Almost nothing is ever really *"free"* --- even though it may appear that way at some level. Crypto transactions are certainly not *"free"*; neither are credit cards.

FedNow may likewise have the appearance of being *"free"* for individuals, it all depends on how banks chose to recover the operating costs.

The American banking system is currently in a bad, insecure, and expensive state.

Bad is subjective. Expensive is accurate --- and slow. This is finally being addressed.

Insecure --- I don't really think this is a big issue. There are issues but on an individual level, very few people actually lose money due to any inherent "insecurity" in the system .