Sending $200 in USDC on Base costs about 86% less than traditional services, Coinbase study says

The headline number

Base pointed to one finding from new research on 20 October: “Sending $200 in USDC on Base costs roughly 86% less than traditional services.” The figure comes from The Always-On Dollar, a report Coinbase produced with The Block.

The report explains the comparison. United Nations data cited in it shows migrant workers typically send $200 to $300 home every one to two months. For a $200 transfer, USDC on Base came out about 86% cheaper than a volume-weighted blend of traditional services, with a transfer fee of about 1%, made up of a small network fee and the cost of cashing out. The authors add that after 17 transfers, the savings alone could pay for another $200 payment home.

Money that moves outside banking hours

Coinbase led its own post with a different statistic: most stablecoin volume moves on nights, weekends and holidays, 73% of it to be exact. In the report, that share covers screened stablecoin transfer volume over the 12 months to 31 July 2026 that took place outside US banking hours, measured with Dune Analytics data.

The report also says stablecoins moved an average of more than $400 million an hour in organic transfer activity in the third quarter of 2026, and that the x402 payments standard, started at Coinbase, had processed 249 million payments by September 2026.

How the comparison was built

The remittance chart uses the World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide data for the third quarter of 2025 and providers’ published fee schedules as of August 2026. The stablecoin figure covers the network fee and off-ramping, not any extra charges a particular app or exchange might add on top.

For larger business payments, the report finds transfers of $100,000 or more reached their destination within an hour about 97.7% of the time on stablecoin rails, compared with roughly half of global wholesale wires.

What to take from it

The study is commissioned research from a company that runs Base and benefits from stablecoin use, so it is best read as a well-sourced industry argument rather than an independent audit. The underlying point is still useful: for small cross-border amounts, a network fee measured in cents leaves the cost of converting back to local money as the main expense. Anyone sending USDC home should compare the full cost, including the recipient’s cash-out, before switching.