Routing
How payment and swap routes are selected across assets, chains, and liquidity sources
Routing in payment networks
When value can travel multiple paths—direct digital transfer, cross-environment move, swap through an LP, off-ramp to a local bank or mobile wallet—the system must choose a route. Routing optimises for cost, speed, success probability, and policy constraints across USDC, EURC, XOFC, and other supported assets.
Inputs to a routing decision
| Input | Effect |
|---|---|
| Source & destination asset | Determines swap vs native transfer |
| Amount | Large trades may need LP depth |
| Network congestion | Fees and confirmation time |
| Fintech policy | Allowed corridors, blocked jurisdictions |
| Quote freshness | Stale quotes get discarded |
GoldRail's AutoRouter evaluates available paths and returns a quote with fees and estimated settlement time. PayLink Swap executes cross-asset moves once the user accepts.
Static vs dynamic routing
Static routing hardcodes a path per corridor—simple but brittle when liquidity moves. Dynamic routing re-quotes at execution time; better for multi-asset environments but requires timeout handling if quotes expire.
Failure handling
Routes fail mid-flight: bridge delay, slippage exceeded, off-ramp partner downtime. Design compensating actions—automatic retry on new quote, manual review queue, or user notification via Echo failure events.