teacher in Bogotá or a shop owner in Manila can hold U.S. dollar value as easily as they send a text message, their relationship to risk fundamentally changes. They no longer passively absorb currency devaluation. They become active agents of their own financial future. At Tria, we believe that the most important innovation of our era is not creating new high‑risk assets, but giving people simple, trustworthy tools to preserve what they already have. Stablecoins can do that- but only if they are built with transparency, security, and alignment with real‑world needs.

Toward a New Financial Reality

We are entering an era of persistent currency volatility, inflation, and global rate divergence. The demand for strong, stable money is a rational, grounded response to structural macro realities, not a fad. Stablecoins offer a real lifeline, providing the best way for ordinary people to protect what they earn, preserve what they build, and weather the tailwinds of a weakening domestic currency. Strong money creates stronger futures, and that principle is at the heart of everything we build at Tria.

About Vijit Katta

Vijit is the CEO and Co-founder of Tria, with 10+ years of experience across entrepreneurship, commercial strategy, and early-stage investing. He built Polygon’s in-house accelerator for early-stage projects, previously founded and exited a healthtech startup in Austria, and led commercial strategy for multiple $150M+ portfolios at GSK and AstraZeneca; he holds a CS degree from BITS Pilani and an MBA from INSEAD.

About Tria

Tria is a self-custodial neobank that unifies spending, trading, and earning across all chains — without bridges, gas, or custodians. Built for both humans and AI, Tria makes money programmable, enabling anyone or any agent to transact natively on-chain. Powered by its interoperability layer, BestPath AVS, Tria abstracts away the complexity of crypto to deliver instant, global, and autonomous finance.