Stablecoin Remittances Face Reality Check in Banca d’Italia Study

# Stablecoin Remittances Face Reality Check in Banca d’Italia Study

> Evidence tier: B1
> Evidence type: Independent Global Finance report on a Banca d'Italia study
> Source: [Global Finance](https://gfmag.com/banking/stablecoin-remittances-face-reality-check-banca-ditalia-study)
> Published: 2026-08-18
> Captured: 2026-08-18T14:17:34.482Z

## Source summary

Global Finance reports that a Banca d'Italia study compared USDC transfers with established money-transfer services across corridors involving Italy, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and Japan. The study found no systematic cost advantage for stablecoins: total costs ranged from 0.3% to nearly 9%, with on/off-ramp and liquidity costs often outweighing inexpensive blockchain settlement.

## Why it matters

The findings challenge the assumption that low on-chain fees automatically create cheaper retail remittances and identify local cash-in, cash-out and liquidity as the binding costs. The report also presents industry criticism that the study's $200 test size may not represent larger transfers, so the result should not be generalized to every corridor or transaction size.

## Key numbers

- **Total stablecoin-transfer cost range reported:** 0.3% to nearly 9%
- **Test transaction size discussed:** $200
- **Countries represented in the tested corridors:** 6

## Topics and entities

- Industry lane: Web3 & stablecoin payments
- Entities: Banca d'Italia / Global Finance
- Web3 payments
- Cross-border payments

## Evidence and credibility note

Independent Global Finance report describing a Banca d'Italia study and named industry responses. The reported cost range applies to the study design and selected corridors; it is not a universal stablecoin-remittance benchmark.

Date evidence: Automatically verified from article:published_time: 2026-08-18T06:00:00+00:00

## First-party corroboration

No directly corresponding A1 company announcement is currently linked.

## Original-source traceback

[Open the original Global Finance report](https://gfmag.com/banking/stablecoin-remittances-face-reality-check-banca-ditalia-study)

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This is a structured Payments Hot Markdown source summary derived from external reporting. Use the original link above to read the publisher's article; copyright remains with the original publisher.