A study by the Bank of Italy revealed that stablecoins do not offer sustainable advantages in cost and speed for money transfers. Any benefits are offset by fees for fiat conversion and the processes of local payment infrastructures.
The authors compared transfers of 200 USDC across 10 bilateral corridors between Italy and Brazil, Argentina, Japan, the UAE, and South Africa. Metrics included the total cost and settlement times compared to standard money services.
The final cost of stablecoin transfers ranged from 0.3% to nearly 9%, depending on the direction. In corridors with instant payment systems, settlements took less than 20 minutes. Where such infrastructure was absent, the process extended to one or two business days.
Researchers linked key costs and delays to currency exchange and conversion, as well as the quality of local infrastructure. Blockchain fees, they noted, were not the main factor.
According to the World Bank, the global average cost of money transfers is 6.65%. In most of the studied corridors, stablecoins were cheaper than this level, but compared to Wise, they only had an advantage in three out of seven comparable directions.
The authors believe the effect would be more noticeable if stablecoins could be spent directly on goods and services without conversion back to local currency.
They also noted that restrictive regulatory regimes do not eliminate demand for “stable coins,” and overly strict rules complicate the use of such instruments by retail clients.
In July, the total market capitalization of stablecoins fell by more than $10 billion from its May peak to approximately $310 billion. This outflow marked the largest monthly decline since the collapse of Terra in May 2022.
