Can stablecoins cut remittance costs drastically?
“Absolutely,” Sumit Gupta, Co-founder of CoinDCX, tells Fortune India. “If the government opens up, stablecoins can disrupt cross-border use cases like remittances overnight. Right now, people lose 5-6% in bank fees, blockchain can bring that close to zero. The tech is ready; what we lack is a sandbox or regulatory framework for companies to experiment safely. Stablecoins and tokenisation will be massive themes this year and next, you’ll see a lot happening.”
Gupta says that since all successful stablecoins, USDT, USDC, BUSD, are backed by major exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, and Bitfinex, it shows how crucial exchanges are in making stablecoins work. “If someone builds one in India, we’re happy to support it, technically and in terms of distribution.”
The CEO and Co-founder of CoinSwitch, Ashish Singhal, proposes another option for stablecoin adoption in India—via CBDC. “India’s capital control rules make P2P transfers tough i.e. money must flow through the RBI. That’s why a government-backed CBDC might work better as a stablecoin here. Still, private players could build one too, but it must be regulated. The big opportunity is in remittances, cutting costs and speeding up transfers could be game-changing for India,” he says.