The World Bank puts the average remittance cost near 6.5 percent. Stablecoins can cut that to around 1 percent. Here is the honest math, including the parts crypto fans skip.
Sending money home is expensive. The World Bank puts the global average cost of a remittance at about 6.5 percent, and traditional services like Western Union can run higher once the exchange-rate markup is counted. Crypto, and stablecoins in particular, can cut that to around 1 percent. Here is the honest math, including the parts crypto boosters skip.
The advertised fee is only half the story. Money transfer operators also build a markup into the exchange rate, so the recipient gets fewer local units than the mid-market rate would give. Together these can run 5 to 10 percent. The World Bank's Remittance Prices data tracks the global average at roughly 6.5 percent.
On a $500 transfer, that can mean about $35 in upfront fees plus another $15 lost to the rate, so the person at home receives closer to $450 than $500.
Sending a dollar stablecoin like USDT or USDC on a low-fee network can cost a few cents to a couple of dollars in network fees, plus the spread when each side converts to and from local cash. In good corridors the all-in cost lands near 1 percent. On that same $500, that is roughly $5 to $8 instead of $50.
Use a stablecoin, not Bitcoin, for remittances. You do not want the amount to swing 5 percent between sending and cashing out. The whole point is that a dollar stays a dollar.
The savings are real, but so are the frictions, and honest math has to count them:
Crypto wins clearly for larger or regular transfers into corridors with good off-ramps, where 1 percent versus 6 percent compounds fast. For a small one-off payment to someone who is not technical, Western Union's cash pickup may still be worth the premium. The right answer depends on the corridor. See the cheapest way to buy crypto and how to move crypto to a wallet for the mechanics.
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Browse coinsUsually yes for larger transfers. All-in crypto costs can be near 1 percent versus 5 to 10 percent for traditional operators, but the recipient must be able to cash out.