Retail Payment System
Infrastructure for consumer-to-business transactions, handling everyday payments.
What is Retail Payment System?
Retail payment systems process high-volume, low-value transactions like card swipes or mobile transfers, with components including networks, processors, and POS terminals. In 2025, they include debit/credit cards, ACH, and digital wallets, facilitating $43 trillion in China alone.
In digital assets, they integrate CBDCs like e-CNY for seamless backups, enhancing resilience against disruptions. Systems like New Zealand’s include multiple networks for interoperability.
Related Terms
Order Book
A real-time electronic list of buy and sell orders for a digital asset, organized by price level.
Fiat
Government-issued currency not backed by a physical commodity, used as legal tender in digital asset trading.
APY （DeFi）
Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is the annualized rate of return on an investment or loan, accounting for compound interest earned or paid over a year.
Impermanent Loss(IL)
The unrealized financial loss experienced by a liquidity provider in a decentralized exchange (DEX) trading pair when the price of one token diverges significantly from the other, compared to holding the tokens outright.
Funding Rate
A periodic fee exchanged between long and short traders to balance market positions.
Arbitrum One Chain
An optimistic rollup Layer 2 for Ethereum, leading in DeFi TVL with advanced governance features.