A study by the Bank of Italy has demonstrated the lack of sustainable advantages of stablecoins in the field of international money transfers in terms of cost and transaction processing speed. The experts analyzed transfers in the amount of 200 USD along ten bilateral corridors connecting Italy with Brazil, Argentina, Japan, the UAE and South Africa. The results showed that the final commission for the operation varies from 0.3% to almost 9%, depending on the specific direction, and the settlement time ranges from twenty minutes to two business days.

The key factor offsetting the technological advantages of distributed ledgers was the costs associated with currency exchange and the quality of the local financial infrastructure, rather than the fees of the blockchain network itself. Although the average cost of stablecoin transfers in most corridors was lower than the global average of 6.65% set by the World Bank, they were inferior to specialized payment services such as Wise in four of the seven comparable destinations. Maximum operational efficiency is achieved exclusively in regions with already developed instant payment systems.

The authors of the study concluded that the real economic effect of using digital assets would be more pronounced if they could be directly spent on goods and services without mandatory reverse conversion into the national currency. Regulators also stressed that strict restrictive measures do not eliminate the fundamental demand for stablecoins, but excessively strict rules complicate their application by retail customers. Against the background of these analytical findings, the global market capitalization of stablecoins decreased by more than $ 10 billion in July, reaching $310 billion.

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The material has been prepared solely for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice or recommendation.