Venezuela’s USDT trading now rivals oil exports as volume hits $1.39B

Venezuela’s USDT market is handling volumes that now rival one of the country’s largest sources of foreign currency.

Ecoanalítica estimated that 1.389 billion USDT changed hands on Binance’s peer-to-peer market between June 11 and July 13, equal to about 44 million USDT per day.

The research firm estimated that the volume represented about 75% of Venezuela’s monthly oil export value. However, a separate calculation using June crude exports and the average price of Merey crude places the ratio closer to 52%, showing that the comparison depends on the method and reference period used.

Binance P2P becomes a major foreign-currency channel

Ecoanalítica developed a method to estimate the size of Binance’s P2P market in Venezuela. According to the firm, the results show how the platform has moved from a small alternative market into a major channel for buying and selling dollar-linked value outside the traditional banking system.

The 1.389 billion USDT volume also equaled about 64.2% of the $2.163 billion in foreign currency supplied by the Central Bank of Venezuela during June, based on figures cited by CriptoNoticias. 

The central bank increased its supply by 36% from May as it sought to reduce pressure on the bolivar. Ecoanalítica placed the comparison at 88%, although it did not publish enough detail to verify the difference.

USDT trades at a premium to Venezuela’s official dollar rate

Meanwhile, USDT traded around 840 bolivars on local P2P markets, about 15.5% above the official exchange rate of 727 bolivars per U.S. dollar on July 16. The spread remained narrower than earlier in 2026, when the difference between official and alternative rates stood near 30%.

Ecoanalítica director Alejandro Grisanti said Binance had gone “from being a marginal market to becoming one of the main channels for buying and selling foreign currency.” He also said P2P activity could slow if formal banks regain more capacity to supply foreign currency. As a result, users could shift some transactions back to traditional financial platforms.

Oil figures leave the 75% estimate open to question

Venezuela exported about 1.2 million barrels of crude per day in June, while the average price of Merey crude fell to $71.13 per barrel from $82.77 in May. Using those figures, monthly crude export value would stand near $2.56 billion, putting the reported USDT volume at roughly 52% rather than 75%.

The difference may reflect another export price, reference period, or method used by Ecoanalítica. However, Grisanti did not provide the full calculation behind the 75% figure. Therefore, the oil comparison remains an estimate, while the reported Binance P2P volume stands at 1.389 billion USDT for the period.

Stablecoins remain tied to Venezuela’s oil and dollar market

The latest figures add to a longer shift toward stablecoins in Venezuela. As crypto.news previously reported, state oil company PDVSA had been gradually moving some crude and fuel sales toward USDT as U.S. sanctions made conventional payment channels harder to use. That development connected the country’s oil trade with the same dollar-linked token now widely traded in its domestic P2P market.

More recently, as crypto.news reported in April, Tether said it had frozen more than $344 million in USDT linked to sanctions evasion and criminal networks in cooperation with U.S. authorities. The report also noted earlier concerns about PDVSA’s use of USDT. The latest P2P estimates now place stablecoin trading at a scale comparable with major official and export-related foreign-currency flows.