Will Stablecoins Really Cut Remittance Fees by 92%?

Keyrock has published a report on how stablecoins could reshape global payment systems and capture a significant share of cross-border transfers. According to their estimates, within five years stablecoins may account for around 12% of all cross-border payments - that’s one in every eight dollars.

What caught my attention was their forecast for remittances. The authors suggest that stablecoins could make money transfers for migrant workers dramatically cheaper and faster, cutting fees by as much as 92%. They give an example: sending $200 through a bank costs about 12.66%, while a stablecoin transfer could be done for roughly 1%.

I don’t quite agree with this comparison. With a bank transfer, a migrant sends exactly what they’ve earned - regular digital money - and their family receives funds they can spend immediately. With stablecoins, you still need to get in and out, and the options for cheap on-ramps and off-ramps are shrinking.

It would only be fair to compare if salaries were paid directly in stablecoins and if all merchants were obliged to accept them the same way they accept bank payments today. Under current conditions, you could say the same about many other cryptocurrencies, not only about stablecoins. Some cryptos already have near-zero fees (for example, NANO).

And by the way, 1% on a $200 transfer still sounds high. USDT on TON, Aptos, or Liquid can be sent with much lower fees. If you’d like to try it yourself, remember that on rabbit.io you can swap any crypto into stablecoins on those blockchains at the best rates.