Data from Borderless.xyz indicates that stablecoin transfers used for cross-border business payments cost 84% less than traditional transfers and settle faster than international bank wires.
Disclaimer: News content is based on public news sources and provided for information only. It does not constitute investment advice.
If the cost gap holds across corridors, the parties most directly affected are small and medium-sized businesses that send frequent cross-border payments and currently absorb wire fees and FX spreads. Remittance users sending smaller amounts to family members are a second group, though their transfers often involve cash-in and cash-out networks where stablecoin rails may not yet be available. Banks and traditional money-transfer operators face a competitive question rather than an immediate loss, since they control the fiat on- and off-ramps that stablecoin payments ultimately rely on. Payment processors and fintech firms sit in between, able to offer stablecoin settlement as one option among several. The practical impact therefore depends less on the size of the reported saving than on how widely these channels can be accessed in the corridors where costs are highest.
The report found that stablecoin transfers used for cross-border business payments cost 84% less than traditional transfers, according to Borderless.xyz data. It also states that these stablecoin transfers settled faster than traditional international bank wires. The comparison is specifically about cross-border payment costs and settlement speed.
Traditional cross-border wires usually pass through several correspondent banks, and each intermediary can charge fees and apply foreign-exchange markups, while banks must hold pre-funded foreign currency accounts. Stablecoin transfers move value directly on a blockchain ledger, removing most of those intermediary steps. That structural difference, rather than a single discounted fee, is the main reason cited for the cost gap.
World Bank data on remittance prices has repeatedly placed the global average cost of sending money abroad at roughly 6% of the amount transferred, with some corridors costing more. G20 countries have set a target of bringing the average cost down toward 3% and eliminating corridors above 5%. This policy context is why a large reported reduction in transfer costs attracts attention.
Who Is Affected
This article is rewritten from public news sources and further processed by AI. It is provided for information only and does not constitute investment advice — refer to the original source for the authoritative version.
Borderless.xyz operates in the stablecoin payments sector, so its cost comparison is a vendor-side measurement rather than an independent study. Actual costs can also include currency conversion, on- and off-ramp access, and compliance checks at both ends of a transaction. Those factors may reduce the practical savings in some corridors.
Payment-focused stablecoins are usually pegged to the US dollar, with Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC among the most widely used. Because the peg is to the dollar, senders or recipients dealing in other currencies still face conversion exposure. That conversion step is one reason local currency support matters for real-world adoption.
The United States enacted a federal framework for payment stablecoins in 2025, while the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation already covers issuers and service providers. Clearer rules can make stablecoin payment channels easier for businesses to adopt, but they also add compliance obligations. Those obligations carry costs that could narrow the savings described in the report.
