| # | Myth we keep hearing | The reality (evidence‑based) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Stablecoins are still fringe.” | Stable‑coin circulation passed US $204 bn in H1 2025 and is already ≥ US $250 bn today (99Bitcoins, Bitget). |
| 2 | “Regulators will shut this down.” | Both the EU’s MiCA (in force since 30 Jun 2024) and the U.S. FIT 21 / GENIUS Act now give formal licensing tracks for issuers and CASPs (Financial Times, Bitget). |
| 3 | “Emerging‑market users don’t have crypto wallets.” | Smart‑phone penetration > 76 % in launch corridors, and 35‑50 % of SMEs used non‑bank fintechs for cross‑border payments in 2024 (McKinsey & Company). |
| 4 | “Cost advantage over Western Union is tiny.” | World Bank puts the average US $200 remittance fee at 6.26 % in 2025 Q1 (Remittance Prices Worldwide); Circle’s Félix pilot cut fees 40 % US→MX, BCRemit clears at ≈ 1 % (Circle). |
| 5 | “Stablecoins lack off‑ramp liquidity.” | USDC now redeems in USD/EUR/GBP; RemiDe’s payout MoUs cover 84 % of banked accounts across first five markets (internal). |
| 6 | “AML/Travel‑Rule compliance can’t scale.” | 99 jurisdictions have Travel‑Rule legislation in force or in flight (Notabene). Sub‑second screening APIs (Flagright < 0.5 s) are production‑grade (flagright.com). |
| 7 | “A USDT/USDC de‑peg wipes out users.” | RemiDe caps any single‑issuer exposure at 35 % and sweeps excess balances into T‑bill funds intraday (see Treasury Memo v2.2). |
| 8 | “Incumbent fintechs can copy this in a quarter.” | Tech is copyable; corridor licences, hashed‑KYC graph & pre‑funded liquidity are not. Estimated 12‑18 months to replicate. |
| 9 | “Customer‑acquisition costs will stay high.” | Ten‑week growth sprint dropped blended CAC to €11 and delivers €3.50 contribution margin by transaction 3 (pilot data). |
| 10 | “There’s no exit; regulators will strangle margins.” | MiCA + PSD3 passporting raises the premium on regulated corridor assets; Tier‑2 banks pay 4‑7× rev for such books (Reuters). |
| Trend | Hard numbers |
|---|---|
| Global remittances hit record $685 bn (2024) 🟢 | World Bank Migration & Development Brief 40 (World Bank Blogs) |
| Stable‑coin supply cleared $204 bn in Jan 2025, > $250 bn by Jul 🟢 | CertiK Skynet H1 2025 (99Bitcoins) |
| Human‑readable handles explode 🟢 | Unstoppable Domains 4.2 M (Mar 2025) (GlobeNewswire) ; ENS > 2.5 M .eth (Medium) |
| Remittance fees remain punitive 🟢 | Global avg. 6.26 %, African corridors 7.9 % (Remittance Prices Worldwide) |
| USDC pilot cost cuts 40‑90 % 🟢 | Félix & BCRemit case studies (Circle) |
| Cross‑border payment TAM swelling 🟢 | Grand View: $320 bn rev. by 2030 (Grand View Research); FXC Intel: B2B flows $31.6 T → $50 T (2032) (FXC Intelligence) |
| API fatigue & fragmented ramps 🟢 | BIS/CPMI warns fragmented API standards hinder X‑border efficiency (Oct 2024) (Bank for International Settlements) |
| Interoperability now strategic 🟡 | FATF flags AML gaps in DeFi, urges chain‑agnostic protocols (FATF) |
| Banking‑as‑a‑Service boom 🟡 | BaaS market to $73 bn by 2032, 15 % CAGR (iCrowdNewswire) |
| SMEs crave instant settlement 🟢 | McKinsey 2024 survey: 35‑50 % of SMEs already use fintechs (McKinsey & Company) |
| Travel Rule adoption critical mass 🟢 | 99 jurisdictions have legislation underway (Notabene) |
| Compliance‑as‑API hits sub‑second 🟢 | Flagright avg. < 0.5 s screening (flagright.com) |
| Web3 wallets morph into super‑apps 🟡 | Growing surface: swaps, NFTs, ID (multiple industry reports) |
| VASPs de‑risk self‑hosted flows 🟢 | EU VASPs 55 % more likely to block unhosted wallets (Notabene 2025) (Notabene) |
| MiCA patchwork raises EU complexity 🟡 | ESMA flags uneven supervision; only a handful of pan‑EU licences issued to date (Reuters) |