TORONTO – Canadians send billions of dollars abroad every year and pay hundreds of millions of dollars for the privilege.
While the growing number of options for sending money has helped reduce fees, sending a typical $200 money transfer from Canada still costs about six percent, or $12, on average, according to the World Bank.
Meanwhile, remittances from Canada rose to $18 billion last year, up from just over $7 billion a decade ago, meaning even more money is being eaten up by fees.
However, stablecoin proponents believe they can help.
“You can quickly send money anywhere in the world for less than a penny,” Didier Lavallee, chief executive of digital asset company Tetra Trust Co., said of the promise of so-called stablecoins.
Unlike often-volatile cryptocurrencies whose prices are based on speculation, stablecoin issuers hold assets (mostly US Treasuries) to support their value, making them a much more reliable way to store and send funds.
Lavallee, who is working to bring a stablecoin pegged to the Canadian dollar to market, said he doesn't expect it to be used for everyday purchases such as buying a cup of coffee. Instead, they are more relevant to the roughly 20 per cent of Canadians who send money abroad.
“If you do remittances or send money to your family in another country, then this type of token will be especially interesting to you because it will be one of our main use cases.”
But while stablecoins are touted as a potentially cheap way to send money abroad, there are important considerations to keep in mind.
One of the biggest issues is familiarity and comfort with the programs needed to send and receive tokens.
“A lot of people, I would even say most people, just have no idea how to use coins or cryptocurrency in general,” said Enoch Omololu, a financial expert with Savvy New Canadians.
“They're just not knowledgeable enough to use it on either the sender's side or the receiver's side.”
Omololu excluded stablecoins from a recent report he produced on the best money transfer options due to their added complexity, as well as the increased chances of fraud, email scams and permanent loss of money if sent to the wrong wallet address.
“It just opens up a new world of risk,” he said.
However, stablecoin infrastructure continues to improve to minimize potential problems, Lavallee said.
Tetra itself has attracted investment from companies such as Wealthsimple, ATB Financial, National Bank and Shopify, some of which are working on ways to simplify the process.
“You can open a Wealthsimple account and essentially are a few clicks away from purchasing a stablecoin in the US and then sending that stablecoin,” Lavallee said.
“All you really need is another party receiving the money to have a digital wallet that can accept the underlying token, which is a pretty simple thing to do now.”
While sending stablecoins can be quite simple and cheap for those familiar with the platforms, moving money in and out of the system adds costs.
Cryptocurrency trading platforms charge a range of fees for buying and selling these stablecoins, which can vary in the same way as regular currency exchanges.
There are also more specialized ways to buy stablecoins, such as Paytrie in Canada, which accepts wire transfer payments and charges a 0.6% fee for buying and selling, as well as some additional costs depending on which blockchain is used.
Omololu said he has sent funds through stablecoins and it has worked perfectly every time, but it can get complicated if someone wants to convert the money into local currency.
“It can be cumbersome if you want to spend it like cash.”
Full value means that stablecoins may provide the ability to send money, but may not be the best choice for many.
Money transfer company Wise said it is always open to exploring new technology options for sending money, but with a global average cost per transaction of about 0.54 percent, its existing platforms compete well.
“The reality now is that the cost of moving money using stablecoins is actually still higher on most routes than just using Wise,” Ankita D’Mello, chief product officer at Wise, said in a statement.
Since stablecoins add another option to the plethora of options available for sending money, Omololu recommends narrowing down your options by asking three key questions.
You should first look at what service options are available in the country you want to send money to, as there are often restrictions. The next thing to pay attention to is the transfer time, as it can vary from almost instantaneous to several days. And third, compare the entire cost of the transfer, including any upfront fees, as well as fees hidden in inflated exchange rates.
And while sifting through all the options can be daunting, it's an improvement over the past, when choices were so limited that people didn't know how much extra they were paying.
“More and more people are realizing that they are losing money by going the traditional route,” Omololu said.
“Many people are interested in learning about apps they can use, such as cheaper ways to send money abroad, faster ways to send money abroad, and secure ways to send money abroad.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2025.
