Crypto Wallets Are Replacing Bank Accounts Across the Americas — And Reshaping Cross-Border Payments

A growing share of households across the Americas no longer treat a bank account as the default starting point for moving money. From Buenos Aires to Brooklyn, a quiet substitution is underway: self-custody crypto wallets and stablecoin balances are absorbing functions that, until recently, belonged to commercial banks alone. Cross-border payments — the most expensive and friction-heavy corner of consumer finance — are at the centre of the shift.