We’re in a weird in-between: in one world, payments are instantaneous. In the other, you just have to guess when they’ll arrive.
Not for long, though.
I sent a time sensitive cross border wire on a Monday. It fell into a black hole.
I called my bank which politely told me it can take anywhere between 1 and 7 days and they don’t engage the “wire research team” until 7 business days, so I need to wait another 4 calendar days for them to help me.
Claude fed me the arcane questions to ask support (“UETR number” “MT103 report” “gpi status) to help me get a better answer in 24 hours rather than 4 days.
To our relief, funds apparated to the receiving end on day 5.
But it cost us 4 days of productivity on a tight timeline, and all of the anxiety and commotion that comes with it.
The real savings of cross border payments on a blockchain is not the $25 wire fee - but the time and 24/7 certainty that business can proceed.
Solana = half a second, instant tracking URL
Bank = some time in the next 7 business days, Opus assisted customer service negotiation