CHIPS differs from the Fedwire transaction service in several respects. First and foremost, it is cheaper than the Fedwire service, albeit not as fast, and the dollar amounts required to use this service are lower. It is also privately owned by member banks and has only 46 members (as of 2006), compared to the approximately 50,000 members that use the Fedwire service. Finally, CHIPS acts as a netting engine, where payments between parties are netted against each other instead of the full dollar value of both trades being sent.