A payment rail is a payment platform or a payment network that moves money from a payer to a payee. Either party could be a consumer or business, and both parties are able to move funds on the network. Credit card rails are the credit card payment system.

Blockchain A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a ...

is considered a newer type of payment rail, as are centralized electronic payment systems such as

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...

Venmo Venmo is an American mobile payment service founded in 2009 and owned by PayPal since 2013. Venmo was aimed at friends and family who wish to split bills, e.g. for movies, dinner, rent, or event tickets etc. Account holders can transfer funds t ...

and Zelle. If the transferred funds are available immediately, a payment rail is referred to as a real-time rail.

References

{{finance-stub Payment systems Payment networks Banking technology Banking terms Payment clearing systems Banking in the United States