The honey badger of payments
From Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie (patio11) by Patrick McKenzie
April 23, 2026 · 30 min · Episode 88
About this episode
Patrick McKenzie discusses the impact of checks on the American payments system and the implications of cryptocurrency on traditional payment methods.
Patrick McKenzie (patio11) reads his classic Bits about Money essay on how checks shaped the entire American payments infrastructure, from the origins of ACH to why a standard US bank account is, technically, a credit product. He then examines what happened when DOGE tried, via Executive Order 14247, to eliminate federal paper check disbursements by September 2025. The carve-outs Treasury eventually had to make map almost exactly onto the essay's original argument. Checks are the honey badger of payments: the numbers keep dwindling, but the edge cases are irreducible, and the second-best pathway for reaching them doesn't really exist yet. – Full transcript available here: www.complexsystemspodcast.com/checks/ – Presenting Sponsors: Mercury & Granola Complex Systems is presented by Mercury—radically better banking for founders. Mercury offers the best wire experience anywhere: fast, reliable, and free for domestic U.S. wires, so you can stay focused on growing your business. Apply online in minutes at mercury.com . If meetings consistently leave you with hazy action items and lost context, Granola handles the transcription so you can actually participate and gives you…
People in this episode
Host: Patrick McKenzie
Topics covered
- payments
- checks
- financial infrastructure
- cryptocurrency
- banking
Keywords
- payments
- checks
- ACH
- DOGE
- bank account
- financial systems
- cryptocurrency
- Treasury
- Executive Order
Sponsors
Mercury, Granola
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Bits about Money
Places: United States
More episodes of Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie (patio11)
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- How the SPLC became financial infrastructure · May 1, 2026 · 51 min
- Cash received is not revenue earned · April 16, 2026 · 33 min
- Your bank balance isn’t in the bank, and other alchemy · April 9, 2026 · 48 min
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