Enjoyed reading the article on the GENIUS legislation.
However, I wanted to add that it’s rarely cheap to actually make a money transfer via stablecoins even transfers on the same exchange.
To make a transfer you have to buy the coin and that’s where exchanges charge the first bit of money. Then you make the transfer and pay the network fees which fluctuates but I admit it’s relatively low in itself compared to bank transfers. The recieving party now has to convert the stablecoin to their desired currency and that’s where exchanges make some extra money by marking up the FX rate. Finally the receiver get slapped with a final service charge to withdraw the money to their bank account.
Making the argument that crypto is cheap just because the network fees are low is only true for crypto bros who transfer to each other wallets without exchangs. That sounds similar to paying someone cash directly, doesn’t it?
Don’t get me wrong, I am for digital currency and payments but letting a group of private equity backed (read as for-profit) companies convince is cheaper is akin to Starbucks convincing me that coffee is cheaper when I buy it from them instead if making my own coffee.
As an Egyptian it is painful to pay anyone internationally largely due to the central bank monetary policy and transferring via crypto is common but ask anyone and they would tell they feel safer making any EGP transfer compared to making crypto transfers.
Central banks should facilitate digital payments, like in the UK with Faster payments and open banking, instead of offloading the solution to for-profit organisations.
Thanks for reading!
