Stablecoin Transfers Fall Short of Hype: Bank of Italy Study

A recent study by the Bank of Italy found that stablecoins do not offer significant advantages in cost and speed for money transfers. The research compared the transfer of 200 USDC across 10 bilateral corridors between Italy and several countries, including Brazil, Argentina, Japan, the UAE, and South Africa.

The total cost of stablecoin transfers ranged from 0.3% to nearly 9%, depending on the direction, while settlement times varied from less than 20 minutes in corridors with instant payment systems to one or two business days where such infrastructure was absent.

The study attributed key costs and delays to currency exchange and conversion, as well as the quality of local infrastructure. The authors noted that blockchain fees were not the main factor in these issues.

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 they only had an advantage over Wise in three out of seven comparable directions.