There's a profit to be made on the funds held while seemingly-instant transactions settle. When you Venmo someone money, you send money to their Venmo account,

There's a profit to be made on the funds held while seemingly-instant transactions settle. When you Venmo someone money, you send money to their Venmo account, which has to go through the 1-to-three-day-long ACH process to get to your actual bank account. If money sits in your Venmo account, interest can be accrued on it[0]. Plus, Venmo (and PayPal) has interest in being a trusted brand in financial transactions of other sorts, I'm sure. PayPal has a credit product now, for example. I would not be surprised if they have a rent-seeking lobbying interest in making federal bank transactions remain a worse experience than their own service. [0]:https://www.marketplace.org/2018/02/20/what-are-apps-venmo-doing-your-money/ https://www.marketplace.org/2018/02/20/what-are-apps-venmo-d...