Transaction Limit Hike for FedNow

In November, the Federal Reserve will boost the transaction limit for its FedNow instant payment system to $10 million, marking the second increase in under a year from the initial $500,000 cap.

Competing Systems

The Clearing House’s RTP network has also announced that it will raise its transaction limit to $10 million at the end of 2024, reflecting a shift towards higher-value transactions in the payment landscape.

Rationale Behind the Increase

The Federal Reserve attributes this increase to rising business demand for higher-value use cases such as corporate treasury and payroll transactions. Enhanced capabilities will also support large commercial real estate payments, allowing for weekend or after-hours closings. The higher limit underscores confidence in the system’s robust security measures.

System Confidence

According to Hugh Thomas, a Lead Analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, users need assurance that FedNow can match wire transfer security standards for multimillion-dollar transactions. Thomas believes the Federal Reserve is confident in their ability to handle such scenarios.

FedNow’s Growth

Since its launch in July 2023, FedNow has seen impressive growth, processing over 2.1 million payments in Q2 2025, a 62% increase from the previous quarter. The average payment value of $115,000 translates to an average daily value of money moved of $2.7 billion, up more than 400% year over year.

Despite this growth, FedNow still trails RTP, which reported nearly triple the daily transaction volume and value for Q2 at 1.18 million payments per day with a total daily value of $481 billion.

Participation

FedNow now boasts over 1,400 participating organizations across all 50 states. Efforts are underway to encourage more institutions to enable send capabilities, as most of the participating financial institutions remain receive-only on the platform.