Instant Payments Adoption Sends a Powerful Signal: Trust
One part of the instant payments story isn’t getting the attention it deserves: what it reveals about trust.
People are getting comfortable with moving large amounts of money through instant payment rails. That comfort in and of itself is a milestone—not just for technology, but for trust. Instant payments adoption for high-ticket items sends a powerful signal about foundational confidence in our financial systems and the institutions that facilitate it.
When consumers use instant payments for life’s meaningful moments—buying a car, paying tuition, even a home purchase down payment—they’re showing more than a preference for speed. They’re showing belief that funds will move securely, in real time, and that the system will work exactly as promised.
Historically, large transactions were handled through checks or wires because they felt “safe.”
Take Carvana, for example. By enabling customers to instantly fund car down payments through Request for Payment (RfP), they’ve shown how new payment systems can deliver both immediacy and assurance. I take pride in the fact that Cross River was one of the first banks to enable RfP for instant pay-ins, and that we were the bank to enable this milestone use case. That capability helps partners replace multi-day settlement windows with real-time experiences that never compromise on trust.
The pace of adoption tells the same story. One of our newer partners, Aeropay, saw merchant use of RTP services increase 30-fold in just two years. This is a clear sign that confidence is compounding.
Each time someone uses instant payments for a major purchase, he or she is making a quiet but profound statement: I trust this system. That shift speaks volumes about the future of payments. I am excited to be powering that journey at Cross River.
