Transparent Financial Systems
Transparent Financial Systems Technical Briefing
Published January 19, 2021
Supported by Shopify , The Kauffman Foundation and Levvel
Overview
Jeff Kramer, CTO of Transparent Financial Systems, demos Zand — a community-based B2B platform for real-time value transfers running 24/7/365. Zand networks are designed by and for their transactional community: forex and crypto OTC desks, networks of community and regional banks, and more. There is no central issuer, no new currency, no intermediaries — just programmable digital dollars under the community\'s control. Banks do not install new software; Zand only requires three APIs (balance check, transaction history, book transfer), and banks still choose who to bank. The live demo runs against two beta banks through both a wallet UI and Swagger docs: a creation request mints new digital dollars in two steps (request with a nonce, followed by the reserve transfer) — funds remain at the participating bank but move into the shared network reserve. A $10,000 peer-to-peer payment between wallets completes instantly on the Zand ledger with no bank API called; wallet IDs are publicly shareable without granting access. Finally, $1,000 and $100 redemptions destroy the claims and push underlying funds back to the member\'s chosen bank. Jeff positions Zand as a bank-agnostic dollar settlement rail for regional/community banks, a more equitable real-time payment system, and a BSA-compliant digital-dollar platform for fintechs and crypto businesses.
0:00 Introduction to Transparent and Zand
Jeff Kramer, CTO of Transparent Financial Systems, introduces Zand — a community-based B2B platform for real-time value transfers available 24/7/365. Each Zand network is designed by and for its transactional community — forex, crypto OTC desks, or networks of community and regional banks.
0:30 No central issuer, no new currency — just digital dollars
Zand has no central issuer, no new currency, and no intermediaries — just digital dollars moving in real time. Networks are programmable to meet each community's settlement rules while remaining under community control, with equitable revenue and cost distribution.
1:30 Three-API integration at the bank
Banks don't install any new software to participate in a Zand network. Each bank exposes only three APIs — balance check, transaction history, and book transfer — which Transparent wraps. Banks still choose who to bank; all network members must be at a participating bank.
2:30 Creation request — minting backed digital dollars
Creation requests produce new digital dollars. Underlying funds remain at the participating bank but move into the shared reserve account for the network — each member controls creation, transfer, and redemption of its own dollars with no single issuer.
4:30 Two-step creation with nonce
Creation happens in two steps: an API call produces a request with a nonce, and a reserve transfer completes the backing. Once complete the source bank balance drops and the minted claims appear in the member's shared account.
5:30 Peer-to-peer payment — no bank touched
Payments between wallets happen entirely on the Zand ledger — bank APIs are not invoked. The demo sends $10,000 from Cool Inc to Awesome Co using the recipient's publicly shareable wallet ID, and the obligation is extinguished instantly.
7:30 Redemption — destroy claims, transfer to bank
Redemptions destroy digital-dollar claims and push the underlying funds back to the member's chosen bank account. The demo redeems $1,000 and $100 at different banks, showing the reserve balance adjust accordingly.
9:00 Bank-agnostic interface and regulatory framing
Zand wraps banking APIs so any compliant bank can be added with no on-premises install. Because any BSA-compliant business can use it within the US regulatory framework, Zand is positioned as a competitive rail for regional and community banks vs. tier-one banks.
Presented by Jeff Kramer — Transparent Financial Systems · LinkedIn
Topics: Payments, Banking-as-a-Service
