Community Partnership for the Interledger Summit in Cape Town — ILF Grant Final Report

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You know that feeling when a project wraps up and you're thinking, did that just happen? That's exactly where I am right now after completing my role as Snake Nation's Community Partner for the Interledger Summit in Cape Town. And wow, what a journey it's been!

For those who couldn't make it to Cape Town for the Summit, picture this: A room filled with brilliant minds from across the world – FinTech's chatting with Non-profits, parlementarians exchanging ideas with open-source developers, innovators from all corners coming together to share their stories and shape the future of financial inclusion. It's the exact energy you want when you want to make a real impact. Kudos to the Interledger team and community for an amazing event!

Thank you Interledger Foundation for trusting me with this opportunity and I look forward to the next Summit.

Project Update

In the months preceding the summit, I conducted stakeholder interviews across Africa's financial services sector to explore approaches for building trust in the regulatory ecosystem.

My interactions with fintech entrepreneurs provided firsthand exposure to the practical challenges of implementing innovative financial technologies within existing regulatory frameworks. Parallel discussions with banks and strategic consultants deepened my understanding of national financial inclusion strategies and the shifting patterns in consumer behavior.

Engagement with regulatory bodies, including South Africa's Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG), offered valuable perspectives on regulatory approaches. These conversations provided insight into how regulatory sandboxes and established frameworks create space for controlled innovation while maintaining adequate oversight. Other research discussions also highlighted critical considerations around consumer protection and risk management in the Open finance space.

This multi-faceted stakeholder engagement yielded profound insights into effective trust-building strategies while advancing cutting-edge financial technologies within Africa's regulatory environment. The diverse perspectives gathered have proved instrumental in shaping a more nuanced understanding of pressure points in innovation while maintaining regulatory compliance.

Interledger Summit Panel Recap

Project Impact & Target Audience(s)

Throughout the grant period, I investigated identifying industry concerns, and potential resolution approaches that would benefit both Snake Nation and those seeking to implement the Interledger stack while navigating Africa's regulatory ecosystem. The significant support from the Interledger Foundation connected me with members of its community spanning open-source projects, academic institutions, fintech companies, and the financial services industry. These connections were instrumental in defining specific discussion areas for our panel at the Interledger Summit.

A key finding from the investigation was the need for stakeholders to learn how to innovate alongside regulators. Clear guidance proved essential for organizations looking to unlock new business models through open payment standards and the Interledger Protocol.

The panel targeted the following stakeholders:

Fintech Startups for gaining insights on regulatory engagement and sandbox utilization
Open-Source Projects on enhancing understanding of compliance alignment with technological development
Grantees and Interledger Community for accessing resources for regulatory guidance and experimentation
Academic Institutions for strengthening collaboration between academia and industry professionals
Financial Services Industry for acquiring perspectives on innovation within regulatory compliance
Cross-border Trade Areas for leveraging its role in facilitating economic integration through Regulatory Sandboxes

Progress on Objectives, Key Activities

My Community Partnership efforts focused on four primary objectives:
Local Community Promotion, Research, Outreach, and Panel Discussion.

1. Local Community
I collaborated with the Interledger Foundation to extend summit invitations within my network. A crucial introduction to Sonya Kuhnel, Managing Director of Bitcoin Events, sparked conversations on how the uniqueness of blockchain community impacted the speed and openness of regulatory policies. We organized a workshop at the Blockchain Africa Conference through the UCT FinTech Innovation Hub in Johannesburg. Through Snake Nation, we also coordinated a post-summit exhibition at the AfriLabs Gathering, connecting the Interledger Foundation with over 400 innovation hubs across Africa.

2. Research
The Research and Industry Engagement phase involved comprehensive analyses and discussions with sector experts. A notable conversation with Reica Rampersadh, Programs Director at Tazama, expanded my knowledge on the global regulatory challenges caused by Financial Crimes and the important responsibility of consumer protection. Additional insights on this topic were provided by Michael Mbuthia regarding the African payments ecosystem, particularly mobile money for the unbanked; Chantal Moritz from PwC Strategy& regarding PayShap and South African consumer behavior; Simeon Oriko from Mojaloop on the progress of open-source solutions for financial inclusion through interbank switches; and Allan Davids from University of Cape Town FinTech Hub on industry education.

Here are some of my notes I took along the journey:

3. Outreach
Participation in events like CryptoFest and the Seamless conference facilitated panel discussions with key banking stakeholders, including Janet J. Dali from Diamond Trust Bank, exploring the future of open finance and regulatory requirements concerning bank-held customer data. Ultimately, these engagements informed our panel selection, ensuring diverse expertise across banking, regulatory bodies, and fintech startups.

4. Panel Discussion
The culminating Interledger Summit panel examined Regulatory Sandboxes as a means to experiment and build trust alongside Financial Services regulators and to understand the process for fintechs that see an opportunity to build in a collaborative ecosystem. Panelists Tawanda Brandon (Snake Nation CTO), Jurgen Kuhnel (Xago CEO), and Keith Sabilika (FSCA/IFWG) shared insights on their experiences when dealing with building fintech solutions and the ways regulatory Sandboxes may help in navigating standards and policies that may not be established yet.

While scheduling conflicts prevented Snake Nation Affiliated University professors and students from attending, the independent participation of Snake Nation Society alumni in the hackathon and summit demonstrated our community engagement's lasting impact.

A special "Thank you" to Anna, for her support on the above objectives.

What’s Next?

Building on insights from the Interledger Summit, Snake Nation is preparing to advance its payment capabilities through its first ILP-enabled wallet integration with Chimoney. This strategic implementation will enhance Snake Nation's ability to facilitate creator payments within its existing ecosystem, marking a significant step in the platform's evolution toward more efficient and inter-operable payment solutions.

Separately, there's an opportunity to explore broader cross-border payment innovations through regulatory sandboxes at an infrastructure level. This independent initiative would focus on establishing collaborative frameworks between institutions like BankServ, COMESA, and other regional partners to test Interledger Protocol implementations across diverse payment methods. The experimental approach would examine how inter-operable payment systems (eg. traditional banking, mobile money, instant payments, and regulated stablecoins) can facilitate efficient creator payments across African borders. The proposed framework would leverage existing interbank switches and payment aggregation systems while implementing ILP payment pointers for precise last-mile creator payments. By utilizing corresponding cross-border sandboxes, we can evaluate the technical feasibility and regulatory compliance of these payment innovations within the context of digital economy trade agreements, potentially establishing a new model for regional financial integration that specifically serves the creator economy.