Stablecoin Remittances Fall Short in Banca d'Italia Test

A recent study conducted by Banca d'Italia found that stablecoin remittances do not consistently beat traditional transfer services on cost or speed. The study, which was released in July 2026, involved real transfers of $200 USDC across ten corridors linking Italy with Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and Japan.

The researchers found that total costs ranged from 0.30% to almost 9%, with the blockchain leg averaging only 0.4%. However, most of the expense came from exchange purchases, funding methods, withdrawals, and foreign-exchange conversion. The study warned that stablecoins showed 'no systematic cost advantage' over traditional channels.

The study also found that stablecoin remittance costs varied sharply by corridor. For example, Italy-to-Argentina was the cheapest at 0.30%, while Argentina-to-Italy cost 8.96%. Banca d'Italia compared its transactions with Wise simulations for the same $200 amount and found that USDC was cheaper in three routes: Italy to Argentina, Italy to South Africa, and Brazil to Italy.

The researchers cautioned that the transfers and Wise simulations occurred on different dates and described the World Bank comparison as an indicative benchmark rather than a like-for-like test. The paper covers one stablecoin and a limited number of transactions, so its findings 'cannot be readily generalized' to every provider or corridor.