The Federal Reserve has increased the transaction cap for its FedNow platform from $1 million to $10 million, responding to rising demand for high-value real-time payments among community banks, credit unions, and corporate clients, with changes set to take effect in November 2025.

The Federal Reserve recently announced an important boost to the transaction limit for its FedNow instant payments platform, increasing the cap from $1 million up to $10 million, and this change is set to take effect in November 2025. Honestly, this adjustment reflects the increasing demand from both financial institutions and corporate clients for higher-value real-time payments, making it more flexible for different internal risk appetites and operational requirements.

Since its debut, FedNow has experienced pretty rapid adoption. Around 1,400 banks and credit unions are now actively utilizing the service. Interestingly enough, the majority of these—about 95%—are small to mid-sized institutions, which really highlights how community banks and credit unions are seeing FedNow as a solid alternative to private-sector instant payment networks. It’s not just localized either; the platform covers financial institutions all across the 50 states, illustrating quite broad geographic reach.

This recent increase in the transaction limit isn’t happening in isolation. Earlier in 2025, the Federal Reserve had already doubled the cap from $500,000 to $1 million and rolled out new risk management tools. These tools include thresholds for account activity—allowing institutions to set specific limits for both value and transaction velocity by customer segments. This feature helps banks manage potential risks linked to instant payments more efficiently. The Fed sees these developments as essential for supporting new use cases—things like corporate payrolls, vendor payments, internal fund transfers, and high-value real estate deals.

Looking at the numbers, the growth of FedNow’s usage is pretty clear. In the first quarter of 2025, the platform processed about 1.3 million transactions—a notable 43% rise compared to the previous quarter. The momentum didn’t slow down either; in Q2, transaction volume skyrocketed by 63%, hitting roughly 2.1 million payments. The total value processed in that quarter was around $245.8 billion, which is a significant jump. And if you go back to the third quarter of 2024, FedNow handled nearly $17.5 billion in payments—up from less than half a billion in the quarter before, showing how quickly real-time payments are gaining traction in the market.

Of course, FedNow isn’t working in a vacuum. The Clearing House’s RTP network remains its big competitor, processing about $481 billion in transactions in Q2 2025—almost double what FedNow managed in the same period. RTP has a pretty large user base, including many larger banks and corporations, which keeps the competition pretty intense in the instant payment space.

Mark Gould, who’s the Chief Payments Executive at Federal Reserve Financial Services, weighed in on all this: “Our second transaction limit increase this year really mirrors the growing appetite for instant payments—especially as the benefits of having funds available immediately become more obvious, financial institutions need more flexibility to serve their customers and support their internal operations.” Basically, this statement sums up the Fed’s goal—making FedNow more useful across a variety of payment scenarios and cater to different institutional needs.

All in all, the increase in transaction limits underlines the Fed’s commitment to expanding FedNow’s capabilities and its reach within the U.S. financial system. For community banks and credit unions especially, the improved features could open up new routes for operational efficiency and better customer service—potentially positioning FedNow as a vital piece of infrastructure in the evolving real-time payments ecosystem.


References:
- Paragraph 1 – paymentsdive.com
- Paragraph 2 – paymentsdive.com, instantpaymentguide.com, paymentsdive.com
- Paragraph 3 – paymentsdive.com, frbservices.org, frbservices.org
- Paragraph 4 – paymentsdive.com, paymentsdive.com, bankingjournal.aba.com
- Paragraph 5 – paymentsdive.com
- Paragraph 6 – paymentsdive.com, instantpaymentguide.com, bankersbank.com, paymentsdive.com

Source: Noah Wire Services

Verification / Sources

  • https://www.paymentsdive.com/news/fed-lifts-fednow-limit-to-10m-instant-payments/759804/ - Please view link - unable to able to access data
  • https://www.frbservices.org/news/fed360/issues/030425/fednow-service-risk-mitigation-transaction-limit - In March 2025, the Federal Reserve announced enhancements to the FedNow Service, including a transaction limit increase from $500,000 to $1 million. This change allows financial institutions to customize transaction sizes based on their internal risk and business needs. Additionally, new risk mitigation features, such as account activity thresholds, were introduced to help institutions tailor their instant payment capabilities effectively.
  • https://bankersbank.com/2025/02/the-impact-of-instant-payments-in-2024-growth-and-opportunities-for-community-banks/ - In 2024, instant payments significantly impacted the U.S. financial sector. By the end of the year, over 900 financial institutions were live on the FedNow network, with projections to surpass 1,150. The RTP network also experienced substantial growth, increasing from over 370 participants in September 2023 to around 760 by December 2024. This expansion highlights the rising demand for instant payment solutions among financial institutions and businesses.
  • https://instantpaymentguide.com/rtp-network-adoption-statistics/ - As of late 2024, the Federal Reserve's FedNow Service had over 1,000 participating financial institutions, with banks and credit unions in all 50 states connected. Notably, 95% of FedNow participants were small to mid-sized banks and credit unions, indicating a strong adoption among community institutions. The rapid sign-up suggests significant demand among smaller institutions for a Fed-operated instant payment solution.
  • https://www.frbservices.org/news/fed360/issues/070125/fednow-service-new-risk-mitigation-features - In July 2025, the Federal Reserve introduced new risk mitigation features for the FedNow Service, including account activity thresholds. These features allow financial institutions to define value and velocity thresholds by customer segment, enhancing their ability to manage risk effectively. This enhancement coincided with a transaction limit increase from $500,000 to $1 million, supporting higher-value use cases such as business-related transactions.
  • https://bankingjournal.aba.com/2024/11/fednow-grew-to-17-5b-in-transactions-in-third-quarter-2024/ - In the third quarter of 2024, the FedNow instant payments service processed nearly $17.5 billion in transactions, a significant increase from less than $500 million in the previous quarter. This rapid growth underscores the escalating demand for instant payment solutions and the expanding adoption of the FedNow Service among financial institutions and businesses.
  • https://www.paymentsdive.com/news/fednow-draws-1300-financial-firms/746106/ - As of April 2025, the FedNow Service attracted over 1,300 financial institutions across all 50 states. The majority (95%) of these participants were small to mid-sized banks, credit unions, and financial firms. In the first quarter, FedNow settled about 1.3 million transactions, marking a 43% increase over the same period last year, with an average daily transaction value of $540 million.

Noah Fact Check Pro

The draft above was created using the information available at the time the story first emerged. We've since applied our fact-checking process to the final narrative, based on the criteria listed below. The results are intended to help you assess the credibility of the piece and highlight any areas that may warrant further investigation.

Freshness check

Score: 10

Notes: The narrative is current, with the Federal Reserve's announcement on September 9, 2025, regarding the increase of the FedNow Service transaction limit from $1 million to $10 million, effective November 2025. (markets.financialcontent.com)

Quotes check

Score: 10

Notes: The direct quote from Mark Gould, Chief Payments Executive for Federal Reserve Financial Services, is consistent across multiple reputable sources, indicating originality and no signs of recycled content. (markets.financialcontent.com)

Source reliability

Score: 10

Notes: The narrative originates from PaymentDive.com, a reputable financial news outlet, and includes direct statements from Federal Reserve Financial Services, ensuring high reliability.

Plausability check

Score: 10

Notes: The claims about the increase in transaction limits and the adoption rates of the FedNow Service are corroborated by multiple reputable sources, including the Federal Reserve's official announcements and other financial news outlets. (markets.financialcontent.com)

Overall assessment

Veredict (FAIL, OPEN, PASS): PASS

Confidence (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH): HIGH

Summary: The narrative is current, with no signs of recycled content or disinformation. The quotes are original and consistent across reputable sources. The source is reliable, and the claims are plausible, supported by multiple reputable outlets. Therefore, the overall assessment is a PASS with high confidence.