a16z Claims Stablecoins Are 'WhatsApp Moment' for Remittances

a16z Claims Stablecoins Are 'WhatsApp Moment' for Remittances

Stablecoins are revolutionizing the global money transfer market by reducing costs and eliminating middlemen.

Author: Aoyon Ashraf April 10, 2025, 2:05 am

What you need to know:

• Stablecoins, like WhatsApp for international calls, are changing the game for global money transfers by lowering costs and cutting out middlemen.
• Andreessen Horowitz emphasizes that stablecoins have the potential to make international transactions nearly free and instantaneous compared to traditional methods that require multiple intermediaries and have high fees.
• Despite regulatory challenges, stablecoins continue to gain popularity, with market caps exceeding $200 billion and annual transaction volumes exceeding those of Visa and Mastercard.

Remember how expensive international calls and texts used to be? Modern messaging apps like WhatsApp have made paying for international calls and texts obsolete.

According to venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), stablecoins can do the same thing in the remittance space: democratize the payments industry by eliminating traditional intermediaries.

By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy .

“Just as WhatsApp changed expensive international phone calls, blockchain-based payments and stablecoins are transforming global money transfers,” the company said in a blog post on Wednesday.

Today's global payments infrastructure is a complex network of points of sale, payment processors, acquirers, issuers, correspondent banks, currency exchanges and payment networks.

Read more: What is a stablecoin?

To complicate matters, each of these intermediaries charges fees and introduces delays, making international transactions cumbersome. For example, a16z claims that transfer fees can reach 10% — the same as cross-border calls or text messages before the advent of instant messaging apps.

Blockchain and stablecoins come to the rescue – these are cryptocurrencies pegged to assets such as the US dollar.

“Stablecoins offer a clean slate alternative. Instead of merging complex, expensive, and legacy systems, stablecoins seamlessly integrate into global blockchains,” the blog post notes.

“Stablecoins are already reducing the cost of remittances: sending $200 from the US to Colombia using traditional methods would cost $12.13, but using stablecoins it would cost only $0.01.”

And it’s not just remittances where stablecoins eliminate inefficiencies; they can also make B2B payments much easier. A16z cites the example of business transactions from Mexico to Vietnam, which take three to seven days to process and cost between $14 and $150 per $1,000 transaction. They pass through five intermediaries, each of whom takes a cut.

The company says using stablecoins could make such transactions virtually free and instant.

Some companies have already taken notice, with Elon Musk's SpaceX using stablecoins to manage its corporate treasuries to hedge against currency volatility.

It should therefore come as no surprise that the total market cap of stablecoins has surpassed $200 billion, with the annual value of stablecoin transactions reaching $15.6 trillion in 2024 – roughly 119% and 200% of Visa and Mastercard, respectively.

However, the rise in popularity of stablecoins does not come without challenges.

Regulatory

Источник