I recently stumbled upon a report titled "The Relentless Rise of Stablecoins" and it got me thinking about my own experiences with cryptocurrency. The report starts with a jaw-dropping fact: stablecoins have processed over $11 trillion in transactions, almost surpassing Visa. That led me to wonder, how did stablecoins quietly become such a powerhouse? And what use-case they are best suitable to solve?

My journey with crypto has been more than just trading for profits. A year ago, I took a trip to India for my wedding, and as we all know, weddings involve a lot of spending — from shopping to treating guests and family. This was my longest visit to India in the last ten years since I moved to the US. So I decided to experiment with every possible way to handle transactions in India with my USD, all to minimize fees as much as possible.

Dealing with Dollars and Rupees

Initially, I considered bringing cash and exchanging it at the airport, but it’s not as straightforward as it seems. I could potentially face losses of 6% due to fees and extra charges.

Then came the idea of using a money transfer service, but living in the US without an Indian bank account made it tricky. I had to rely on my friends or family to withdraw cash for me. This option was difficult, and the money transfer services were expensive, costing me approximately 5.43% in total fees.

I also explored the option of using my US bank to get Indian Rupees, but regretfully, this turned out to be the least favorable choice, with fees reaching 8%. [See screenshots] Even though travel cards like Chase Sapphire and Capital One Venture seemed promising, I was disappointed when I used them in India because the conversion rates were not at all satisfactory. In the end, all attempted methods came at a hefty cost.

Dilip Ratha, an economist at the World Bank, actively working to lower remittance fees, shared his personal experience during a trip to India. In his attempt to withdraw money in India from his international account, he faced a substantial 9.4% cost. This highlights the real challenges in the current system.

Crypto to the Rescue… Kind of

The involvement of multiple intermediaries made the cross-border transfer process expensive, and that's when I stumbled upon the option of using stablecoins, specifically USDC, for cross-border transactions. The promise of "low fees" and zero volatility, thanks to their peg to the US dollar, caught my attention.

However, navigating cross-border transactions between two different monetary systems has its problems. I found myself facing limitations due to crypto’s network effects, forcing me to convert my USDC to INR. The real challenge came when I had to off-ramp and convert USDC into the local currency. I considered two "low-cost" options:

• Firstly, paying someone willing to accept USDC directly, which turned out impossible due to network effect - no one was accepting because no one was using it

• Second, I could use a centralized exchange (CEX), but this required relying on someone local in India. Fortunately, having family there allowed me to create their account and facilitate the complex off-ramping process.

The silver lining is that stablecoin lived up to the promise of "low-fees." I paid roughly 0.09% in total fees but the whole process from sending USDC from the US to converting it to Rupees in India—was a struggle. Despite my tech background, I found the process of getting in and out of crypto very complex - like remembering keys, choosing stable tokens, dealing with networks, swapping, and bridging, all of it makes it difficult to use it every day. It’s like asking people to know TCP/IP to use the internet.

My perception of different chains was fascinating too. Terms like 'rollup' or 'layer 2' seemed unfamiliar to me. For me, each chain's token, be it USDC on Optimism or USDT on Tron, represented distinct entities entirely. Blockchain, similar to TCP/IP, is a foundational technology. Users don’t NEED to understand it. Successful tech is user-friendly. It fits into people’s habits and makes them feel comfortable and familiar.

Consider this fact from the United Nations: About one billion people in the world – or one in seven – are involved with remittances, either by sending or receiving them. It is not about the money being sent home, it is about the impact on people’s lives. The money received lifts millions out of poverty.

Now, It’s time to build!!