RTP cleared $246 billion in 2024 and the headlines said instant payments had arrived. The average transaction sizes tell a quieter story - this is high-value institutional money on a faster rail, not the consumer revolution that was promised.
An $8M deal chopped into 16 payments because one bank used FedNow. With TCH-RTP at a $10M limit and FedNow at $500K, transaction size is quietly deciding which rail a corporate treasurer can use.
The headlines say XRP and RLUSD will replace SWIFT. The likelier path is evolution, not revolution - a hybrid book where each rail earns the job it is actually good at.