Crypto
Home›Crypto›Stablecoins›Bank of Italy study finds USDC remittances often not c…
Bank of Italy study finds USDC remittances often not cheaper end to end
A Bank of Italy mystery-shopping test of 200 USDC transfers across 10 corridors found total costs ranged from 0.3% to nearly 9%, with exchange fees, FX spreads, and local banking charges driving most expenses.
CoinDesk reports that a Bank of Italy study testing stablecoin remittances using USDC found they are often not systematically cheaper than conventional transfer methods once users pay for the full journey from local banks to crypto wallets and back into local currency.
According to the paper, researchers tracked 200 USDC transfers across 10 international payment corridors, including routes from Italy to destinations such as Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, the UAE, and Japan. End-to-end costs varied sharply, from about 0.3% to almost 9% of the amount sent, while blockchain transaction fees made up only a small part of total expenses.
The findings point to “last mile” frictions as the main cost driver, with exchange fees, foreign exchange spreads, and local banking charges accounting for most of the cost. The study also found settlement times differed widely, ranging from roughly 20 minutes in corridors with domestic instant payment support to as long as two business days when recipients relied on conventional bank transfers.
While the researchers said stablecoins can help with faster on-chain settlement and programmability, they concluded that stablecoin transfers have not yet delivered the cost reductions that have been marketed for cross-border payments, because the costly connection between crypto and local fiat remains.