Sending money abroad through stablecoins can be faster, cheaper

TORONTO – Canadians send billions of dollars abroad every year, and pay hundreds of millions of dollars for the privilege.

While the growing number of options to send money has helped push fees down, it still on average costs about six per cent, or $12, to send a typical $200 remittance from Canada, according to the World Bank.

Meanwhile, the volume of remittances from Canada has soared to top $18 billion last year, up from a little over $7 billion a decade ago, meaning even more money is being swallowed up by fees.

Stablecoin advocates, however, think they can help.

“You can quickly send money anywhere in the world for less than a penny,” said Didier Lavallee, chief executive of digital asset company Tetra Trust Co., on the promise of so-called stablecoins.

Unlike often-volatile cryp