It’s been two years since the Federal Reserve launched FedNow — the U.S. government’s first new payment rail in decades. The promise was bold: instant payments, available 24/7, for everyone. But two years later, how much progress has been made? And is FedNow living up to the hype?

📈 Adoption Has Expanded — but Slowly

• From just 35 launch-day participants in July 2023, FedNow now counts over 1,300 financial institutions across all 50 states. Most are small and mid-sized banks and credit unions that see FedNow as a competitive equalizer.
• Still, many of the largest U.S. banks have not adopted FedNow, relying instead on The Clearing House’s RTP network. That means coverage remains fragmented.

💸 Transaction Volumes Are Rising Fast

• By mid-2025, FedNow is averaging 1.3 million daily transactions, processing over $540 million per day.
• In Q2 2025, the network handled $245 billion in payments — a staggering jump from just $492 million in Q2 2024. That’s 49,000% growth in one year.
• While the baseline was tiny, the acceleration shows momentum is building.

⏳ The “Receive-Only” Problem

One major challenge: many institutions onboarded as receive-only, meaning they can accept FedNow payments but cannot yet send them. Without widespread two-way functionality, use cases remain limited.
For FedNow to truly scale, send capabilities must become the norm — especially for B2B and consumer-to-business payments like bill pay and merchant settlements.

⚖️ FedNow vs. RTP: Competing but Complementary

• RTP (The Clearing House’s network) still leads in coverage, touching about 70% of U.S. accounts, compared to FedNow’s ~30%.
• But FedNow has brought smaller banks and credit unions into the real-time payments ecosystem, creating inclusivity that RTP alone wasn’t delivering.
• Competition between the two rails is driving innovation and adoption faster than if either stood alone.

🔮 What’s Next for FedNow?

Over the next year, key hurdles will decide FedNow’s future impact:

1. Send functionality — Will banks fully enable it?
2. ISO 20022 transition — How smoothly will institutions modernize their messaging systems?
3. Ecosystem use cases — Payroll, insurance payouts, digital wallets, and B2B payments need wider integration.
4. Public awareness — FedNow is still largely invisible to consumers. Banks and fintechs will need to brand and package it effectively.

⚡ The Takeaway

Two years in, FedNow is no longer just an experiment — it’s a growing infrastructure layer in U.S. payments. Adoption is climbing, volume is surging, and momentum is real. But for FedNow to fulfill its promise, it must push past limited functionality and fragmented adoption.

🤝 Stay Ahead with Real-Time Payments Talent

At IMPACT Payments Recruiting, we help companies find the people building tomorrow’s payment infrastructure — from FedNow and RTP to embedded finance and beyond.

📩 Let’s connect: contactIPR@go-impact.com