Imagine 2033
Imagine a world ten years from now where anyone can directly exchange any kind of value with anyone in the world. Human centric convenient payments and the separation of ‘end-user credentials’ or keys from ‘services’ have become the standard model in the financial infrastructure. Once the individual has the keys to a diverse set of financial services and available resources, being in control to automate any value conversion or transaction flow becomes the default reality for everyone.
With AgnostiPay open-source technology we envision a world wherein we collectively empower the individual to take control over their own keys and thereby conveniently manage their financial services, resources and values. And thus empowering the individual - with AgnostiPay technology for developers - in a similar way as one should be able to freely speak their own languages and hold, develop and mix one's own customs and culture.
Just as technology made it possible to this day to communicate and share information with anyone in the world, so should the exchange of value within the next ten years. And doing all this while the individual stays in control of their own value(s), keys and services.
Global effort on the development of AgnostiPay could promise this future in under ten years.
The current situation: closed-gardens
and fractured solutions
If we look at the current options an individual has, we see a globally fractured landscape of closed-garden financial solutions. Meaning, various separate third parties - or closed-gardens - that provide financial services to the individual, always do so for an additional cost above a basic bookkeeping or ledger fee, which they ask through their gatekeepers. Such closed-gardens are fragmented in their global reach, only selectively integrating with other financial services - reducing convenience for the individual - and due to their additional use cost they inherently exclude humans worldwide to participate in a global financial system. So, in other words, very far from the ideals of a fair and equity based access to the global financial system.
However, it is the current shift in legal thinking by governments in, for example the European Union, that puts the individual ‘end-user’ back in control of their own financial services and provide legal momentum for a new reality to grow. When we combine this with the rise of new technologies - such as the Interledger protocol (ILP) that makes it possible to send and stream value payments between ledgers for free - we can see light through the cracks of the problem described above. Especially, if we factor in the important shift in end-user’s needs to centralize management over their own financial services for their own convenience.
Our contribution: an open garden technology
Our contribution to the current landscape of solutions is an open-garden technology that empowers the individual end-user to conveniently take control of all their own financial services from their own device. More precisely, AgnostiPay is an open-source payment connector technology, based on ‘end-user credentials’ or API-keys, that a developer can add as a 'software development kit' (SDK) to their own app, ecommerce store or SaaS platform to connect with the end-users needs, whether that end-user is an individual human or business organization.
this AI generated image is a representation of an open-garden technology.
Our open-source technology is also designed to empower developers worldwide to add their own local financial service provider integration as a ‘provider’. The reciprocal structure then allows that same developer to directly use all the other ‘providers’ for their own end-users. This possibility to add your own localized integrations to the open-garden gives our solution a built-in adaptability to changing services and needs, and allows the enabling of localized value networks to connect with the global financial system. As any end-user can become their own on- and off-ramp to any kind of network they are personally connected with.
Tech architecture
We elaborate in-depth on our tech architecture in our dedicated technical Whitepaper. In this paper we provide a short overview of our technology. The AgnostiPay core architecture is setup in a completely decentralized way, meaning that the technology runs completely client-side on a device and does not require a 3rd party back-end server to operate. The AgnostiPay SDK is built from a ‘legal first’ principle and fully complies with the local KYC and AML requirements. The open-source technology does so by delegating these requirements to the underlying financial services of the individual end-user itself, and is based on the legal principle that any sovereign individual should be able to fully control their own financial services.
AgnostiPay consists of three simple layers and starts with a ‘credential layer’ that enables the end-user to store their own ‘end-user credentials’ or API-keys of their own financial services, client-side, directly on their own devices. In the ‘service layer’ our playbook protocol enables the set-up and orchestration of any possible kind of transaction flows, enabled by the end-users own services. On the bottom ‘ledger layer’ we will find the specific client-side integrations with the underlying ledgers connected to the end-users own financials services executed by their own stored keys.
How do we get there?
By placing the end-user and its needs in the center of our technological solution and by creating an actual open-garden through open-source code. This open-source approach enables developers to add integrations to their own local financial services (in a standardized way). Allowing the end-user to use, transact and exchange any kind of currency or value, independent of what kind of platform, protocol or value they would like to use.
In addition, the ambitious goal is achievable through generating both international and localized awareness working on community collaboration among developers and stakeholders. But most importantly working together with enthusiastic and inspiring individuals and communities like Interledger, who bring positive and constructive energy and are aligning behind the principle idea of an financial open-garden, that is open to any human being.
We will set up a foundation whose sole purpose is to keep AgnostiPay’s code open-source and free for everyone to use. Above and beyond this, we will focus on aligning stakeholder values and interest as we will elaborate in the next section.
Stakeholders and business value
The AgnostiPay solution builds and grows on aligning the various stakeholder interests. For the developer it becomes easy and free to integrate a payments module in their app, ecommerce store or saas platform. For online businesses, such as webshops or SaaS platforms it becomes easy to take back control over their own payments - as they don't need a third party service to control their own payments infrastructure. For decentralized Web3 projects it allows the end-user to be their own off and on-ramp, while being compliant with the local laws, removing current business adoption hurdles.
In a similar fashion AgnostiPay helps the Interledger protocol to create a foothold in the world outside of the Interledger network and simultaneously creates a beachhead for ILP to unlock its potential to the general public.
*Helping the ILP to fold the outside in, by allowing the end-user to directly connect their own services to ILP enabled services, wallets and nodes.
How you can help
Inspired by the vision? You can help by:
- Writing or reviewing code.
- Join the discussion on our technical White Paper
- Providing input for potential use-cases.
- Write awesome copy to spread the word.
- Help to create visuals and other forms of communication. Reach out to us directly on: connect ‘at’ agnostipay.io
Stay up to date, follow our socials:
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/agnostipay
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/agnostipay
ILP community forum: https://community.interledger.org/agnostipay
Website:
https://agnostipay.io/
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