Programmable payments are payment instructions or settlement processes in which software executes, routes, or releases funds when predefined conditions are satisfied.
The conditions can depend on time, delivery, approval, asset transfer, data received from another system, or contractual logic. Smart contracts can implement programmable payments directly on a distributed ledger, while conventional payment systems can implement similar logic through APIs and account-based infrastructure. The underlying money can remain ordinary and fungible even when the payment process is highly automated.
Programmability sits in the payment instruction or service logic. Programmable money attaches conditions to the monetary units themselves.
Programmable payments can combine commercial events and settlement, reducing manual coordination while creating requirements for reliable code, data inputs, authorization, and exception handling.
A smart contract can release a stablecoin payment automatically after an authenticated system reports that goods were delivered.