Link: https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/bitcoin-is-gold-stablecoins-are-silver

I wonder how much of this is money laundering, illegal drug producers, and countries avoiding US sanctions on their use of the SWIFT banking system. Stablecoins aren't anonymous, but with transfers through multiple wallets and disguised end parties, they can be very hard to trace.

Linked Article with data

From my experience as an expat...

SWIFT: $45 and takes up to 2 weeks to arrive.

Visa and Mastercard: 2.75% fee from them with an additional 1% from my bank. ATM fees added on top, in my case $7.50 per transaction. Money arrives instantly.

Money transfer services like Wise, Revolut, and Western Union: Price varies on amount transferred. Normally a large transfer of greater than $5000 would benefit from SWIFT, smaller transfers save money by using Visa/Mastercard. The money transfer services know this and price just below those options. Money arrives instantly up to 1 week later.

All of the above services also take a cut of the exchange rate. You do not get the actual current exchange rate.

Crypto: Significantly lower fees, actual current exchange rate, money arrives within minutes.

It's obvious why people with a little tech savvy use crypto for this.

Transactions or Total value?

Yeah, and acceptance is the biggest issue. Try paying for groceries or staff or a car in stablecoins. I personally would love to do all those things also with anything that isn't Visa/MC/Wise, but everyone and their mom does local bank EFTs for nearly nothing, so they're locked in there.

Even if I move stablecoin from a US bank account to non-US local cash, I'm going to have to eat fees in excess of what Visa takes, or MC and my bank just going to the ATM, right?

I suppose it depends on your specific situation.

USD->USDT 1%. Then less than $1 for transfer to local exchange. Then USDT-> local currency is ~$0.50. Finally, withdrawal to my local bank account ~$0.50.

So total crypto fees are 1% plus ~$2. The ATM fees for me are 3.75% plus ~$7.50.

Also, the ATM is limited to ~$1000 per withdrawal transaction so for every extra transaction add ~$7.50.

Right, so let's say any major African economy. Kenya, Ghana, Morocco, ZA. Going from USD into local currency.

At this point it's apparent that you are anti crypto and trying to find any excuse to justify your opinion. Maybe you can find a situation where your opinion is validated but I'm not going to research it for you.

I gave you actual numbers from my experience. What makes you think I will have the numbers for any other situation besides my own?

Anti? My friend, I'm asking how I can use stablecoins in my daily life without doxxing myself.

Like, is this practical for me or not? I'm genuinely asking.

I shared the math for my situation, you need to do the math for your own situation.

Start with the cost of USD->USDT or even another coin you choose. Let's call this amount W.

Then the costs for transferring to another exchange. The exchange should be able to convert from USDT to your local currency.* Call this amount X.

Then the exchange withdrawal costs. Call this amount Y.

Finally the local bank fees for deposit, if any. call this amount Z.

W+X+Y+Z= your total transfer costs.

*If you cannot find an exchange that allows selling crypto for your local currency then you will need to sell it for another currency. Then withdrawal that currency to your local bank account. That bank will charge fees for conversion so you will need to factor that in if applicable.

laughs in free SEPA instant

Fuck dealing with foreign currency, Wise is instant but actually getting the money to it is not because some of those national payment systems are slooooow (looking at you, ACH)