The most transformative application of stablecoins lies in cross-border transactions—a sector long paralyzed by the inefficiencies of SWIFT, the 50-year-old messaging network that controls 90% of global payment flows. While SWIFT’s cobwebbed architecture imposes punishing costs (6.3% fees on $200 remittances), days-long delays, and exclusion of 1.4 billion unbanked people, stablecoins offer a seismic alternative: settlements in seconds for pennies, accessible via any smartphone.