Glossary · Principles

What is Settlement finality?

Settlement finality is the moment a payment stops being reversible: the state where the money is where it is, full stop. Cards reach it never (chargebacks live for months); bank rails reach it in days; crypto reaches it in seconds to minutes, depending on the chain.

Finality is why merchants take crypto. A settled Bitcoin payment cannot be clawed back by a disputing cardholder or a recalling correspondent bank; the merchant's risk collapses from months of chargeback exposure to the wait for confirmations.

Settlement finality on U.CASH

Every U.CASH rail states its finality plainly: instant rails in seconds, card rails per processor terms, crypto per your confirmation policy. No chargebacks exist on the crypto side; that is the product.

See also

Chargebacks versus crypto finalityConfirmation policy

Settlement finality: FAQ

Can a crypto payment be reversed after settlement?
Only by the recipient sending it back. There is no chargeback mechanism, no recall, and no dispute window: finality is the feature.
How fast is finality in practice?
Seconds on fast-finality chains (Solana single-slot, most L2s within a minute), tens of minutes for Bitcoin at conservative confirmation counts. The checkout shows the estimate per asset.
Keep reading

The glossary, A to Z

Every term behind the rails, the assets, and the settlement.