Millions of digital payments are made every second — buying products, subscribing to services, paying for services. For businesses, every failed transaction means a missed opportunity, while and for consumers, frustration. Why do some transactions go through instantly, while others encounter errors? It's all about payment routing — a hidden mechanism that chooses the best path to process each transaction. The difference between transaction routes is expressed in milliseconds, but the accumulative effect of server-to-server latency makes the difference between user comfort and business loss.