| Internet-Draft | Payment Rail Measurement Methodology | August 2026 |
| Blake | Expires 1 March 2027 | [Page] |
Agent-initiated payments now execute across several settlement rails with materially different finality semantics, authorization primitives and failure modes. Published comparisons of these rails are commonly self-asserted, and commonly do not state a procedure another party could reproduce. This document specifies a measurement methodology for such rails. It defines finality per rail at its ecosystem-canonical reliance level rather than imposing a single definition, separates payment-validation latency from challenge-issuance latency as distinct and non-comparable quantities, and specifies an out-of-path observation posture in which the measuring party never holds funds, keys or signing authority. It states reporting requirements, including mandatory disclosure of limitations and a prohibition on merging observer-clock and payer-clock measurements. It defines no payment protocol and recommends no rail.¶
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