Costs and speeds for banks and agents vary by provider and corridor and change over time — the figures below are general context, not a live quote. Always check current pricing with any provider before sending.
Why traditional transfers cost what they do
A bank wire or remittance agent transfer usually involves several intermediary steps — correspondent banks, currency conversion desks, local payout partners — and each one can take a cut, either as a visible fee or as a weaker exchange rate baked into the quote. According to World Bank remittance-cost data, sending money into Sub-Saharan Africa has historically carried some of the highest costs of any global corridor, at times running into double-digit percentages of the amount sent.
On top of the fee itself, bank wires and agent transfers usually run on business-day cut-off times — a transfer initiated on a Friday evening commonly doesn't move until Monday.
How a stablecoin transfer through Enta is structurally different
When you send USD₮ (or BTC, or XAU₮) through Enta, there's no correspondent-bank chain and no business-day cut-off. The transfer settles directly on the network it's sent on:
Most networks Enta supports — Spark and most EVM chains — are free to send on, with confirmation in seconds.
Ethereum carries a small network gas fee.
The main Bitcoin network is slower by design, trading speed for being the most established, most widely supported route.
There's no weekend, no branch hours, and no correspondent bank taking a margin along the way — the fee structure is the network's, not a chain of intermediaries'.
Where the comparison isn't apples-to-apples
To be fair to the alternatives:
A bank wire or agent transfer typically pays out directly into a bank account or as physical cash. Getting from USD₮ in Enta to cash in a bank account still requires an off-ramp step — see What payment methods does Shiga support? and Can my funds get stuck on Portal Out?
Banks and licensed agents are heavily regulated and familiar to people who've never touched crypto — that familiarity has real value, especially for a first transfer.
The receiving side needs to be comfortable holding or converting stablecoins, which isn't yet as universal as "receive it in my bank account."
The honest takeaway
For value that both sides are comfortable holding as USD₮ (or another supported asset), Enta typically removes the intermediary fees and cut-off delays that make traditional transfers slow and expensive. Where the money ultimately needs to land as cash in a bank account, the comparison should include that final off-ramp step, not just the transfer itself.
Still have questions? Message us in the chat — we're happy to help.