Verifiable and Programmable Cross-Border Payments

Abstract

The article introduces a verifiable API-centric solution to international payments that builds on existing infrastructure and overcomes key issues in the payment ecosystem of the world. Cross-border transactions are now experiencing obstacles such as fragmentation systems, discrepancies in regulations, and poor transparency, leading to delays, high costs, and limited access. The suggested architecture proposes an overlay based on layers that combine financial-grade access controls, harmonized ISO 20022 semantics, cryptographically verifiable payment receipts, and end-to-end observability. This design makes it possible to handle an improved payment verification without central bodies, it is more programmable with standardized interfaces, and it is compatible with existing networks such as SWIFT. The framework is advantageous on economic, inclusiveness, and regulatory levels by moving away from institutional claims to proofs, which are independently verifiable, and diverse implementation capacities and operational conditions can be met.