How are transactions worth over a billion dollars executed in practice?

Asked Oct 4, 2019· 1 answer
Faisal KhanAnswered Oct 4, 2019

Depends on the payment.

If both the payment parties are in the same country, it can be settled by a cheque even. The cheque would probably go into the RTGS and get cleared. Not a big deal. If it is in Billions… some bank on one ledger has the money and it is a ledger transfer. To ensure the safety of the transfer, protocol is put into place to double-verify and authenticate the balance transfer.

For multiple countries, same rule pretty much. Ledger entries are changed.

Here are two examples you can read up on:

  • Faisal Khan's answer to Where are countries' bank accounts held?
  • Faisal Khan's answer to How do countries pay debts of millions? Is the money moved physically or electronically?
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