Bank of Italy says stablecoin remittances often lose cost edge at cash-out stage

The Bank of Italy said in a report stablecoin-based cross-border remittances offer little advantage over traditional financial networks on cost and speed, according to BeInCrypto. The central bank reached that conclusion after examining 10 real-world remittance corridors linking Italy, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and Japan. While average on-chain blockchain transfer fees were just 0.4%, most costs arose during fiat conversion through banks and exchanges, including account deposits, foreign exchange and cash withdrawals. Compared with the same corridors offered by traditional remittance provider Wise, stablecoins were cheaper in only three routes and more expensive in four. The report suggested that despite appearing to bypass banks entirely, stablecoins still face a structural limitation in that cash-out processes ultimately depend on traditional financial infrastructure.