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Par & ReserveStablecoin Risk Report

Stablecoin 101 · 2 min read

Speed and cost compared with today's payment rails

Settlement time, operating hours, finality and published network fees for ACH, Same Day ACH, Fedwire, FedNow, RTP, cards, SWIFT and stablecoins, and the trade-offs.

Facts current as of

Side by side

The table shows published network fees charged to financial institutions. What a consumer or business pays is set by each bank, credit union or provider and is usually higher. Figures are as of the date on this page.

US payment rails and stablecoins: speed, hours, finality and published network fees

ACH (standard)

Settlement
Next banking day, or up to two for credits[1]
Operating hours
Processes 23¼ hours every banking day; settles four times a banking day; no weekend or holiday settlement[1]
Finality and reversals
Entries can be returned under Nacha rules
Published network fee
FedACH: $0.0035 per item originated or received, with volume discounts (2026)[2]

Same Day ACH

Settlement
Same banking day at 1:00, 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. ET; $1 million per payment, rising to $10 million on September 17, 2027[3][4]
Operating hours
Banking days only[1]
Finality and reversals
As for ACH
Published network fee
FedACH item fee plus $0.0010 same-day surcharge (2026)[2]

Fedwire Funds

Settlement
Real-time gross settlement[5]
Operating hours
9:00 p.m. ET (prior day) to 7:00 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday excluding holidays; 6:45 p.m. ET cutoff for customer transfers[5]
Finality and reversals
"Immediate, final, and irrevocable once processed"[5]
Published network fee
$0.97 per transfer at low volume, down to $0.039 with high-volume incentives (2026)[6]

FedNow

Settlement
Instant; settles in Federal Reserve master accounts[7]
Operating hours
24x7x365[7]
Finality and reversals
Final when settled[7]
Published network fee
$0.045 per credit transfer; first 2,500 a month discounted to $0 in 2026; network limit $10 million (institutions may set lower)[8][9]

RTP (The Clearing House)

Settlement
Instant[10]
Operating hours
24/7/365[10]
Finality and reversals
Irrevocable credit push[10]
Published network fee
$0.045 per credit transfer sent; no fee to receive; limit $10 million since February 9, 2025[11][12]

Card networks

Settlement
Authorization in seconds; clearing and settlement between banks follow in batches[13]
Operating hours
Authorization any time; interbank settlement on banking days[13]
Finality and reversals
Credit cardholders can dispute billing errors under Regulation Z; debit errors under Regulation E; plus network chargeback rules[14][15]
Published network fee
Regulated debit interchange capped at 21¢ + 0.05% + 1¢ fraud adjustment[16]; credit interchange set by network schedules[17]

SWIFT cross-border (gpi)

Settlement
Nearly 60% of gpi payments credited within 30 minutes; almost 100% within 24 hours[18]
Operating hours
Depends on the banks and local systems along the route
Finality and reversals
gpi "stop and recall" service for payments in flight[18]
Published network fee
Bank fees plus FX; sending $200 as a remittance costs 6.36% on average worldwide (all channels)[19]

Stablecoin on a public blockchain

Settlement
Seconds to minutes; Ethereum finality takes two 6.4-minute epochs (about 13 minutes)[20]
Operating hours
24/7/365
Finality and reversals
Network transfers can't be reversed; issuers can freeze tokens[21][22]
Published network fee
Network ("gas") fee varies by chain and congestion[23]; on- and off-ramp fees set by issuers and platforms[21]
Network fees exclude connectivity, participation and monthly minimum fees, and institution-to-customer pricing.

The trade-offs stablecoins bring

  • Chain fees: every on-chain transfer pays a network fee in the chain's own token. The amount changes with demand, so costs are less predictable than a fixed per-item price.[23]
  • Getting in and out: converting between bank dollars and tokens (on- and off-ramps) can carry exchange, platform or redemption fees. GENIUS requires issuers to disclose redemption fees in plain language.[21]
  • Compliance: issuers are financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act. Institutions that hold or move stablecoins still need their own sanctions, AML and third-party risk programs.[21]
  • Operational and smart-contract risk: tokens are software. Bugs, key compromise, or sending to the wrong address or network can cause permanent loss. Cash App, for example, warns that sending to an incompatible network results in "a permanent and irreversible loss of funds."[24][25]
  • Issuer and reserve risk: the token is only as good as the issuer's reserves and its ability to redeem under stress (see What stablecoins are).

Sources

  1. [1]Nacha, ACH Payments Fact Sheet (opens in a new tab).
  2. [2]Federal Reserve Financial Services, FedACH Services 2026 Fee Schedule (opens in a new tab).
  3. [3]Nacha, Increasing the Same Day ACH Dollar Limit ($1 million) (opens in a new tab).
  4. [4]Nacha, Same Day ACH Per Payment Limit to Increase to $10 Million (opens in a new tab), April 27, 2026.
  5. [5]Federal Reserve Board, Fedwire Funds Services (opens in a new tab).
  6. [6]Federal Reserve Financial Services, Fedwire Funds Service 2026 Fee Schedules (opens in a new tab).
  7. [7]Federal Reserve Banks, Operating Circular 8: Funds Transfers Through the FedNow Service (opens in a new tab).
  8. [8]Federal Reserve Financial Services, FedNow Service 2026 Fee Schedule (opens in a new tab).
  9. [9]Federal Reserve Financial Services, FedNow Service will raise transaction limit to $10 million (opens in a new tab), September 9, 2025 (effective November 2025).
  10. [10]The Clearing House, Real Time Payments (RTP network) (opens in a new tab).
  11. [11]The Clearing House, RTP Participant Fee Schedule (opens in a new tab), effective January 1, 2025.
  12. [12]The Clearing House, BNY sends largest instant payment in U.S. history following transaction limit increase (opens in a new tab), February 10, 2025.
  13. [13]Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Clearing and Settlement of Interbank Card Transactions (opens in a new tab), October 2013.
  14. [14]eCFR, 12 CFR 1026.13: Billing error resolution (Regulation Z) (opens in a new tab).
  15. [15]eCFR, 12 CFR 1005.11: Procedures for resolving errors (Regulation E) (opens in a new tab).
  16. [16]eCFR, 12 CFR 235.3: Reasonable and proportional interchange transaction fees (Regulation II) (opens in a new tab).
  17. [17]Visa, Visa USA Interchange Reimbursement Fees (opens in a new tab).
  18. [18]Swift, Swift GPI (opens in a new tab).
  19. [19]World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide (global average cost of sending $200) (opens in a new tab).
  20. [20]ethereum.org, Proof-of-stake (finality) (opens in a new tab).
  21. [21]U.S. Congress / GPO, GENIUS Act, Public Law 119-27 (statute text) (opens in a new tab), July 18, 2025.
  22. [22]Block, Inc., Cash App Terms of Service (last updated September 11, 2026) (opens in a new tab).
  23. [23]Venmo (PayPal, Inc.), About Venmo Fees (opens in a new tab).
  24. [24]Cash App, Stablecoins are now available on Cash App (opens in a new tab), May 27, 2026.
  25. [25]ethereum.org, Introduction to smart contracts (opens in a new tab).

Educational material only. Not legal, investment, tax or accounting advice, and not a recommendation about any asset, issuer or vendor. Laws and agency rules are changing; check the cited primary sources and consult counsel before acting.