Payments

Payments are fascinating. The idea that so many different players are involved just to make a single purchase, like me buying a coffee at Starbucks.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been diving into this world and realized how wide and deep it really is. There’s always more to uncover. I’ll jot down what I’m learning along the way.

It reminds me of a line from The Big Short:

“They use acronyms because they don’t want you to understand what they’re doing.”

To work in fintech, learning about payment matters..... it’s not just about writing code. It’s about understanding how money actually moves.

Play Byte Burger Rush

Want to feel how payments work instead of just reading about them? Byte Burger Rush is a free browser game where you run a virtual burger shop and live through it all — interchange fees skimming your revenue, T+2 settlement delaying your cash, chargebacks wiping out a sale, ACH payroll on payday, and a same-day wire when a supplier won’t wait. Every game mechanic maps to a real payments concept.

Play Byte Burger Rush — no signup, runs in your browser.

What I’ll cover in upcoming posts: