Stablecoins put pressure on remittances

What happened

Some of the oldest names in cross-border cash transfers are turning to stablecoins to defend their business, Bloomberg reported on 19 October. One of the largest launched its own dollar-pegged stablecoin in May. Another rolled out a dollar stablecoin first in Colombia and then in El Salvador, and plans to extend it across Latin America. For the remittance industry, which has long relied on agent networks and bank rails, it is one of the clearest signs yet that tokenised dollars are moving into everyday money transfer.

The numbers behind the shift

Bloomberg cited Sensor Tower data showing that in September, monthly active app users at the two legacy firms fell 10% and 9% from a year earlier, while a digital-first rival grew 9%. In the same report, Alvarez & Marsal estimates that stablecoin payments reached at least $401 billion in the first eight months of 2026, up 42% on a year earlier, and that cross-border stablecoin flows rose 64% in 2025 to $135 billion. Kumanan Ramanathan, a co-head at the consultancy, said global remittance fees have stayed at about 6% for a decade, and that this margin is now under pressure.

What is a stablecoin, and why use one here?

For anyone asking what a stablecoin is: it is a crypto token designed to track a currency, most often the US dollar, so its value does not swing like most of the crypto market. In remittances, the appeal is less about crypto and more about the dollar. According to Bloomberg, one chief executive said customers want a way to hold money in a stable currency such as the dollar more than they want stablecoins themselves. A digital-assets head at another firm said stablecoins are most useful where access to banking is limited or exchange rates are volatile.

Background: rules are catching up

Regulators are building the framework around these tokens. On 14 October, the European Banking Authority classified USDC as the first significant e-money token in the EU under the MiCA rules, out of 45 such tokens notified so far. From 12 November, the EBA takes over direct supervision of USDC's reserves, own funds, liquidity and recovery plans from France's ACPR, which keeps oversight of areas such as governance.

Why it matters for payments

If established remittance firms can move money between their own networks on stablecoin rails, they gain more control over speed and cost, which could push fees on international money transfer routes lower. There is a catch, though. Paul Bances, an adviser at TGB Advisory Group, warned that if the number of stablecoins grows into the hundreds without interoperability, the industry could recreate its long-standing problems of fragmented networks.

What to watch next

Watch whether more corridors in Latin America and other remittance-heavy regions are added, whether lower fees actually reach customers, and whether app usage at the legacy firms stabilises. In Europe, the EBA's direct supervision of USDC from 12 November will be a test of how the MiCA regime handles a large dollar stablecoin. Each step is likely to feature in stablecoin news over the coming weeks.

What it means for ODIX Pay users

If you send money abroad, ODIX Pay works as a money transfer app that lets you send money to bank accounts in other countries, with the fee and exchange rate shown before you confirm. If you want to hold dollar-linked stablecoins, you can buy USDT or USDC with a bank card in the app, without opening an exchange account. ODIX Pay does not give investment advice. Availability depends on your country, and fees are shown in the app. More stories are in the ODIX Pay newsroom.