One target of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is that by 2030, remittance fees should be less than 3%, and total fees to send and receive money between a pair of countries should be no more than 5%. Some researchers believe that to be truly affordable, the first goal should be even less than 3%.
The International Monetary Fund has estimated that reaching this target could generate $32bn (£26bn), even apart from the direct-cost savings.
This is because remittances have such powerful knock-on effects for the economy, and people tend to send more in remittances when fees are lower.
Yet the world is far off this target. According to the World Bank, the global average is 6.2%, over double the target.
What about the on-ramp and off-ramp fees? Wouldn’t it be higher than the traditional transfer fee?
Generally, the peer-to-peer rate is about 10% higher than the KYC rate. So if you buy Monero with KYC in your country and then send it to whoever and they sell it peer-to-peer, they will generally get about 10% above the market price. Cash by mail or cash in person are going to be the cheapest ways simply because there aren’t online platforms involved that can reverse the transaction.