> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.ironweave.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.ironweave.io/applications/use-cases/payments-and-transactions.md).

# Payments and Transactions

IronWeave solves payments, transactions, and value transfers problems.

To start with, let's take a look at how IronWeave is uniquely suited for private, compliant payments and financial transactions:

* **Problem:** Traditional payment systems are slow, expensive, centralized, and vulnerable to hacks. Monolithic blockchains are transparent, exposing sensitive transaction details, which limits adoption in financial services requiring stringent data protection. Such monolithic blockchains, and traditional financial payment systems, have no hope of handling the scale and speed necessary to be the foundation of the machine economy.
* **IronWeave's Solution:** Each payment is encapsulated in its own private, encrypted block within its private chain, accessible only to participants. This ensures privacy superior to traditional banks. Its Shared-Block Architecture enables millions of transactions per second (TPS) with near-instant settlement due to parallel block creation, far exceeding Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, or even traditional credit card networks like Visa. IronWeave can handle all of the expected x402 agentic AI transactions, with all sorts of scalability room to spare. Transactions are also vastly cheaper, up to 80% less than Solana. IronWeave's compliance infrastructure is built into the architecture and is extensible, designed to meet regulatory requirements.
* **Why IronWeave is the best infrastructure and solution:** IronWeave is positioned as the only infrastructure that solves privacy, scalability, and compliance all at once for financial transactions. It enables private, secure, and compliant payments with near-real-time settlement at scale.