Italy’s Central Bank Study: Stablecoin Remittances Have No Systemic Cost Advantage

The Bank of Italy's finding cuts against the core pitch for stablecoins in cross-border payments: that they structurally undercut traditional rails. If on-chain costs are only a small slice of the total, then the binding constraints sit in fiat on/off-ramps, compliance and last-mile delivery — the parts stablecoins don't disintermediate. That reframes where any real efficiency gains would have to come from, and it matters for the remittance corridors where stablecoin advocates have claimed the clearest edge. Whether other central banks reach similar conclusions, and whether the cost breakdown shifts as on/off-ramp competition deepens, is the open question.