Let’s take a look at a journey across stablecoins USDC, DAI, and USDT for ecommerce payments.
First things first
Let’s do a quick rundown on why stablecoins present the opportunity to increase the efficiency of our current digital payments landscape. This CNBC article (call for regulation aside) provides the core argument that stablecoins achieve what was Satoshi’s initial vision, peer to peer electronic cash. No middle man taking 10% on remittance, no closure on holidays, and no insolvency. Those are big claims, so we decided to do some testing- are stablecoins the product that best fulfill the need for an “internet level” peer to peer electronic cash?
For the sake of diversity, we tested the top three stablecoins on three separate services. The objective for each stablecoin was to purchase a $50 Amazon gift card.
First up, USDC
Cost: $55.99
Time: 20 minutes +
USDC is by far the fastest growing stablecoin, and has caught a lot of public attention lately as a more regulated alternative to tether. For the sake of this article, we are comparing performance and not existential attributes. We completed the USDC purchase through a service called Coin Cards. They utilize the Coinbase Commerce API to complete transactions.
We were pleased to see that there was no premium being charged for the card itself, so bravo to Coins Cards for that. However, with Coinbase Commerce + ethereum gas fees… we have some words. How on earth can we expect “normies” to adopt blockchain and crypto if it’s “safest” product necessitates an 11% fee? On top of that, the transaction was slow on the Ethereum network, and Coinbase Commerce needed 8 confirmations before completion. All in all this transaction took 20 minutes+.
Dai, AKA USDC with a “decentralized” mask on
Cost: $54.83
Time: 14 minutes
Again, not here for existential commentary, but it is important to note that DAI is over 50% collateralized by USDC. We used BitPay for this transaction. The experience was cheaper than USDC, because BitPay automatically selects the slowest gas fee option. All in all the transaction cost $54.83. It is worth noting that the BitPay UI/UX was by far and away better than any other crypto commerce experience. All in all this transaction took 14 minutes.
The least likely solution - USDT
Cost: $59.11
Time: 8 minutes
Most folks in crypto know that USDT was born from a trading need. Seldom has USDT been seen as anything other than a utility for exchange trading. Nonetheless, we decided to experiment with it. We used an EU based service called CoinsBee.
Gas was very expensive at $6.11, AND we were charged a $3 fee for the card procurement.
Let’s give it up one time for the future of France!
Slower, and more expensive.
Is this the actualization of peer to peer electronic payments? In our opinion, far from it. It is safe to say that in its current form, there is no way that stablecoins can fulfill the vision of peer to peer electronic cash. This isn’t to say that these same networks are not trying to build better, but the current state of affairs shows a glaring hole.
Kado is building a better way.
Please join our telegram, and follow us on twitter for the opportunity to take part in Kado Pay. It is our goal to help expand the mission of Terra Money, and bring T-Commerce to the masses. With Kado, our services will bring you to the closest to $50 for a $50 Amazon purchase you can get.
This is the way, anon…
