I see other comments here saying it's intended to be digital cash, but as a programmer it makes no sense that we Zelle users cannot find out the identify and ultimate destination on the other side of the funds transfer - it's also annoying that the USA doesn't have a simple bank transfer system like many other countries do.
About 4 years ago, I got scammed when I sent a payment to a local preschool and later found out the preschool did not receive those funds. Someone was illicitly reading their emails and and also had control of a discarded email address the school no longer used and routed my Zelle payment to the bank account associated with that. The school suspected a former employee, but nothing ever came of it even though there was a police report and I also filed a complaint with the feds. A police officer called me several months later to say the case had ended up in his lap but he didn't see a way to do anything about it. Chase had multiple meetings with me, and they even knew which bank the funds had been transferred to, so it made no sense to me that there was nothing that could be done to retrieve the funds. Eventually the whole saga just ended with no resolution, and I figured if that person was so desperate they probably needed the money more than me.
Anyone have more insight into the underlying mechanics and why we can't confirm recipient identity/account as a Zelle user?