Md Tarek Hossain: A new report from data firm Dune, backed by global payments giant Visa, says the world is slowly moving “beyond dollarisation”. Stablecoins tied to local currencies – not just the US dollar – are starting to change how money crosses borders. For millions of Bangladeshi families who rely on remittances, this could mean less waiting, lower fees and more money reaching home in taka.

Stablecoins are digital coins that live on blockchain technology. Most today are linked to the US dollar. But a fresh wave is growing: coins pegged to the euro, Brazilian real, Singapore dollar and other national moneys. The report calls them “local currency stablecoins”. In simple terms, they let people send euros, reais or Singapore dollars instantly across the world, without changing them first into dollars and back again.

Cross-border payments already total about $208 trillion a year. By 2032 that figure is expected to top $320 trillion. Yet ordinary people still face problems. Only one in three retail payments settles in an hour. Remittances – the money workers send home – cost an average 6.5 per cent, mostly because of exchange-rate charges.

Local currency stablecoins cut out those extra steps. They keep the money in the home currency all the way. No long waits for banks to open. No costly middlemen. The report says this is especially useful in countries where getting dollars is expensive or slow.

For banks and financial firms the gains are clear. They avoid big foreign-exchange risks. Treasury work becomes simpler. Payments can even include built-in rules for tax or reporting. Everything stays on programmable rails that work 24 hours a day.

Visa is already building bridges. The company is linking these new stablecoins to its familiar card and payout systems. Banks and shops do not need to rip up their old setups. They can simply add stablecoin options. The report calls this “incremental, practical and institution-friendly”.

Why does this matter in Bangladesh? Remittances from Britain, the Middle East and elsewhere keep many households afloat. Garment workers in Gazipur, drivers in London, nurses in Saudi Arabia – they send money home every month. Today that cash often travels through dollar channels, losing value at each turn. A local-currency option could let the sender choose taka straight away, cutting costs and speeding delivery.

Md Rahman, a London-based Bangladeshi who sends money to his parents in Dhaka every month, knows the pain. “I pay fees and watch the rate change before it reaches them,” he says. “If a stablecoin in taka or euro could fix that, I would use it tomorrow.”

The report does not promise overnight change. It notes that local stablecoins must still follow national rules and work smoothly with existing banks. But the direction is clear: they reduce dependence on the dollar, support local businesses and open new doors for small firms and ordinary people.

As one section of the study puts it, these coins “move local money on global, programmable rails”. For a country like Bangladesh, hungry for faster, cheaper digital payments, that message lands at just the right time.

The full report, Beyond Dollarization: The rise of local currency stablecoins, is available online. It shows the future of money may not be one single currency – but many currencies, moving freely and fairly.