We Were at Stablecoin Conference 2026: Here's What Happened

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The World Trade Center in Mexico City doesn't usually host this kind of conversation. 

Two days, a second edition bigger than the first, and a room full of people who don't normally share the same space: bankers, DeFi builders, regulators, fintechs, and some of the most relevant executives in the global digital payments ecosystem.

Stablecoin Conference 2026 was organized by Bitso Business on June 15–16. The lineup of speakers and partners made it the clearest signal yet that stablecoins in Latin America have moved well past the "interesting experiment" stage.

📊 What Daniel Vogel Presented, and Why It Matters

The conference opened with a keynote from Daniel Vogel, CEO and co-founder of Bitso. Each year, Bitso publishes a stablecoin landscape report for Latin America. This year's data looked different.

Three main findings:

For the first time in Bitso's history, stablecoins surpassed Bitcoin. Across Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Brazil, stablecoins accounted for 40% of all crypto purchases, the largest asset class bought, outpacing Bitcoin in both absolute number of customers and volume. Vogel was measured about what drives this: you could argue Bitcoin's price plays a role in this shift, and you'd be right. But what Bitso sees is that users are buying stablecoins to solve a real problem: preserving value in Argentina or Venezuela, sending money across the US-Mexico corridor, or making everyday payments. The shift is from speculation to utility.

B2B volume grew 81% year-over-year. Comparing Q1 2026 to Q1 2025, that's the number. Use cases include treasury management, transactions, and supply chain payments. The use case that comes up most often: a business owner who needs to handle operations on a Monday night, when traditional banking is closed. Stablecoins make that possible.

60% of new Bitso Business clients in 2026 are financial institutions. Banks, fintechs, PSPs. First time in the company's history that more than half of new clients in a given period represent the traditional financial sector. For Vogel, this validates the thesis he calls "The Future of Finance is Hybrid": it's no longer TradFi vs. DeFi. Institutions want speed and programmability. Crypto-native companies are learning to build regulatory trust. Stablecoins are the connective layer between both worlds.

🎤 The Speakers Who Shaped the Agenda

The lineup brought real weight to the stage. Some of the most notable names:

Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President's Council of Advisors for Digital Assets at The White House. Witt joined Daniel Vogel on stage for one of the most watched sessions of the conference: "The Clarity Act and Beyond: Resolving the Regulatory Puzzle for Global Stablecoins." His presence sent a signal: this conversation is no longer peripheral to American policy.

Bo Hines, CEO of USAT at Tether. Another keynote that set the tone for the two days.

Antonia Silva, Crypto Director for Latin America and Caribbean at Visa. Visa on stage at a stablecoin conference is, in itself, a data point.

Imran Ahmad, COO at Bitso.

Jack McDonald, SVP of Stablecoins at Ripple.

Massimo Cervesato, Vice President of Global Blockchain and Digital Assets at Mastercard.

Joseph Galante, Head of Revenue at Bridge.

Raj Parekh, Head of Stablecoins and Payments at Monad Foundation.

Ángel Cabrera, President of the CNBV (Mexico's banking and securities regulator). His presence in the public policy panel was one of the sharpest moments of the two days.

Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon.

Manuel Echanove, Head of Growth for Latam and Europe at Polygon.

Sheraz Shere, GM of Payments and Commerce at Solana Foundation.

Raja Chakravorty, Chief Business Officer at Stellar.

Guilherme Bettanin, Latam Lead at Base.

David Taylor, CEO of Etherfuse.

💬 Three Panels Worth Knowing About

The New Payments Backbone: Stablecoins as Core Infrastructure for Global Liquidity Imran Ahmad (Bitso), Jack McDonald (Ripple), Massimo Cervesato (Mastercard), and Gustavo Ruiz (Movantis) examined how stablecoins are becoming the technology layer for high-volume, cross-border, and regulated transactions, not as a future scenario, but as something happening now.

The Institutional Shift: TradFi's Role in Embedding Stablecoins into the Real Economy Nick Philpott (Zodia Markets), Antonia Silva (Visa), Ryan Barney (Framework Ventures), Raj Parekh (Monad Foundation), and Lorenza Lanz (Stripe) broke down what it actually looks like when tier-one banks and global institutions move beyond experimentation and start treating stablecoins as core infrastructure.

Navegando el Futuro Digital de México: Política Pública, Crecimiento Económico e Innovación Financiera Perhaps the panel with the highest institutional density of the conference. Felipe Vallejo (Bitso's Mexico Country Manager), Ángel Cabrera (President, CNBV), Ximena Escobedo (Undersecretary of Industry and Commerce, Ministry of Economy), and María Ariza (CEO, BIVA) discussed Mexico's regulatory direction and what the public sector sees as the path forward for digital financial infrastructure.

🏛️ International Partners on the Floor

The sponsor lineup was a statement in itself:

Bridge: Stablecoin infrastructure, now part of Stripe.

 Bitso: The organizer and one of the most active players in stablecoin-powered payments in LATAM. Stellar: Blockchain network focused on payments and digital assets. 

Visa: Present both on stage and in networking. 

Mastercard: Another signal of institutional interest in the category. 

Fireblocks: Digital asset custody and movement for institutions. 

Tether: Issuer of USDT, the most widely used stablecoin in LATAM. 

Circle: Issuer of USDC. 

Ripple: Cross-border payments via blockchain. 

Solana Foundation, Polygon, Base, Anchorage Digital, Zero Hash, Aptos Labs, among others.

⭐ One Name to Watch: Ab Cobos

Abraham Cobos, CEO & Co-Founder, Espacio/Bando, Bando a B2B treasury management startup for companies in Latin America, was on stage at the Stablecoin Conference. Bando is building the infrastructure for businesses that want to operate with stablecoins without needing to be crypto-native. It's one of the more interesting bets in the region right now, and seeing it represented at this level says something.