I've done a lot of thinking in this area, mostly a few years ago when we were starting kraken.com but also ongoing.<p>Though the US ACH system is a particularly bad case, as others have pointed out it affects credit cards, and to a lesser extent cryptocurrencies too, and it's a global problem.<p>The solution is to build systems that objectively consider the real properties of these settlement networks, known or inferred, before committing to transactions.<p>This allows, for wont of a better term, a 'free market' in financial services that should act to increase efficiency and reduce overheads/latency worldwide by incentivising financial services companies to be more objective and transparent in their dealings.<p>Now: <i>[forced to accept legalese at your bank]</i> <i>[try to do something at your bank]</i> <i>[wallow in pain and self-pity as they fail to either do anything or communicate about the flailing process]</i><p>Future: (with plugin support for arbitrary cryptographic protection, financial endpoint identification and entity identification/reputation systems) <i>[send RFQ]</i> <i>[receive quotes on what you want to do, including temporal and cost overheads, references, jurisdiction information, intermediate path details, asset-types/currencies supported]</i> <i>[select a quote based on your local priorities, risk profiles, etc.]</i> <i>[execute and manage state versus promised progression with incremental status updates]</i><p>If anyone else believes this is generally logical I'd love some feedback on <a href="http://ifex-project.org/" rel="nofollow">http://ifex-project.org/</a> ...<p>The only thing I see sort of remotely in this space right now is high end logistics solutions, of the type probably employed by SAP customers, global courier companies and places like Amazon's global warehousing.