Bolivia’s Digital Dollar Holds Above BCB Rate | El dólar digital en Bolivia sigue por encima del BCB

By Raúl Domínguez, El Deber:

Digital Dollar Price Stays Above the BCB Reference as the Market Stabilizes

Precio del dólar digital se mantiene por encima del referencial del BCB mientras el mercado se estabiliza

The price of the parallel dollar remains stable / Photo: Archive

Despite a slight slowdown over the weekend, the quotation of the digital dollar in Bolivia continues to show a considerable gap compared with the reference value of the issuing authority.

The price of the parallel dollar in Bolivia maintains the gap between the digital parallel market and the reference published by the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB), while the official exchange rate remains at 6.86 bolivianos for buying and 6.96 for selling to the public.

In the digital parallel market, dollar quotations on P2P platforms such as Binance, Bitget, and others reflected today values of approximately 9.17 bolivianos (buy) and 9.19 (sell) per U.S. dollar (USDT/USDC), according to platform exchange indicators and the average of Bolivia’s digital market.

Meanwhile, around Plaza 24 de Septiembre in Santa Cruz, the physical dollar was being bought at 9.15 bolivianos and sold at 9.25 bolivianos near midday this Monday.

Over the past weekend, reference rates for the digital dollar showed a slight slowdown from levels around 9.50 for selling and higher in previous weeks, settling in the range of about 9.10–9.20 bolivianos toward the close of trading on Sunday.

This behavior suggests a temporary stabilization of the parallel market, although it continues to position itself above the BCB’s official reference value.

According to the BCB, the reference value of the dollar for this Monday, February 9, 2026, stands at 8.69 bolivianos for buying and 8.87 bolivianos for selling to the public. This value, based on real operations by financial intermediaries, serves as the official reference for larger-volume transactions in the system.

This reference indicator was recently introduced with the aim of providing greater transparency in the foreign exchange market and a point of comparison against parallel market quotations.

Analysts note that the persistent difference between the digital dollar price in the parallel market and the BCB’s reference value reflects the tension between the supply of foreign currency in the formal system and demand that remains concentrated outside official channels.

The gap would respond, to a large extent, to the shortage of physical dollars in banks and exchange houses, which has led many users to turn to digital P2P platforms.

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