The old route
A transfer from one country to another usually passes through several banks. Each keeps its own records, each holds a balance with the next one in line, and each settles on its own schedule. Money is pre-funded in accounts abroad so it can be released on arrival, and the cost of tying up that money ends up in the fee.
Weekends, holidays and cut-off times add days. Every hop adds a charge and a chance of a returned payment.
The on-chain route
On a public ledger the sender and the recipient look at the same book. A dollar token such as USDG moves from one address to another in a single transaction. When the block that contains it is final, the recipient holds the money; there is no second ledger to reconcile against.
The chain runs around the clock, so there is no cut-off. The fee is the cost of the computation, paid in the network's native token, not a percentage of the amount sent.
Where cash comes in
Most people still earn and spend in local currency. Anchors are the businesses that swap cash for tokens at the edges: a remittance shop, an exchange or a bank that takes local money on one side and pays out on the other. The on-chain leg in the middle is the fast, cheap part.
Gleo's payment tools focus on that middle leg today and on making anchors easy to plug in next.