A study found that remittances based on stablecoins cost about 84 percent less than traditional overseas transfers. Cointelegraph reported on Oct. 16 that stablecoin payments network Borderless said in its third-quarter report that the median cost to send $200 was $2, or 1 percent, on stablecoin-based payment networks, compared with $12.72, or 6.36 percent, for traditional transfers.

The comparison used Borderless’ prices for the third quarter of 2026 and World Bank figures for the same period in 2025.

The cost gap was also large in emerging markets. The cost of stablecoin-based remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa was 2.9 percent, versus 8.46 percent for traditional transfers. In Latin America, the figures were 1.25 percent and 5.64 percent, respectively.

A cost advantage was also confirmed in cross-border business-to-business payments. When sending $10,000 to the euro zone using the lowest-cost provider, the cost of stablecoin-based remittances fell to as little as $26. The cost was $52 even when applying the median provider across the entire payment corridor. Processing the same amount via traditional international bank transfers cost $135 to $150, including transfer fees and a 1 percent foreign exchange margin.

Settlement was also faster. Depending on the network used, stablecoin-based payments were deposited into the recipient’s local bank account within minutes. Brazil’s PIX network had a median settlement time of 2 minutes in the third quarter, while Mexico’s SPEI took 3 minutes and Colombia’s PSE took 2 minutes.

Traditional SWIFT transfers typically settled the next business day. The slowest 10 percent took 3 business days. Completion rates, however, varied widely by network. Mexico’s SPEI completion rate was 98.6 percent and Brazil’s PIX was 97.8 percent. Colombia’s PSE was 79 percent and Costa Rica’s SINPE was 73 percent.