Remittances & Banking the Unbanked

Learn how cryptocurrency is transforming international money transfers and reaching people without bank access — alongside the lessons from M-Pesa.

21 min · beginner · part of Real-World Use Cases

The Global Remittance Market

Every year, hundreds of millions of migrant workers send money home to their families. They are construction workers in the Gulf states wiring money to Bangladesh and the Philippines, domestic workers in Hong Kong sending to Indonesia, agricultural workers in California supporting families in Mexico and Guatemala, software engineers in the UK sending to Nigeria and India. Collectively, these flows make up one of the largest financial channels in the global economy. The numbers are staggering. According to the World Bank, global remittance flows reached approximately **$905 billion in 2024**, up from $865 billion in 2023. Remittances to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) — where most of this money makes a real difference to families — totaled $685 billion in 2024. The top recipient countries by total received are: **India ($129 billion)**, **Mexico ($68 billion)**, **China ($48 billion)**, **the Philippines ($40 billion)**, and **Pakistan ($33 billion)**. For many developing countries, remittances exceed foreign direct investment and overseas development aid combined. They are not abstract economic statistics; they represent food on the table, school fees paid, medical bills covered, and small businesses started. For families receiving remittances, every dollar of fees paid to intermediaries is a dollar that doesn't reach them. **The fees problem**: Despite enormous progress in financial technology, remittance fees remain stubbornly high. According to World Bank data, the global average cost of sending $200 was around 6.4% in 2024. Western Union's published global average fee in Q1 2024 was **6.36%**, though this varies enormously by corridor. Some routes — like sending to remote parts of Sub-Saharan Africa — can carry fees above 10%. Others, like the US-to-Mexico corridor, have become more competitive due to fintech entrants. The UN's Sustainable Development Goal 10c targets reducing remittance fees to 3% by 2030, and progress has been slower than hoped. **The speed problem**: Beyond fees, traditional remittance services typically take 2-5 business days to settle. For a family that needs money urgently — for medical care, school fees, or rent — this delay is a real cost. It also means that remittance senders often have to plan ahead and tie up larger amounts than they would prefer. This is the structural problem that crypto, particularly stablecoins, has been quietly solving over the past few years.

Also in this lesson

How Crypto is Transforming Remittances
The Unbanked, the Underbanked, and Financial Inclusion
M-Pesa: The Mobile Money Lesson
Challenges and Honest Limitations
What the Future Looks Like
For Deeper Reading

Key terms

Remittance: Money sent by someone living abroad to people in their home country. Global remittances reached approximately $905 billion in 2024 ($865B in 2023), with $685B going to low- and middle-income countries.
Unbanked: Adults without access to formal banking services. According to the World Bank Findex 2021, approximately 1.4 billion adults globally are unbanked — about 24% of the world's adult population.
Financial inclusion: Efforts to make financial services accessible and affordable to all populations, regardless of income, location, or formal documentation. A major strategic goal of the World Bank and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
M-Pesa: Kenya's mobile money service, launched March 2007 by Safaricom (40% Vodafone-owned). Serves 66.2 million customers across multiple African markets and processed over 17 billion transactions in 2024.
Top remittance recipients: In 2024: India ($129B), Mexico ($68B), China ($48B), Philippines ($40B), Pakistan ($33B). These countries collectively receive nearly half of all global remittance flows.
Western Union average fee: According to World Bank data, Western Union's global average remittance fee in Q1 2024 was 6.36%. The global industry average is around 6.4%, well above the UN SDG target of 3% by 2030.
Stablecoin remittance volume: Approximately $90 billion in annualized stablecoin remittance volume as of 2025 — meaningful but still small relative to the $905B total global market. The growth has been rapid as on-and-off ramp infrastructure has matured.
On-ramp / off-ramp: Services that convert between local fiat currency and cryptocurrency. The quality of on-ramps and off-ramps determines the practical usability of crypto for financial inclusion in a given country.
Mobile money agent: Local merchants who serve as cash-in/cash-out points for mobile money services like M-Pesa. The agent network is the often-overlooked critical infrastructure that connects digital systems to physical economies.
Underbanked: People who technically have a bank account but lack access to important financial services like credit, insurance, or efficient payment systems. The underbanked population is much larger than the strictly unbanked.
Smartphone penetration: The percentage of adults with smartphone access. As of 2025, about 75% globally — with rapid growth in lower-income countries that creates the technical foundation for crypto-based financial inclusion.

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Educational only — not financial advice.