When you tap your Visa card at a cafe, the money doesn't arrive for 2-3 business days. On weekends and holidays, it's even longer.
Our settlement happens in seconds. Here's how.
How Visa Settlement Works
Visa's settlement process:
- Authorization (~2 seconds): Issuer approves the transaction
- Clearing (~24-48 hours): Transaction data is batched and reconciled
- Settlement (~2-3 business days): Actual funds move between banks via ACH/wire
During this 2-3 day window:
- The merchant doesn't have the money
- The consumer's bank has put a hold on the funds
- Multiple intermediaries are reconciling ledgers
- Each intermediary takes a fee
How OpenPasskey Settlement Works
- Tap (~500ms): Card signs transaction with P-256
- Verification (~2 seconds): RIP-7212 precompile verifies signature on Base L2
- Settlement (~3 seconds): AUD stablecoin transfers to merchant's CREATE2 receiver
Total time: under 6 seconds.
The ClearingVault
Our settlement happens through a ClearingVault smart contract. When a valid card tap is verified:
- The ClearingVault checks the P-256 signature (via RIP-7212)
- Verifies the transaction hasn't been replayed (nonce check)
- Routes AUD stablecoins to the merchant's dedicated receiver address
- The receiver is a CREATE2 address, deterministically generated from the merchant's ID
Each merchant gets their own receiver address. Funds are instantly accessible.
Why Stablecoins?
Regulated AUD stablecoins maintain a 1:1 peg with the Australian dollar, backed by AUD reserves held in regulated Australian institutions.
For the merchant, the experience is: tap happens, AUD appears in their account. The fact that settlement happens on-chain is invisible.
The Cost Comparison
| Visa | OpenPasskey | |
|---|---|---|
| Settlement time | 2-3 business days | ~5 seconds |
| Interchange fee | 0.3-0.8% | 0% |
| Scheme fee | ~0.05% | 0% |
| On-chain gas | N/A | <$0.001 |
| Merchant receives | 99.2-99.7% | ~100% |
For Developers
The ClearingVault is a standard Solidity contract deployed on Base. The key innovation is using RIP-7212 to bridge the gap between EMV card cryptography (P-256) and on-chain settlement.
This pattern (physical device signature → on-chain verification → instant settlement) is applicable beyond payments: access control, ticketing, supply chain, identity.
3,200+ users, 20+ Sydney cafes, settling in seconds. OpenPasskey | @OpenPasskey
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