Decision tree. Receiver has a smartphone and bank/wallet account (the overwhelming majority): USDT to a Monica address — cheapest, fastest, best rate. Sender can't or won't touch an exchange: LemFi, Sendwave, or TapTap Send — decent apps whose cost hides in the rate. Receiver is unbanked with no smartphone: Western Union/MoneyGram cash pickup remains the fallback. Large formal transfers needing bank-statement provenance: Wise to a dom account. But measured purely in naira-received per dollar sent, the stablecoin route has won every comparison we can construct.
For anyone with a smartphone on both ends: USDT via Monica — ~$1 total cost vs the 8.8% traditional average, minutes vs days, live market rate vs marked-down payout rates. Fintech apps are the runner-up; legacy operators only win for cash-to-cash.
A verified Monica.cash account — BVN or NIN plus a selfie, about 4 minutes — and any Nigerian bank account for the naira.
About $1 in network fees on TRC-20. Monica charges 0% to receive, convert, and withdraw.
Seconds to a few minutes for on-chain confirmation, then under 60 seconds from conversion to bank alert — 24/7, weekends included.
0% fees on the Nigeria side. Live market rate. Every Nigerian bank.
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