Learn about the role of digital dollar stablecoins like USDC in the international money transfer and remittance payment markets.
We are living in an era of global mobility. Now more than ever, people are moving to foreign countries for work and sending money back home to their families. Businesses are increasingly settling invoices with remittance payments.
Even during the digital era, there appear to be two ways to send money: either cheaper and surprisingly slow, or expensive and relatively quick. Either way, the money sent can still take days to arrive, and the high fees from money transmitters eat into the value of your transaction.
Stablecoins like USDC present the world with the opportunity to send money abroad and retain maximum value, so your dollars go further where you need them most.
Legacy money remittance operators charge a transfer fee in addition to a spread on currency conversion. Using digital dollar stablecoins like USDC, international money transfers arrive as the dollar amount sent minus a few cents in blockchain transaction fees.
India, China, and the Philippines dominate remittance markets, with billions of dollars transferred every year. The global remittance market was valued at almost $700 billion in 2018, expected to increase to almost $1 trillion by 2026; and that’s without accounting for blockchain-based transfers.
New technology, mobile-based payment channels, and reduced costs and transfer time are driving growth in remittance markets, but stablecoins have received relatively little attention.
Daniel Gorfine, a founder of the Digital Dollar Foundation, noted:
“Even if you’re a skeptic, why wouldn’t you plan for the possibility [of a digital dollar] that this could happen? And knowing that you can’t just flip a switch on this in five years, why not start now?”
USDC: A Stablecoin for International Money Transfers
International money transfers no longer need to route through excess third-party channels or slow and costly banking rails. With USDC, you can transfer value around the world for a fraction of the cost of traditional alternatives.
USDC is a fully-reserved digital dollar stablecoin backed 1:1 by US dollars held in regulated financial institutions. Through blockchain technology, USDC can be transferred to nearly anyone, anywhere, making it a powerful solution for international money transfers.
Unlike other stablecoins, the dollar reserves backing USDC receive monthly attestations from independent accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP, ensuring the maximum transparency and trust for USDC holders.
Circle has also created a suite of financial tools for USDC that enable businesses across the globe to leverage the power of digital dollar stablecoins.
Sending USDC
Using a free Circle Account, businesses can send USDC to over 60 countries worldwide. Receiving remittance payments doesn’t require a Circle account, and the transfer is completely seamless and completed in minutes.
Receiving and sending USDC between Circle accounts incurs no fees. And blockchain transaction fees for sending USDC are a fraction of the cost charged by traditional remittance services. Best of all, there’s no minimum transfer amount for USDC.
“We’ll look back in the same way that we look back at long-distance calls or the way we look back at snail mail or the way we look back at selling things in catalogues, and we’ll look back at payments and we won’t believe that we ever needed to pay to send money.”
- Jeremy Allaire, Circle CEO
With Circle Payments, you can easily mint USDC by depositing US dollars via bank transfers. USDC can be sent to blockchain addresses, or between Circle Accounts with no fee from Circle.
Retaining Value
USDC remittance and international money transfer services all benefit from the security, savings, and convenience of stablecoin technology. A borderless innovation that leapfrogs legacy remittance providers that have for decades used their privileged position to charge high fees while offering poor service.
With USDC, the costs are low, transfers take just minutes, and it’s easier than ever to send money to loved ones around the world.
