Robinhood

Brian

USDC

Global remittances are <a href="https://corporate.visa.com/en/products/visa-direct/resources/money-travels-report.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">estimated</a> to have reached around $905 billion in 2024-2025.
As per the <a href="https://remittanceprices.worldbank.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">World Bank</a>, the global average fees stood at 6.36% in the third quarter of 2025. It means the total remittance fees last year stood at an estimated $57.55 billion.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/u-s-government-reveals-unique-way-to-reduce-soaring-39t-debt" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Related: U.S. government reveals unique way to reduce soaring $39T debt</a>
Banks <a href="https://remittanceprices.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/RPW_main_report_and_annex_Q325.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">remain</a> the most expensive type of service provider, with an average fee of 14.99%.
While post offices’ fees stood at 5.58%, money transfer operators (MTOs)&nbsp;charged 4.72%. Mobile&nbsp;operators are among the cheapest service providers at 5.58%.
Credit or debit cards are among the cheapest service providers, with 4.39% to originate&nbsp;remittances and 3.61% to receive remittances.
But <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/investing/coinbase-ceo-predicts-1m-for-bitcoin-more-bullish-than-ever" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Brian Armstrong</a>, the billionaire CEO of the largest crypto trading exchange in the U.S., thinks it could cost "zero" to send remittances.
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<h2 id="armstrong-touts-stablecoins-as-remittance-avenue">Armstrong touts stablecoins as remittance avenue</h2>
Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong <a href="https://x.com/brian_armstrong/status/2048834001780023731" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">wrote an X post</a> on Apr. 27 in which he highlighted that an estimated $60 billion was spent on remittance fees in 2025, but this cost could come down to zero with stablecoins.
A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that, unlike traditionally volatile cryptocurrencies like <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/bitcoin" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin</a> (BTC) or <a href="https://thestreet.com/crypto/ethereum" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ethereum</a> (ETH), tries to keep its value stable by being pegged 1:1 to a "stable" asset like the U.S. dollar.
As per <a href="https://defillama.com/stablecoins?chartView=pie" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">DeFiLlama</a>, the total stablecoin market cap stood at $320.45 billion at the time of writing.
Tether's USDT (59%) and Circle's USDC (24%) are the two most popular stablecoins. These stablecoins are essentially "digital dollars" because the value of one USDT or USDC is the same as that of one U.S. dollar.
Stablecoins have become an increasingly popular medium of cross-border transfers because they are quick to transfer, cost less, and the payment rails facilitating these transfers remain active even on weekends and outside traditional banking hours.
Now, this is exactly the remittance alternative that Armstrong is trying to hype.
In fact, Coinbase's relationship with the stablecoin giant Circle goes a long way back as the two companies&nbsp;co-founded the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.coinbase.com/en-gb/blog/coinbase-and-circle-announce-the-launch-of-usdc-a-digital-dollar" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Centre Consortium to launch</a> USDC in 2018. Any crypto user can <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/en-gb/usdc" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">earn rewards</a> by simply holding USDC with Coinbase.
When Coinbase <a href="https://s27.q4cdn.com/397450999/files/doc_financials/2025/q4/v2/Q4-25-Shareholder-Letter.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">posted</a> its 2025 earnings, it reported generating $1.34&nbsp;billion in stablecoin revenue due to&nbsp;USDC held in Coinbase products.
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 Brian Armstrong, chief executive officer of Coinbase Global Inc., during a television interview on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. 
 Getty Images
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Armstrong has also been waging a battle on behalf of the crypto industry to get the <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/coinbase-executive-predicts-clarity-act-breakthrough-within-24-hours" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CLARITY Act</a> passed without any compromise on stablecoin rewards—which the banking industry insists are a threat to traditional savings accounts.
While Armstrong is enthusiastic about stablecoins becoming an alternative to other remittance avenues, a McKinsey <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/stablecoins-in-payments-what-the-raw-transaction-numbers-miss" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">report</a> published in February told a different picture.
Most of stablecoin activity consists of&nbsp;trading, internal fund shuffling, and automated blockchain activity and doesn't facilitate use cases like&nbsp;paying suppliers or sending remittances, the report said.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/explained/explained-what-is-a-stablecoin" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Related: Explained: What is a stablecoin?</a>

Coinbase CEO proposes surprising fix to $60B remittance fees

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