FinTech: Real-Time Payments and CBDCs

Executive Summary

Money has always been more than just a medium of exchange. But if you pause and think: how often do you reflect on the money in your digital wallet, or the speed at which it moves? Most of us just assume it’s “fast enough.” Yet, under the hood, a profound shift is underway: money itself is becoming programmable.

Two forces are driving this revolution.

The first is Real-Time Payments (RTPs) — the plumbing that makes money move instantly, 24/7. Gone are the days when you’d transfer money on a Friday evening only for it to land on Monday morning. Systems like India’s UPI, Brazil’s PIX, and now FedNow in the US are showing that payments can be as frictionless as sending a text. Think of RTPs as the “highways” of digital money: fast, reliable, and always open.

The second is Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), digital forms of sovereign currency issued directly by central banks. Unlike RTPs, which simply move existing bank money faster, CBDCs reimagine money at its core. They are not just digital tokens; they are programmable units of value.

Imagine aid disbursements that can only be spent on food, a tax rebate that automatically adjusts to your income, or cross-border trade that settles in seconds without touching SWIFT. CBDCs introduce a world where rules can be embedded directly into money itself.