Sera
Global FX Leakage Alert

$1.79T

wasted on cross-border payment fees in 2025

That's $1.79 trillion that could have stayed in people's pockets

STABLECOIN FLOWS
$2.1T
Total cross-border volume
REMITTANCE CORRIDORS
367
Routes tracked
AVG. REMITTANCE COST
6.49%
Traditional rails
COUNTRIES TRACKED
20
Global coverage

The FX Leakage Problem Isn't Solved Yet

Stablecoins eliminate intermediary fees but users still lose money to FX spreads during on-ramp and off-ramp. Only on-chain FX can eliminate the leakage entirely.

Traditional Banking

Hidden fees at every step of the payment chain

Total Cost
14.55%
Cost Breakdown
FX Spread3.00%
SWIFT Fees2.00%
Correspondent Bank0.99%
Platform Fees0.50%

Stablecoins (Current)

FX leakage moved to on/off-ramps, not eliminated

Total Cost
6.52%
Cost Breakdown
On-ramp FX Spread1.82%
On-ramp Fee0.93%
Transfer Fee0.50%
Off-ramp FX Spread2.14%
Off-ramp Fee1.14%

On-Chain FX (Future)

FUTURE

Direct stablecoin swaps, no fiat conversion needed

Total Cost
0.75%
Cost Breakdown
Swap Fee0.50%
Gas Fee0.25%
95% Cost Reduction
Save $138.00 per $1000 sent
⚠️

Stablecoins Don't Solve FX Leakage (Yet)

Current stablecoin solutions cost 6.52% (almost identical to traditional banking at 6.49%) because users still pay FX spreads when converting fiat to stablecoins (on-ramp) and back to local currency (off-ramp).

The solution: On-chain FX that enables direct stablecoin-to-stablecoin swaps without touching fiat, reducing costs to <1%.

Send $1,000 via Bank
$935.10
Recipient receives
Lost $64.90 to fees
Send $1,000 via Stablecoin
$934.80
Recipient receives
Lost $65.20 to on/off-ramp
Send $1,000 via On-Chain FX
$992.50
Recipient receives
Save $57.70 vs traditional

Global Remittance Corridors

2D flow map showing remittance corridors with cost intensity (red = expensive, green = cheap)

USGBSGAUCADEFRJPINPHIDVNTHMYMXBRARNGKEZA
Cost Legend
<4% (Low)
4-6% (Medium)
6-8% (High)
>8% (Very High)
Total Corridors
20

Remittance Cost Heatmap

Choropleth visualization of average remittance costs by country (World Bank data)

AR9.00%BD3.25%BR2.25%EG4.25%FR0.70%IN2.00%ID3.10%KE4.25%MX2.75%NG5.00%PK3.50%PH3.00%SG0.70%ZA2.75%KR0.55%TH1.65%TR2.00%GB1.05%US1.05%VN2.50%
Remittance Cost
High (15%)
Low (0%)

Where Your Money Disappears

Every $1,000 sent loses an average of $64.90 to these hidden fees

FX Spread

Bank markup on exchange rate

$25.96(40%)
Transfer Fees

Wire/SWIFT fees

$9.74(15%)
Correspondent Bank

Intermediary bank fees

$9.74(15%)
Platform Fees

Payment processor margin

$9.74(15%)
Receiving Bank

Receiving bank fees

$6.49(10%)
Off-ramp Fees

Local currency conversion

$3.25(5%)
Traditional Banks
$64.90

On a $1,000 transfer

Stablecoins (Current)

Still have on/off-ramp fees

$65.20

Problem NOT solved

The Leakage Sankey

Compare how $100 flows through different payment rails - Banks vs Stablecoins

Sender: $100Bank WireMTO (Western Union)Digital (Wise)StablecoinFX Spread (Bank)Wire FeesMTO FeesFX Spread (MTO)Platform Fee (Wise)FX Spread (Wise)Gas FeeRecipient (Bank): $85.45Recipient (MTO): $93.51Recipient (Digital): $96.45Recipient (Stablecoin): $99.50
Payment Rails
Sender
Payment Rail
Fees & Leakage
Recipient

Stablecoin Market Treemap

Market cap distribution by stablecoin and blockchain (DefiLlama data)

USDTTron$62.3BUSDTEthereum$48.5BUSDCEthereum$28.4BUSDCSolana$7.2BUSDCBaseDAIEthereum$4.2BFDUSDEthereum
Stablecoins
USDT
USDC
DAI
FDUSD

Cost-by-Corridor Matrix

Heatmap showing remittance costs for all 367 sending x receiving country pairs

Remittance Cost by Corridor0%2%4%6%8%10%12%14%

Matrix View: Each cell represents a remittance corridor from sending country (Y-axis) to receiving country (X-axis). Color intensity indicates average cost percentage.

Data Source: World Bank Remittance Prices Database (367 corridors)

Stop Losing Money on Every Transfer

Calculate exactly how much you're losing and discover the stablecoin alternative