...to speed up/cheapen the money-transfer process, we need to get away from using traditional banks entirely.
The solution is not to make the process of converting to and from fiat faster and more decentralized, but rather to "close the commerce loop." It shouldn't be necessary to deal with fiat at all. This is done by growing the Bitcoin economy of goods and services to a sufficient size that someone can stay entirely within Bitcoins or IOUs without the need to deal with fiat.
I would like to distance myself from the current banking system and embrace bitcoin and ripple, but the problem is I am currently paid a paycheck from my employer in USD direct deposited to my bank account. I thought coinbase would be a way to step from there into the bitcoin ecosystem, but the other day when I tried to use it they said they had already passed their daily limit. Hopefully such services will be more reliable in the future.
Edit: Ok, I got my transfer to go through now. But still, the amount you can move through them is limited, so they are only a part of the solution.