[DigitalToday reporter Chi-gyu Hwang] Researchers at the Bank of Italy assessed that stablecoin-based remittances did not show a consistent advantage in cost and speed over existing remittance channels.

Cointelegraph reported on July 31 local time that most differences in costs and processing times arose not from blockchain fees but from fiat currency conversion and national payment infrastructure.

The researchers tested remittances of $200 in USDC across 10 two-way corridors linking Italy with Brazil, Argentina, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa. Most costs came from exchange fees and foreign-exchange costs, while blockchain transaction fees accounted for a small share.

Total costs for stablecoin remittances ranged by corridor from 0.3 percent to nearly 9 percent. Settlement finished within 20 minutes in places with instant-payment systems, but took 1 to 2 business days in places without them.

Based on the World Bank's global average remittance cost of 6.65 percent, stablecoin remittances were cheaper in most of the corridors surveyed. But among 7 comparable corridors, stablecoin transfers were cheaper than Wise in only 3.

The researchers concluded that investment in domestic instant-payment infrastructure could improve the competitiveness of stablecoin-based cross-border payments. They also saw settlement time as heavily dependent on the quality of local payment networks. They assessed that bigger efficiency gains are possible when stablecoins are not converted back into fiat currency.