If you are told that there are ways you can get the same exchange rate or better rates as shown on xe.com or Google when you want to transfer Australian Dollars (AUD) to Indian Rupees (INR), would you believe it?

If that sounds too good to be true, don’t fret, it isn’t. With the power of blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies, it is possible.

By converting your fiat money, i.e. AUD, into cryptocurrencies, they can easily be sent abroad and converted to another fiat currency within only a few minutes.

The following article guides you through three ways you can transfer AUD to INR in only a few minutes to a couple of hours of time at standard internet prices or better exchange rates — included with fees and taxes.

Overseas remittances using traditional platforms and cryptocurrencies

In general, traditional banks and fintech platforms such as PayPal, Wise, and Remitly act as middlemen. But once customers deposit their money, platforms become custodians of the money until the transaction is over. A typical bank wire transfer takes three to seven days for an overseas transaction. For each transaction, the customer pays an upfront fee for service and receives an uncompetitive exchange rate. Although fintech platforms provide faster remittances while keeping exchange rates and fees more competitive, customers still lose a significant amount of money.

Technological advancements made in decentralized blockchains have come to the rescue for cross-border remittances by using cryptocurrencies. Decentralized blockchains grant everyone total control and full transparency over transactions. With more than $2 trillion global market capitalization in cryptocurrencies, cross-border remittances are growing on an everyday basis because of improved security and minute speed remittances with the lowest possible fee. A standard comparison between traditional platforms and crypto platforms is made in the table below.

The best platform to start your overseas remittances using cryptocurrencies would be via trusted crypto exchanges. By signing up with a crypto exchange, anyone can buy, sell, and withdraw anytime of day. Unlike traditional markets such as ASX, NYSE, NASDAQ, BSE, which operate only a few hours per day on working days, and are heavily manipulated by financial institutions, crypto markets are free markets that are open 24*7*365 days — hence, so are crypto exchanges.

Three ways to transfer AUD to INR using crypto exchanges

Crypto exchanges are operated per the corresponding national government laws for securities, anti-money laundering (AML), and terrorist combating laws. Selecting a secure and trustworthy exchange to register and start sending money has been a major challenge for people who try crypto for the first time. There are some simple tips.

First, choosing an exchange that is compliant and under local regulations can ensure your personal information and digital assets security. In Australia, eToro, Binance-Australia, Digital Surge, CoinJar, CoinSpot, and Swyftx are highly recommended. And in India, WazirX, XREX, CoinDCX, and Bitbns are popular and trusted.

Crypto exchanges collect deposit fees, trading fees, and withdrawal fees. Generally, trading fees vary per exchange, type and amount of coins/tokens traded, but the average is around 1%. With increased adoption of cryptocurrencies, popular coins/tokens like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) became expensive to move from one wallet to another due to increased gas fees that must be paid for using the blockchain network. In addition, the volatility of these coins/tokens has been one of the downside reasons for many years for not being socially acceptable as a medium of tender, especially for cross-border remittances.

One great piece of news is that with the launch of stablecoins such as USDT, USDC, and DAI, volatility issues are mended. Moreover, stablecoins — such as USDT — are pegged to and backed by US dollars. The exchange rate of USDT and USD are always maintained at around 1:1; transferring through TRON Network (TRC-20 USDT) only costs $1 for any amount of USDT. This is one reason it gained bulk adoption among all crypto exchanges.

Now you can choose three ways to transfer your AUD to INR by using crypto exchanges and to get the best exchange rate.

1）Use crypto coins/tokens as a medium of transfer

Top crypto coins/tokens such as BTC, ETH, and XRP are often used as a medium of transfer. You can choose one or more exchanges where you can deposit your AUD into the exchange, buy one of the aforementioned tokens, and sell for INR within the same or different exchanges.

For example, if you choose CoinJar to deposit your 1,000 AUD due to its zero trade fees, you can buy 1,000 AUD worth Ripple (XRP) token i.e. 896 XRP (the rate at the time of writing on Coinjar.com). Since CoinJar doesn’t accept other fiat money currencies besides AUD, the purchased XRP can be withdrawn to another exchange that accepts INR withdrawals such as WazirX, XREX, and CoinDCX. Withdrawal fees for XRP using the XRP network cost only 0.25 XRP and take only a few seconds to approve the transaction and less than five minutes to transfer. Hence your Indian-based crypto exchange account receives 895.75 XRP.

If you choose XREX for its fast conversion of crypto to INR and for its best exchange rates you would get 57,270 INR for the given 895.75 XRP (the rate at the time of writing on the XREX exchange).

Followed by withdrawing the INR to your linked Indian bank account free of cost through XREX, voila! You just transferred AUD to INR by paying only a fee of 0.25 XRP i.e. around 16 INR.

Try XREX for yourself for all your cross-border transaction needs. Download the XREX app here

2）Use stablecoins as a medium of transfer

Since XRP is highly volatile, fluctuations in its value can be a risk even though transfer time takes only five minutes. Hence, using stablecoin such as USDT for the medium of transfer can be a smart choice.

On CoinJar, you can get 712 USDT for 1,000 AUD at the time of this writing. You can transfer USDT to XREX via the TRC-20 network that costs 1 USDT. Hence, you would receive 711 USDT to your XREX account within five minutes.

You can directly convert USDT to INR. At the time of writing, 1 USDT equals 79.74 INR including conversion charges on XREX. It means you will receive 56,723 INR which can be withdrawn into your linked Indian bank account free of cost.

This way you don’t have to worry about price fluctuations because USDT value is maintained almost 1:1 with USD.

3）Use P2P platforms

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) trading has become popular in many countries, such as India. P2P trading remains popular due to its advantages of spontaneous trading, anonymity, and multiple payment options.

Switching to Binance, you can purchase USDT with your 1,000 AUD on the P2P market for USDT/AUD. At the time of this writing, one seller is selling 1 USDT for 1.43 AUD. Hence, you can buy 699 USDT for 1,000 AUD. You can transfer the 1,000 AUD to the seller using Transferwise.

Without needing to transfer USDT to anyone over blockchain, you can sell the 699 USDT within the same P2P platform but for USDT/INR pair. At the time of this writing, a buyer was ready to buy 1 USDT for 80.88 INR on this platform. This way you would receive 56,535 INR; the buyer can transfer INR to your bank via provided UPI ID or IMPS.

However, many have concerns over trust issues while doing P2P trading with strangers online. XREX’s BitCheck provides the most secure payment guarantee which escrows funds for P2P transactions online. Doing P2P transactions via BitCheck is the best option, considering trust and safety issues.

Comparison

Given three ways to use crypto exchanges for overseas remittances of AUD to INR, it may get a little confusing to choose the best method. Don’t worry, please find the following comparison table which lists risks and benefits of each approach:

• Crypto coins/tokens are volatile in nature. As a result, even though it takes less than 10 min for the overall transfer, sometimes the final price can be significantly different within the given time.
• Whereas in the approach using stablecoins, the price difference is minimum to unnoticeable. However, transfer fees for stablecoins are a minimum of 1 USDT. This may be higher for different stable coins such as USDC or DAI, depending upon the exchange and network used to transfer.
• The transfer speed of crypto token Ripple (XRP) is only five to 30 seconds on the network; overall time consumed is less than 10 minutes. The network fee of only 0.25 XRP is charged per transaction. This is a competitive challenge for traditional platforms which charge up to 6% per transaction.
• The final received amount is discerning to be more than the value shown on xe.com or Google. This is because of the premium applied to different cryptocurrencies in India. It can be different for various crypto coins/tokens on different exchanges, and you are fully entitled to own it.
• Finally, crypto exchanges wallet withdrawals are commonly executed only to account holders’ linked bank accounts. You can link any Indian international bank such as Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Yes Bank, ICICI Bank, Citibank, or national banks such as State bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank, Canara bank and so on.
• However, if you are looking for flexibility about how to receive money, you can choose from the list of choices available on your platform by using P2P transfers.

Conclusion

Crypto exchanges can be used as a niche for overseas remittances and specifically for exchanging AUD to INR. You can benefit from the premium posed for cryptocurrencies in India.

On the downside, you may have to create accounts on at least two crypto exchanges since not many exchanges support both AUD deposits and INR withdrawals… Hence, we showcased an example of depositing AUD in CoinJar exchange, transferring via XRP/USDT, and withdrawing INR on XREX exchange.

However, P2P markets such as Binance P2P or XREX BitCheck are also alternative ways to directly interact with the buyer/seller with a minimum commission fee to the exchange.

It is only a matter of time until most traditional fintech platforms may shift their underlying tech to blockchain networks for overseas remittances. However, you can start utilizing the crypto platform and get exchange rates better than XE.com and Google rates for your global transfers.

Download the XREX app here and enjoy a smooth and secure transaction experience.