For businesses already holding USDT, sending money through stablecoins costs more than receiving it in 15 of 17 currencies, according to new research from Orbital, a global payment orchestration platform spanning stablecoins and traditional payment rails. The report, The Honest Price of Stablecoin FX, challenges the assumption that stablecoins automatically deliver cheaper foreign exchange, revealing how costs vary significantly depending on the liquidity provider, direction of the transaction and timing.
Based on 27,057 quotes from 20 stablecoin liquidity providers across 52 currencies, each at a $100,000 notional, and compared with two leading fintechs and an institutional FX desk, the research shows where stablecoins deliver genuine FX savings, and where they do not.
Luke Wingfield Digby, co-founder of Orbital, said: “Stablecoins can make cross-border payments cheaper, but the devil is in the details. Our research shows that the same payment can have very different economics depending on which way the money moves, who provides the liquidity and when the transaction takes place.”
Key findings include:
Sending $100,000 in stablecoins can cost up to $210 more than receiving it
For businesses already holding USDT, paying out into local currencies costs 10–21 basis points more than collecting in 15 of the 17 currencies analysed. On a $100,000 transaction, that represents an additional $100–$210 in FX costs.
Brazil and Argentina bucked this trend, with collecting money significantly more expensive than sending it. In Brazil, a dollar-to-real conversion cost seven basis points below the fiat mid-market rate, while converting reais into dollars cost 83 basis points above it – a 90 basis point difference.
Stablecoins typically beat fintechs on price, but rarely outperform institutional FX
Stablecoins were cheaper than two leading fintech providers in 30 of 32 comparisons, typically saving 10 to 40 basis points (0.10% to 0.40%). Against an institutional FX desk, they were cheaper in just six of 22 comparisons, with the remaining 16 within 5 basis points of institutional pricing.
For businesses already accessing institutional FX rates, the additional savings from stablecoins may therefore be negligible.
Stablecoin FX can more than double at weekends
Round-the-clock stablecoin settlement doesn’t guarantee round-the-clock, competitive FX pricing. Orbital’s research found that some liquidity providers doubled their charges at weekends or stopped quoting altogether.
Quoted conversion costs for Mexican pesos were 2.6x weekday levels, while Japanese yen costs rose 2.3x. Canadian dollar and Norwegian krone costs also more than doubled.
Traditional FX providers weren’t immune: one leading fintech tripled its FX fee from 0.48% on weekdays to 1.48% on weekends.
The same stablecoin conversion can cost 20x more depending on the provider
In one Southeast Asian currency, one regional liquidity provider quoted a round trip at 16 basis points and another at 322, a 20-fold difference. Other currencies in the region, where competition was thinner, cost 138 to 286 basis points for a round trip.
Pricing differences were also evident in other currencies, with a gap of approximately 44 basis points between the best and worst quotes for Brazilian reais and 19 basis points for Mexican pesos.
One USDT is not always worth one dollar
Across six months, USDT traded at a median price of $0.99922, representing a discount of approximately 0.08% against the US dollar. For a business holding $1 million in USDT and valuing each token at exactly $1, the discount could mean receiving approximately $800 less than its recorded value when converting back into dollars, before fees.
“The opportunity is significant, but realising it requires businesses to understand the true cost of each payment and access competitive pricing rather than assuming stablecoins will always deliver the best rate,” concludes Wingfield Digby.
Important: The Honest Price of Stablecoin FX is produced by Pay Perform Technologies Ltd. The views and information shared here are for general informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, legal, or other professional advice. No representations or warranties are made as to the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the data or content provided. The analysis is subject to known limitations, assumptions, and estimation methods including but not limited as outlined in the Methodology & Limitations section. Readers should conduct their own due diligence and consult with a qualified advisor before making any financial decisions. Mentions of specific digital assets, protocols, or platforms are for analytical purposes only and do not constitute endorsements or evaluations of their quality, stability, legality, or regulatory status. Orbital does not recommend buying, selling, or holding any particular digital asset and makes no representations regarding the suitability of any such asset for any use.
Orbital is the trading name representing the Pay Perform group of traditional financial and digital asset service providers. Regulatory status of Orbital’s services differs per jurisdiction, and you may not be protected by government or regulatory protection schemes. Please see Legal Disclosures for more information or reach out to us at: hello@getorbital.com.
About Orbital group
Orbital group is an award-winning global payment orchestration platform specialised in delivering secure, seamless and compliant stablecoin and traditional payments for enterprises. It equips B2B and B2C businesses with an all-in-one platform that offers named vIBANs, stablecoin wallets, and the ability to pay-in, payout, and exchange across all major stablecoins, traditional currencies, and over 80 exotic currencies interchangeably.
Founded in 2017, Orbital is the trading name representing the group of traditional financial and digital asset service providers: Pay Perform Limited – a Financial Conduct Authority authorised payment institution, Pay Perform (Gibraltar) Limited – an e-money issuer permissioned by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, Pay Perform Digital Limited a distributed ledger technology provider authorised by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission and Pay Perform Switzerland GmbH a member of VQF SRO, an officially recognised self-regulatory organisation (SRO) according to the Swiss Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Orbital’s multi-jurisdictional licensing framework, combined with compliance with international security standards including SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001:2022, CSA TPC, and Cyber Essentials Plus, enables the platform to seamlessly unify both stablecoin and traditional currency payments on a global scale.