The Interledger Community 🌱

Reflections from UN Open Source Week 2026

Vineel R. Pindi — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:31:00 +0000

Nearly twenty years ago, I joined the open source movement as a student volunteer. Back then, I knew it mostly through the open web community: people from different countries and backgrounds working together on an open web browser. People could help shape something they used.

If you’d told me back then that open source would become a priority for governments and major organisations, with these conversations taking place at the United Nations, I wouldn’t have believed it.

In June 2026, I represented the Interledger Foundation at UN Open Source Week in New York, alongside Chris Lawrence, our Chief Programs Officer. We met people working in government, universities and open source communities, including several of our partners. The discussions covered public services and payment systems that people depend on.

From left to right: David Higgings, Ed Cable, Chris Lawrence, Vineel Reddy

The question that stayed with me through the week was:
As governments and institutions adopt open source, how do we make sure the communities behind it have a say in the decisions?

DPI Day - Digital Public Infrastructure is about people

One of the sessions that resonated with me was “Building Inclusion: Identity, Payments, and the Real Cost of Digital Public Infrastructure” during DPI Day.

The discussion went beyond building digital identity and payment systems to whether people could use and trust them.
Chris and I reconnected with Jayshree Venkatesan, Senior Vice President and Head of Partnership Development at Accion and met Andrea Duarte, Advisor, Payment Systems Department, Central Bank of Colombia. We spoke about the work the Interledger Foundation is supporting in Colombia around digital payments, inclusion, and how open technologies can better support national priorities.

Lunch with the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) community

For more than a year, the Interledger Foundation team has been speaking with the DPGA community about how Rafiki, our open-source payment software, could contribute to digital public goods. Lunch gave us a chance to continue those conversations in person.

Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) for Good

Governments, UN agencies and universities discussed how open source program offices could help them organise their open source work. It was good to hear conversations about contributing to projects and supporting their upkeep.

Community is the constant

My favourite part of the week was Friday’s community sessions, organised by RISE, OpenForum Europe, CURIOSS, and Red Hat at the IBM office. IBM had announced its new chip technology just the day before. I found that fascinating.

Ed Cable, CEO of Mifos Initiative, joined a session on how countries can build public digital systems that they can control and that work with other systems. The discussion covered how institutions choose technology and how communities contribute to it. These decisions affect whether local teams can adapt and maintain the systems they use.

Ed Cable, CEO of Mifos Initiative

Friday’s sessions reminded me of the unconference events I attended years ago, where people discussed their work openly and learned from each other. That is what drew me to the community in the first place.

What this means for Interledger Foundation
At Interledger, we support open standards like Open Payments, open source projects such as Rafiki, and community-led initiatives around the world. The conversations during the week were closely connected to this work, including our discussions about payments in Colombia and Rafiki with the DPGA community.

I think we need to keep asking how the communities we support are involved in decisions about the work. What are we learning from them, and how does that influence the support we provide?

Alabama A&M: Shaping the Future of FinTech

Jha'Mhyrin Johnson — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 00:48:08 +0000

Selected for the Dollarcraft Program, our initial cohort of 12 business scholars has entered an intensive 12-week interdisciplinary incubator. We are spending these early weeks bridging business strategy and the mechanics of the Interledger Protocol (ILP). In Week 3, four computer science and engineering students will join our group, merging technical execution with strategic design to build functional prototypes to be presented at our final hackathon.

Weeks 1 & 2: From Core Concepts to Methodical Research. Entering the program, open payment rails were uncharted territory for most of our cohort. The trajectory shifted quickly when we hosted Bibi Souza, Interledger’s Community Lead. Bibi delivered a masterclass on ILP’s architecture, demystifying cross-network settlement and grounding us in Interledger's broader mission of universal financial access. Her session transformed abstract payment theory into a clear operational roadmap for our group.

Building on that momentum, Week 2 pushed us deep into discovery. Before writing code or finalizing product specs, we focused on rigorous data collection models. We established quantitative and qualitative research tools—mapping methodologies for user surveys, structured one-on-one interviews, focus groups, and observational field tests. Grounding our decision-making in empirical user data ensures that the financial solutions we build address genuine, documented friction points.

Moving forward, the energy across these first two weeks has set a high standard for what is to come. As our engineering teammates join us next week, we transition from strategic research to full-stack execution. The opportunity to build on open payment standards isn't just an academic exercise; it's a chance to influence how value moves across communities for years to come. We are heading into Week 3 focused, prepared, and ready to build tools that reflect the true potential of this technology.

Coauthor: Jayveun Williams

Open Payments Curriculum: Empowering a New Generation of Fintech Entrepreneurs — ILF Grant Progress Report

Jonathan Oluranti — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 19:17:00 +0000

Brief Project Description

The Interledger Foundation NextGen Program at Covenant University is an innovative educational initiative designed to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and practical experience needed to build the next generation of inclusive digital financial systems. It aims to achieve this by integrating Interledger Protocol (ILP), Web Monetization, and open payments technologies into computing and business programs.

The initiative introduces two new courses covering open payments, financial interoperability, fintech innovation, and entrepreneurship, supported by teaching and practical sessions as well as capstone projects. Students will gain hands-on experience by developing ILP-based applications, fintech prototypes, and interoperable payment solutions. Experiential learning activities include innovation bootcamps, hackathons, developer workshops, mentorship programs, and expert-led webinars.

The project aligns with the Interledger Foundation’s mission of advancing open, interoperable financial systems and promoting digital inclusion across Africa. Ultimately, it seeks to nurture a new generation of fintech entrepreneurs capable of driving financial innovation and expanding adoption of open payment technologies.

Project Update

The Interledger NextGen program at Covenant University has made significant progress since its commencement in March, 2026.

Curriculum Design, Development and Launch of Two Dedicated Open Payments Courses
We successfully designed, developed and launched two university-level Open Payments courses focusing on Open Payments, the Interledger Protocol (ILP), Web Monetization, and Financial Inclusion. The curriculum comprises four modules and sixty learning units, which we plan to integrate into Computing and Business programs. The period under review (March – August) has witnessed the focused application of the developed curriculum for hands-on training in open-payment technologies thereby preparing students for careers in open-source fintech, interoperable payment design, and digital financial inclusion.

Student Engagement and Capacity Building
As regards students’ engagement and capacity building, we initially had about 253 students who indicated interest to participate in the program when the first advert went out. However, 35 students from Computer Science, Information Systems, Accounting, Economics, and Entrepreneurship programs eventually made it and are actively participating in all aspects of the training.

The interest shown by the students actually exceeded expectations which lead to the formation of interdisciplinary innovation teams focused on solving local financial inclusion challenges.

Open Payment Innovation Week and Demo Day Event
Some major activities held within the period under review were the Open Payments Innovation Week and Demo. The open payments innovation week was dedicated entirely to problem solving, building and prototyping. Students were divided into in teams to build payment solutions utilizing the Interledger Protocol and Rafiki. The demo day presented opportunity for the students to present as well as pitch their ideas following the week-long training them. We had judges from the industry while Bibi represented Interledger team. The feedbacks received were quite instructive and have helped the teams to improve on their initial idea.

Activation of Micro Grants for Student-Driven ILP Projects
In late July, we activated the micro grants to provide financial support to the six teams who pitched their project ideas on the demo day in order to achieve student driven ILPL projects. We are glad to report that five of the teams have completed functional prototypes of their solutions using the ILP and have deployed them accordingly. The next phase will be the real-life demonstration of these solutions with actual intended users. Here are the links to the prototypes:

https://paylance-gmc1.onrender.com/
https://payzati.vercel.app/
http://seamlyy.vercel.app
https://rheodemymvp.vercel.app/
https://nexafund.vercel.app/

Our website for the entire program is nearing completion and will accommodate the complete course material, video recordings of various sessions and presentation slides.

Project Impact & Target Audience(s)

Objective i: Design, Launch and Institutionalize an Interdisciplinary Open Payments Curriculum

Significant progress has been made toward the development and institutionalization of the Open Payments Curriculum. Curriculum design activities were completed through consultations with faculty members from Computer Science, Information Systems, Finance, and Entrepreneurship disciplines. Two interdisciplinary course modules—Foundations of Open Payments and Financial Interoperability and Fintech Innovation and Open Payment Entrepreneurship—were developed and aligned with Covenant University's academic standards.

Objective ii: Technical Capacity & Infrastructure Development for 35 Participants
We recruited students and developers to participate the in the technical capacity-building activities that successfully commenced early April. A total of 35 participants were selected through a competitive application process. Foundational training sessions have been delivered, providing students with practical exposure to Open Payments technologies and the Interledger ecosystem.

Objective iii: Establish a Certification Program on Open Payments with at Least 80% Participant Completion Rate
The certification framework has been developed and integrated into the training program. Assessment instruments and competency evaluation criteria have been established to measure participant understanding and practical skills. Participants are progressing through the certification pathway, with completion rates currently tracking toward the targeted 80% benchmark.

Objective iv: Produce Five Pilot Projects
We successfully divided the students into seven (7) teams that comprised of a mix of science, engineering and business students. The teams have since commenced the ideation and development of pilot projects addressing real-world payment interoperability and digital inclusion challenges. At least four of the seven teams have completed their projects and deployed them. The other teams are not relenting also.

Objective v: Publish Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Policy Briefs
Development of openly accessible educational resources is underway. Initial teaching materials, practical guides, and workshop contents are being compiled for publication. Research work has also begun on policy briefs that highlight the role of interoperable payment systems in advancing digital inclusion and fintech innovation in Nigeria and Africa.

Communications and Marketing

Since the launch of the Interledger Next Gen Program at Covenant University, we have actively shared project activities, milestones, and learning outcomes through multiple public channels to increase awareness of Open Payments, the Interledger Protocol (ILP), and fintech innovation among students, educators, and the broader technology community. Our public engagement efforts have included:

• Publication of project updates and announcements through Covenant University communication channels and social media platforms.
• Presentations and information sessions introducing the Interledger ecosystem, Open Payments, Web Monetization, and financial interoperability concepts to students and community innovators.

Use of Marketing and Outreach Funds
In respect of the marketing funds included in the project budget, they were utilized to support participant recruitment exercise, awareness creation, and community engagement activities. Expenditures included:
• Design and production of digital promotional materials (flyers, banners, social media graphics, and event announcements).
• Event branding materials used during training sessions and outreach activities.
• Documentation and dissemination of project outcomes through digital media channels.
• Production of communication materials highlighting participant achievements and project impact. Here is the link to most recent one carried out:

https://1drv.ms/v/c/21d49bd80eaff14c/IQAYYxBNTe_zQLQBeOuTXSv3AUiMEhVndRC5VR9T4Jhw368?e=OSOqUj

These outreach efforts have contributed to increased visibility of the Interledger ecosystem within the university community, expanded participation in project activities, and strengthened awareness of Open Payments technologies among students, educators, and aspiring fintech entrepreneurs.

What’s Next?

Hackathons and Student Innovation
In next half of this project, we plan hosting a campus-wide Open Payments Hackathon that will attract more than 20 student teams. The Hackathon will cover the following solutions:
• Cross-border student payment systems.
• Scholarship and bursary disbursement platforms.
• Digital marketplaces leveraging Web Monetization.
• Micro-savings solutions for underserved communities.

We will ensure that successful projects advance to the incubation stage for further development towards making them market ready fintech startups.

First ever Open Payments Conference in Nigeria
In November this year, we plan hosting an Open Payments Conference, the first ever in Nigeria and possibly West Africa. This will bring together thought leaders, students, researchers, fintech professionals, and policymakers to discuss the future of open and inclusive financial systems.

Improved Public Dissemination and Community Engagement
We plan to improve on our public dissemination and community engagement activities by actively sharing project activities, milestones, and learning outcomes through multiple public channels to increase awareness of Open Payments, the Interledger Protocol (ILP), and fintech innovation among students, educators, and the broader technology community.

Our public engagement plans include:
• Publication of project updates and announcements through Covenant University communication channels and social media platforms.
• Presentations and information sessions introducing the Interledger ecosystem, Open Payments, Web Monetization, and financial interoperability concepts to students and community innovators.

Finalize the development of Openly Accessible Educational Resource
We also plan to finalize the development of openly accessible educational resources. We shall conclude the compilation of all teaching materials, practical guides, and workshop contents for publication. We also endeavor to conclude the ongoing research work on policy briefs that highlight the role of interoperable payment systems in advancing digital inclusion and fintech innovation in Nigeria and Africa.

Community Support

Public Relations Rollout across Nigeria, Africa and Global Media Channels
We aim to execute a strategic public relations campaign targeting top-tier media outlets across Nigeria and Africa. This will involve distributing tailored press releases, securing feature stories, and arranging interviews with key digital, and broadcast networks where necessary. We desire all forms of support from the ILF Marketing team in terms of deciding on the timeline and PR messaging. We are looking forward to ILF support by way of introduction to PR expert in South Africa.

Covenant University Next Gen Hackathon
During this Hackathon week by second week of November, we would be having technical and product office hour sessions to support students and the wider builder's community on campus to integrate Open Payments and Web Monetization. We would great appreciate the involvement of the engineering executive from the ILF. We desire 2 or 3 judges from the ILF team or community to evaluate our students’ projects

Open Payments Conference and Hackathon Finale
The Open Payments Conference combines a high impact tech conference with the thrilling conclusion of the Covenant University Next Gen Hackathon. Industry leaders, developers, and Next Gen students will gather for expert keynotes and deep dives into Open Payments, financial inclusion and financial interoperability.

The conference culminates in the hackathon finale, where top teams will pitch their innovative open payment solutions to a panel of judges. We would be glad to have 2 or 3 speakers from Interledger Foundation for Keynote and Spotlight Sessions in the Conference.

Open Payments Conference (Marketing and Branding)
We would like to have the support of the ILF teams with respect to the Marketing and Branding aspects of our forthcoming Open payments conference in November. We would like to sync appropriately with the Marketing team from ILF on Marketing efforts for the Open Payments Conference. This will include:
• Design and Branding of Conference Materials (Stickers, Merch, Swag items)
• Marketing support, timeline and alignment with the ILF Marketing team

Community Share-out Sessions
We also require the support of ILF team for a 5 - 10 minutes monthly slot starting from September on the Interledger Community Call for our students to conduct live product demonstrations to the Interledger Community, highlighting their product innovation and technical progress. This will serve as a platform for students to engage with industry experts, exchange ideas, and receive valuable, constructive feedback to further refine and advance their projects.

Final Public Demo Day
The Public Demo Day is a capstone event that marks the culmination of the Inaugural Covenant University Next Gen program, where participating students will showcase their completed open payments projects and innovative solutions to a wider audience especially industry experts, peers and the public. We desire at least two persons from the ILF team for this great event.

Additional Comments

Relevant Links/Resources (optional)

https://1drv.ms/v/c/21d49bd80eaff14c/IQAYYxBNTe_zQLQBeOuTXSv3AUiMEhVndRC5VR9T4Jhw368?e=OSOqUj

Interledger Community Call: Hague University - Open Payments Innovation Lab | 8 July 2026

Vineel R. Pindi — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 13:04:42 +0000

Join us for our May Interledger Community Call on 8 July 2026!

The Interledger community calls shall be once a month, on the second Wednesday of each month.

Deeper Look: Hague University - Open Payments Innovation Lab

For July’s community call, we will have the Hague University - Open Payments Innovation Lab team sharing a deeper look into their programme.

About Hague University - Open Payments Innovation Lab:

The Hague University of Applied Sciences is taking a clear step towards future-oriented education at the intersection of finance, technology and regulation. The Open Payments Innovation Lab, which was launched in March 2026, combines teaching and research in an interdisciplinary programme. Students work there on current issues in relation to open payment systems and financial inclusion.

The Open Payments Innovation Lab consists of a twelve-week programme and awards students five credits for additional circular activities. After eight weeks of workshops and three weeks of coaching, the programme concludes with a pitching event. Students work in interdisciplinary teams on real-world case studies exploring how open payment technologies can promote digital financial inclusion. That combination of disciplines is essential, emphasises lecturer, researcher and lab coordinator Aleksandra Asscheman: ‘It is important that students not only know the rules, but also understand how the technology works. They must speak both languages’.

Future of Open Payments: Bridging Finance, Technology, and Law for Financial Inclusion — ILF Grant Progress Report

Aleksandra Asscheman
Aleksandra Asscheman

Aleksandra Asscheman

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for The Hague University of Applied Sciences
Mar 12

Future of Open Payments: Bridging Finance, Technology, and Law for Financial Inclusion — ILF Grant Progress Report

#progressreports #education

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Local Impact Mini-Grant:

Meet the Local Impact Mini-Grant Pilot Grantees
Announcing the Local Impact Mini-Grant

What is the Interledger Local Impact Mini-Grant?

The most effective financial inclusion work often happens within a single neighborhood, a village cooperative, or a local market. The Interledger Foundation's Local Impact Mini-Grants put funding directly into the hands of the people doing that work.

The grants are designed to support local community groups and individual leaders running initiatives that work to expand digital financial access from the inside out. If you understand your community's barriers firsthand, this program is built for you.

Grants range from $500 to $3,000 USD. Applications open July 6, 2026, with rolling review through November 11, 2026.

Community Call Time:

Agenda and Meeting Minutes:

Public note-taking document here.

Meeting joining info:

Community call meeting joining info

Have questions or need help? Join us on Slack here.

From an idea to the Sandbox: What It Really Takes to Build Fintech in the Pacific, Part 1

Alexendra Naisara Grey — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 21:23:30 +0000

Fiji's Reserve Bank has a National Financial Inclusion Strategy that they are working through until 2030. Within that strategy, children and youths have been identified as part of our underserved population when it comes to access to Digital Financial Services. When I first walked into RBF for pre-consultations, I walked in with just a newly registered business and an idea about how I could help bring our children and youths into the digital economy. What I did not anticipate was that just a few months later, I would have a designated space once a week in our Central Bank's building, and access to the regulators themselves, while I work on what was once just an idea.

I'm writing this from inside the RBF's first ever Innovation Activator, and I want to share what I am learning as I build Fiji's first ever regulated digital financial service built specifically for our children and youths.

Velo's flagship product is its Family Card Programme, otherwise known as the Velo Kaji — which translates to "little" or "small" in Vosa Vaka Viti. It is a prepaid card for children aged 6 to 17, and sitting alongside this card is an app where children have actual oversight of their money - where they are able to learn to save, budget and spend responsibly. But this solution goes beyond the pre-paid card; within the app, we have embedded a gamified version of the financial literacy curriculum that was put together by Reserve Bank's National Financial Inclusion Taskforce. Aside from the gamification piece, we are working on translating the curriculum into Fiji's two other main languages - Vosa Vaka Viti and Fiji-Hindi, because we want to make sure that all our kids have access to this tool.

Why have I decided to create something that speaks to a generation that has not even entered the workforce? It's pretty simple to me. When we talk about creating access for the underserved and the underbanked, we often automatically think of the adults in informal or rural areas. Steps are always being taken to educate the adults, the MSMEs - while completely glossing over the incoming generation. I believe that if we can build good and practical financial habits and tools for our kids, these habits will naturally follow them into adulthood. We are creating a generation that is already well-equipped and participating in our fast growing digital economy. They are no longer an afterthought.

This is my journey through the Activator Programme to the Sandbox, and the roads that are leading Velo on its mission to uplift a whole generation and possibly change the trajectory of a nation. Follow me for more :)

Alabama A & M University: Dollarcraft Program — ILF Grant Progress Report

Sonya Merritt — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 18:06:23 +0000

Brief Project Description

What a challenging and rewarding project! Alabama A & M University (AAMU) concluded a 12-week interdisciplinary program in which selected learners from the College of Business and Public Affairs and the College of Engineering, Technology and Physical Sciences collaborated to design digital banking prototypes. With support from Blaze Group®, a fintech education and strategy firm, students became immediate entrepreneurs and gained knowledge of digital finance, and Interledger Protocol-powered tools. Participating students designed, prototypes, and showcased inclusive payment solutions that connect underserved communities to the digital economy. The Program was credit-earning for the business students and combined design thinking, startup incubation, and leadership training to inspire new ideas for financial inclusion.

Project Update

The Dollarcraft Program had an incredible launch and sparked interest among the College of Business and Public Affairs and College of Engineering Technology and Physical Sciences learners at AAMU. The inaugural cohort did an outstanding job executing. To determine the effectiveness of the project, we asked the students to candidly share their experience. The following is some of the feedback received:
• “It was a livid experience that grew my technical and communication skills”
• “It was extremely enlightening and game-changing”
• “It was an enriching experience that completely changed my perspective on financial systems”

Students were challenged and stretched with their ability to work as a team effectively. Towards the end of the semester, the teams began to lose their initial vigor and presence. Reminding them that their grade would be impacted by how they finalized the project kept them motivated and committed.

Project Impact & Target Audience(s)

Each student was tasked to identify a problem to solve in the world of financial access and to target a segment of the community that their prototype would aid. All of the students targeted segments of the population that could benefit the problem of their choice. Two of the problem areas involved international residents who may face difficulties with transferring funds and being confronted with the challenges of the conversion rates. Another student addressed the challenges that exists for the elderly who may have transportation hurdles.

As AAMU learners engage in future projects, it will be noted to embed elements into the project that allow the students to obtain real stats for their target population. The prototypes were 100% functional however, a facet of the project should be implemented to gather real-life data from the target population that the prototypes serve.

Progress on Objectives, Key Activities

We are extremely pleased with the project outcomes. Stated below are the objectives and the end results:
Objective 1: Articulate the role of open payments and ILP in expanding access to financial services.
• Students developed a clear understanding of ILP as a “bridge” for moving monies across different financial systems
• Guest speakers during the weekly sessions and assigned case studies helped students connect open payment concepts to real-world solutions
• During the public showcase, the students were able to demonstrate the ILP constructs for their projects.

Objective 2: Conduct primary research in underbanked markets and translate insights into actionable prototypes.
• Students conducted both qualitative and quantitative research within underbanked communities
• Teams consistently addressed challenges faced by underserved populations in their ideas and pitches and executed research into meaningful “so what” insights that informed design decisions
• Prototypes were refined through direct user feedback and iteration

Objective 3: Use ILP technologies (including Rafiki) to develop and demo inclusive financial tools.**
• Teams built fintech prototypes using ILP and integrated Rafiki wallet functionality
• Students successfully demonstrated wallet-to-wallet transactions
• The cohort engaged in hands-on troubleshooting sessions which supported their technical development

Objective 4: Understand real-world business planning, from go-to-market strategy to risk management.
• Students developed go-to-market strategies and pilot launch plans
• Teams created pitch decks, financial projections, and revenue models
• Risk considerations (cybersecurity, fraud prevention, compliance) were built into product design

Objective 5: Collaborate cross-functionally as future founders, product managers, and engineers.
• Students operated in startup-style teams with defined roles (CEO, CRO, Product, CTO)
• Collaborated with computer engineering students on MVP development
• Used peer feedback, iteration, and shared accountability to move projects forward

Overall, the assessment showed that students not only learned concepts but they applied them in real-world contexts. The program successfully blended technical skills, business strategy, and experiential learning. Outcomes reflected workforce-ready capabilities during the Dollarcraft Public Showcase.

Communications and Marketing

The Dollarcraft Program has been widely promoted through Alabama A&M University’s official news channels, as well as across key social media platforms including LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. These efforts have generated strong visibility for the initiative, resulting in significant interest and positive feedback from both the university community and external audiences.

Public engagement included featured university news articles and a video highlight of the Public Showcase, which captured the interdisciplinary innovation and impact of the student projects.Examples of this coverage include:

Team Selected for Dollarcraft Challenge to Drive Inclusive Financial Solutions – Alabama A&M University
Interdisciplinary Teams to Present Real-World Digital Banking Prototypes – Alabama A&M University

https://vimeo.com/1194488499/b2f32596a9?fl=tl&fe=ec
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N8Eko4C2CLD_uLWYfEYwF_FRzkXJiuL0/view

Each student was tasked with identifying a real-world challenge related to financial access and defining a target population that their prototype would serve. All students successfully identified meaningful problems and aligned them with specific community segments that would benefit from their proposed solutions. Two of the projects focused on challenges faced by international residents, who often encounter significant barriers in transferring funds and navigating unfavorable currency exchange rates. Another project addressed financial access issues among elderly populations, particularly those who experience difficulty accessing traditional banking institutions due to transportation limitations.

What’s Next?

Building on the insights gained from the first phase of the project, the program will continue to refine and expand student-led innovation in financial access. Future cohorts will be guided to further develop their prototypes with an increased emphasis on scalability, real-world application, and user testing within their targeted communities. Leverage promotional materials and video content to expand visibility of the project beyond campus channels. Engage local media and community outlets to foster broader dialogue and awareness of the project’s impact. Increase student engagement and recruitment for future cohorts by showcasing student testimonials. Promote the Dollarcraft Hackathon through targeted outreach to high school educators and partners.

Community Support

The Dollarcraft innovators would welcome industry expertise from the Interledger community. How?

Offer guest speakers and executive coaching to enhance student and program development.
Serve on an advisory board to provide strategic guidance and industry-informed insight.
Support faculty development through industry-aligned training reflective of evolving fintech trends.
Provide actionable feedback and recommendations to accelerate program growth and impact.
Facilitate connections with industry leaders, corporate partners, and professional mentors to strengthen the program ecosystem.
Contribute funding to support project expansion and ensure long-term sustainability beyond the pilot phase.

Additional Comments

On behalf of the College of Business and Public Affairs at Alabama A & M University, we are grateful to the Interledger Foundation for the support and for the partnership on the global financial inclusion initiative. To echo the voices of the students, this project was enlightening, insightful, enriching and transformative.

Interledger Community Call: PCH Mexico | 10 June 2026

Vineel R. Pindi — Thu, 21 May 2026 20:44:09 +0000

Join us for our May Interledger Community Call on 10 June 2026!

The Interledger community calls shall be once a month, on the second Wednesday of each month.

Deeper Look: People's Clearinghouse (PCH)

For June’s community call, we will have the People's Clearinghouse (PCH) team sharing a deeper look into their project.

About People's Clearinghouse (PCH):

People's Clearinghouse (PCH) is a digital payments platform designed to interconnect community banks and savings cooperatives in Mexico, among themselves, with the national financial system, and with international networks for account-deposited remittances. Built on the basis of open-source technology (Rafiki, Mojaloop, ILP), PCH is led by the Mexican Association of Social Sector Credit Unions (AMUCSS), an organization with four decades of experience building community-owned financial institutions in rural and indigenous regions. By routing remittances directly into community bank accounts rather than into cash, PCH aims to create a virtuous cycle: more local capital, more credit for productive projects, less inequality, and less forced migration.

People's Clearinghouse — ILF Grant Final Report

Roberto Valdovinos for The People's Clearinghouse ・ Mar 31

#finalreports

Open Payments Month and Open Payments Accelerator:

Open Payments Month (June 1 - June 30)

What is Open Payments Learning Month?

Thirty days of hands-on, self-paced learning to take you from knowing that Open Payments exists to running your first transaction running in the test environment. The program includes live talks and sessions throughout the month. The time commitment is flexible, though we recommend a minimum of 6 to 10 hours total over the course of the month. It’s completely free and starts on June 1.

Open Payments Accelerator Launch The Open Payments Accelerator grant program supports early-stage founders and developers building digital financial services for underserved communities, helping them move from idea to Proof of Concept (PoC) through 4 months of intense mentorship and funding.

Our goal is to lower barriers for innovators, grow a pipeline of Interledger-enabled solutions, and bring more people into accessible, interoperable financial systems.

Timeline: Applications opens on Monday, June 1, 2026 and closes on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 (11:59 PM EDT)

Time:

Agenda and Meeting Minutes:

Public note-taking document here.

Meeting joining info:

Community call meeting joining info

Have questions or need help? Join us on Slack here.

The Currency of Community: Finance, Culture, and What Comes Next

Kokayi Walker — Thu, 21 May 2026 19:14:44 +0000

When I was first asked about working on the Future Money podcast, I wanted to know where we wanted to go and what we wanted to say. Shoutout to Lawil and all the amazing interviews she conducted. This podcast explores the intersections of technology, finance, and culture, but as we reimagine and expand the ideas and applications of finance, we must recognize that financial exchange occurs far beyond traditional banking systems, investment spaces, or fintech conversations.

As we look ahead, the idea of value becomes a foundational tenet in finance. Value moves through communities every day in the form of trust, labor, access, creativity, education, wellness, social networks, and cultural participation. As technology continues to reshape the world around us, Future Money is expanding its lens to examine how these exchanges operate across industries that may not immediately see themselves connected to digital finance, interoperable payments, or economic innovation, but absolutely are.

These conversations have started with Blaze Group's Casey Diké, a strategic partner at ILF working on strategic finance programs with HBCU’s, CDFIs, banks, and financial institutions, Modi Oyewole, co-founder of swang, a community first organization addressing barriers to entry in golf, who is redefining what access, inclusion, and ownership can look like in historically marginalized spaces and most recently with Kristina Newman-Scott, Vice President of Arts at Knight Foundation, about the role culture, creativity, and community investment play in shaping sustainable futures.

We’ve also stepped out of the studio to extend our reach directly into communities and global conversations around financial innovation. During interviews conducted at the Interledger Summit in Mexico City, we spoke with a range of innovators, technologists, organizers, and builders working across the financial technology ecosystem. Those conversations reinforced something we have long believed: the future of finance is not only about tools or platforms, but about people and how we assign value while examining cultural understanding, accessibility, and trust.

While the world becomes increasingly connected through technology, it is also becoming more siloed through cultural fragmentation, uneven access, and institutional barriers. Because of this, the language surrounding resources, money, community, and interoperability must evolve alongside the technology itself.

So we’re absolutely looking at the Future of Money, while examining the past and present, through the stories. We’re being intentional about direct community outreach, deeper interdisciplinary dialogue, and bringing in guests whose work reflects how financial systems intersect with everyday life. The podcast will continue to spotlight founders, creatives, technologists, artists, organizers, and thinkers who are building new pathways toward empowerment and self-sovereignty, especially for underserved and underbanked communities. More than ever, we are interested in exploring how value is created, shared, protected, and transformed across every sector imaginable. We are incredibly excited to continue this work, expand these conversations, and build a platform that reflects the complexity, creativity, and possibilities of the future unfolding before us.

I’m excited about where we can go and want to thank Chris, Ayesha, and Briana for rocking with me. Until we talk again
K

See all our latest episodes,

S2:E1 Casey Ariel
S2:E2 Voices from the Interledger Summit
S2:E3 Modi Oyewole
S2:S4 Kristina Newman-Scott

Listen to all full episodes of the Future Money Podcast here or on YouTube.

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My Learnings from Running a Technical Activity for our ILF Community

Bibi — Tue, 19 May 2026 22:35:53 +0000

This is an honest reflection on my first community experiment.

A few weeks ago, I wrapped up something I call a "Learning Month" inside the Interledger Foundation community. The idea was simple: instead of pointing people at our documentation and hoping for the best, what if we created a structured, week-by-week learning journey together? A guided experience that built on itself, starting from the basics and working toward something more advanced.

Rafiki felt like the right place to start, it's one of ILF's core open-source projects.

So I designed a five-week program, shared curated resources every week in our Slack community, and watched what happened. Here's what I found.

The ILF Community Is Not One Audience

Before I get into the data, I want to name something that makes community work at ILF uniquely complex: our community is not a single audience, we have about 5 different personas within our audience.

On one end, we have deeply technical contributors, open-source developers, and engineers who can read a code and immediately orient themselves.

On the other, we have CEOs, policy folks, and ecosystem partners who are interested in the what and the why but have no intention of spinning up a Docker container.

I knew this going in. What I didn't fully anticipate was how sharply that divide would show up in the analytics.

How the Learning Month Was Structured

The five weeks were designed to follow a natural progression:

Week 1 kicked off with high-level conceptual content: what Rafiki is, where it fits in the Interledger ecosystem, and how it relates to the broader protocol.
Week 2 went deeper into core concepts: payment pointers, Open Payments, and Rafiki's double-entry accounting model.
Week 3 shifted into hands-on territory: spinning up a local playground, Docker Compose deployment, and environment configuration.
Week 4 covered peering and liquidity, which is fairly advanced operational knowledge.
Week 5 closed with architecture deep-dives and a path to contributing to the Rafiki repo on GitHub.

Each week ended with an open invitation for feedback, and the whole series wrapped up with a live Rafiki Community Call.

What the Data Said

The #rafiki channel grew from 194 to 299 members over the course of the month. That alone felt like a signal the activity was worth doing. But the more interesting story was in the page analytics.

The pattern was consistent and pretty telling: Concepts performed well. Execution did not.

Week 1 and 2 were the strongest by far, the early resources were conceptual and far from code. The Open Payments concepts page saw a +68% lift in traffic. The accounting page was up +32%. People were reading, exploring, and engaging with the ideas.

Then Week 3 arrived, and we hit a wall. The local playground page dropped 34%. The Docker Compose deployment page dropped 30%. Week 4's liquidity content was largely flat. Week 5, which focused on contributing to GitHub, resulted in zero new pull requests.
The drop-off wasn't gradual, it was a cliff and I felt the free fall.

What I Think It Means

My honest read: the community that showed up for Rafiki Learning Month was less technical than what I had prepared for.

One signal I received was that a lot of people want to understand Rafiki, but not all are ready to run it. Designing five weeks of content that assumed increasing technical readiness probably lost a meaningful chunk of the audience right around week three.

That said, I'm cautious about over-indexing on one month of data. It could be a coincidence... It could be timing. I'm reading the signals, not drawing conclusions in permanent ink.

What I feel more confident about: five weeks is probably too long. Engagement was highest at the start and I suspect a tighter, three or four-week format would hold attention better and end before the drop-off has a chance to happen.

The Hard Part: Getting a Pulse on a Segmented Community

One of the trickiest things about running community programming for a mixed community is that you often don't know who's actually in the room.

When someone clicks a link in Slack, I can see the page view. What I can't easily see is whether that person is a developer trying to understand ILP packet flow or an executive who just wants a plain-language answer to "what does Rafiki actually do?" Without that context, it's really hard to know whether your content is landing or just... passing through.

This is a common problem in developer relations and open-source community work. Communities are rarely homogeneous and most analytics tools aren't built to tell you who is engaging, only that someone did.

One thing I'm planning to experiment with in the next Learning Month is parallel content tracks. One track focused on the technical folks, and one for those who aren’t.

What I'll Do Differently

Use UTM parameters from day one. Tracking engagement through page analytics alone made it hard to understand the full user journey. Next time, I'll tag every link with UTM parameters so I can see exactly where traffic is coming from and how people are moving through the content.

Keep the video format. Posts that combined a short video summary with curated resources consistently outperformed text-only updates. It's more work, but it's clearly worth it. People prefer to consume different types of content, some enjoy reading, some prefer visual accompaniment.

Think harder about the technical curve. If the community is mixed, the content structure needs to reflect that. Maybe that means parallel tracks, or being more explicit upfront about who each week is designed for.

Explore gamification. This one is still just an idea, but I keep coming back to it. What if there were real incentives for completing the series? Swag, community recognition, something that made finishing feel rewarding?

The Signals That Mattered Most

Beyond the page data, a few things happened that I found genuinely exciting.

A conversation that grew out of Learning Month connected us to ILF's Grants team in a way that hadn't happened before. And a community member who engaged throughout the month, is now presenting his own Rafiki project at the next Community Call.

Those aren't metrics. But they're exactly the kind of outcomes that make a community activity feel worthwhile.

What's Next

For our next Learning Month, we’re going full steam with Open Payments. This ties into our upcoming hackathon in late 2026 and will be a fantastic opportunity for those interested in grasping key concepts early on.

To learn more or chat with me directly, join us on Slack.

Catch y'all next time!!

Safeguarding financial data, empowering civil society — ILF Grant Progress Report

Michael Caster — Thu, 07 May 2026 07:34:17 +0000

Brief Project Description

Authorities in closed societies have increasingly employed financial lawfare to restrict civil society access to needed resources, amounting to an undue interference with their freedom of expression and association. This has adversely affected both national and diaspora civil society actors, sometimes magnified through tactics of financial transnational repression. This project sets out to create a knowledge base on relevant laws and policies affecting financial institutions and digital payment companies handling of sensitive user data, and to enhance the capacity of target civil society and payment companies to improve civil society financial resilience and payment company rights-based due diligence.

Project Update

To date, we have completed a detailed legal analysis of relevant financial and data privacy regulations in the United States and United Kingdom, identified as the prevailing registered location for leading target payment companies. In addition, we have completed a significant draft of target company policies focused on user data handling. The legal and policy analyses are valuable outputs in their own right, but will primarily inform the development of a targeted manual for civil society actors in relevant jurisdictions to better understand their rights and risks in setting up and managing relevant payment platform accounts. A first draft of the manual has been completed and is currently being reviewed through a tiered consultation.

Project Impact & Target Audience(s)

While we are progressing well and have had positive feedback from the target community, the project is at an interim point of output creation whereby more substantive impact has not yet been measured. We look forward to the final outputs and more in depth engagement and evaluation of impact.

Progress on Objectives, Key Activities

The original proposal outlined legal and policy analyses, which are nearly completed. We are also nearing a final draft of the practical manual we set out to produce. The proposal also outlines the creation of recommendations to digital payment platforms, which will be informed by the legal and policy analyses and tiered consultation. This has not begun yet but will start next month. We especially look forward to sharing the output for digital payment platforms with the Interledger Community and hope it may likewise be helpful in their own research or advocacy on rights-based policies at digital financial institutions.

Communications and Marketing

We have not disseminated outputs in public yet, as this will come with the final outputs at the end of the project. But look forward to sharing and receiving community input at that time.

What’s Next?

Over May and June we will be working with the project team and external tiered consultation participants to finalize the project materials. We are looking forward to the final outputs release and the ability to hopefully move onto a second stage with more targeted capacity building and advocacy around these issues.

Community Support

We are eager to learn more about what others are doing!

Additional Comments

Relevant Links/Resources (optional)

Nepal Interledger Financial Network

Nepal Internet Foundation — Tue, 05 May 2026 08:21:40 +0000

Brief Project Description

Nepal Interledger Financial Network (NIFN) is a non-profit initiative led by the Nepal Internet Foundation to enable interoperability across Nepal’s fragmented digital payment ecosystem. It connects underserved Type C cooperatives to modern digital finance using the Interledger Protocol. By developing a middleware layer compatible with ISO 8583 and integrating with the Rafiki platform, NIFN allows seamless, low-cost transactions between previously disconnected and isolated systems. The project focuses on financial inclusion, enabling millions of cooperative members to send and receive money and merchant payments across banking and financial institutions (BFIs) efficiently, securely, and in real time.

Project Update

Nepal Interledger Financial Network (NIFN) project is progressing steadily and remains on track with its overall timeline. During this period, the focus has been on building a strong technical foundation while also engaging closely with cooperative and BFI partners.

On the technical side, NIF has made good progress in developing the middleware system and initiating integration with the Interledger (Rafiki) platform. The system is currently in the testing and simulation phase, where we are validating how transactions will work across different institutions. While this has been a complex process, especially bridging ISO 8583 with ILP and other protocols, the team has been able to manage it well with expert support, service and continuous iteration.

A major highlight has been the trust and interest shown by cooperatives and BFIs. Through field visits, training, workshop sessions, and one-on-one face-to-face meetings, we have signed MoUs with 13 cooperatives who are willing to participate in the pilot. These engagements have not only helped us refine the system based on real needs but also built confidence among stakeholders.

One of the challenges we faced was varying levels of digital understanding and financial literacy among cooperative members, especially in semi-urban and rural areas. To address these issues, we took a more practical, orientation-first approach, focusing on clear communication rather than technical complexity.

Overall, the project is now moving from installation and integration to development toward pilot implementation, which will be a key milestone in the next phase.

Project Impact & Target Audience(s)

Nepal Interledger Financial Network (NIFN) is designed to create meaningful impact by improving access to digital financial services for underserved and often excluded access to finance communities in Nepal. Its primary target audience includes members of cooperatives and, simultaneously, other BFIs, which collectively serve millions of people, particularly those in semi-urban and rural areas who have limited access to formal banking systems.

Intended and Emerging Impact:

NIFN enables interoperability between previously disconnected cooperative systems, allowing members to send and receive money across institutions, merchant payments easily, securely, and at low cost. This directly improves financial inclusion, reduces dependency on cash-based transactions, and increases efficiency in local economies.

Target Beneficiaries:
• Women and Girls: A large proportion of cooperative members in Nepal are women, especially in savings and credit groups. By enabling easier access to digital finance, NIFN supports women’s financial independence and decision-making power.
• Rural and Marginalized Communities: Many cooperative members come from underserved regions with limited digital infrastructure. NIFN helps bridge this gap by connecting them to modern financial systems.
• Low-income and Informal Sector Workers: These groups benefit from affordable and accessible financial transactions without needing traditional banking access.
• Other marginalized groups: Including socially and economically disadvantaged communities who rely on cooperatives as their primary financial institutions.

Alignment with Interledger Foundation Mission:

NIFN aligns its mission with the Interledger Foundation by creating open, reliable, and secure digital financial systems using the Interledger Protocol. The project is not just creating new technology (middleware that connects ISO 8583 with ILP) but also raising awareness, building skills, and encouraging the use of open and secure payment systems among local financial institutions.

By combining technical innovation with community engagement, NIFN is helping create a more inclusive, connected, and equitable digital financial ecosystem in Nepal.

Progress on Objectives, Key Activities

Platform Development

NIFN platform development has made strong progress during this reporting period, focusing on building an open, secure, and interoperable financial infrastructure that connects Nepal’s cooperative and BFIs systems with the Interledger Protocol. The team has completed key foundational work in system integration, architecture design, and system integration testing, while also preparing the infrastructure for real-world deployment and pilot implementation with partner cooperatives and BFIs.

Key technical achievements include:

Initiation and partial completion of Rafiki API integration, enabling ILP-based payment routing.
Development of a middleware translation layer implementing ISO 8583 message formatting to ensure compatibility with existing Nepali financial institution systems (cooperatives, BFIs).
Architecture design finalized for the cloud-native deployment environment using Docker/Kubernetes for scalability and data sovereignty.
Integration of a PostgreSQL-backed ledger system for reliable data storage, double-entry accounting, and liquidity tracking.
Security layer defined and development commenced, ensuring atomic transaction processing.
Partnered with Silverlining Pvt. Ltd. to host our ISO-aligned Rafiki node in a production-ready cloud environment with full stack Data Center and Disaster Recovery (DC/DR) capabilities, supporting a smooth transition from SIT to pilot deployment.

The platform is currently in Phase 1 as outlined in the NIFN phased roadmap. Development is progressing on schedule toward a controlled pilot involving cooperative and BFIs institutions for domestic transfers.

Community Outreach

NIFN has carried out active grassroots outreach to build awareness and understanding of the Interledger Protocol and the potential of open, secure, interoperable digital finance among cooperative and BFI stakeholders.

Community Engagement Highlights

Training Session 1 – Hetauda, Makawanpur (Ward No. 2, 17–18 April 2026): A two-day field engagement was held at Hotel Samana, Hetauda, combining an orientation program with a Detailed Requirements Gathering (DRG) session. Around 15 representatives from 10 cooperatives participated in focused technical, operational, and compliance discussions, helping to map real operation, system needs, and integration challenges.
Discussion Session – Chabahil, Kathmandu (Ward No. 7): A community leaders outreach discussion was conducted in the Kathmandu Valley, Ward No. 7, with the ward chairperson targeting cooperative members and financial stakeholders to introduce the NIFN model and its role in enabling interoperable digital payments.
Stakeholder Engagement – Lalitpur: Direct discussions were held with the leadership of WEAN Cooperative, Mahalaxmi Sthan, Lagankhel, to present the NIFN framework and assess institutional readiness for onboarding.
Executive-Level Consultations: One-to-one face-to-face meetings were conducted with CEOs, executive directors, board members, and senior managers of target cooperatives. These meetings focused on explaining the NIFN with Interledger protocol value proposition, addressing operational and compliance concerns, and exploring practical pathways for integration.

Overall, these engagements have helped build trust, clarify technical expectations and compliance issues, and strengthen the foundation for upcoming pilot implementation with cooperative and other BFI partners.

Partnerships Established and agreements:

NIFN has made significant progress in formalizing partnerships with cooperatives, BFIs and technology partners, which will serve as the primary participants for the Phase 1 pilot. These engagements are a critical step in building trust and ensuring real-world readiness of the Interledger-based interoperability model. During the Hetauda field visit, as well as subsequent engagements in Kathmandu and Lalitpur, Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were actively pursued with cooperative stakeholders to formalize their commitment to the NIFN network and its shared vision of interoperable digital finance.

Nepal Internet Foundation operates NIFN as a neutral, non-commercial initiative, ensuring that all partnerships align with national digital transformation priorities. This includes alignment with the Digital Nepal Framework and Nepal’s Financial Inclusion Roadmap. The approach emphasizes collaboration, transparency, and long-term sustainability, positioning cooperatives as active partners in building an inclusive and interoperable financial ecosystem for Nepal.

Activity / Milestone	Status	Progress Summary / Notes
Rafiki ILP API Integration	In Progress	Core integration is underway; ISO 8583 middleware currently being developed to enable interoperability
ISO 8583 Middleware Development	In Progress	Message translation layer under development and testing to bridge legacy banking systems with ILP
Platform Architecture Finalized	Completed	Cloud-native architecture (Docker & Kubernetes) finalized and approved for deployment
Community Orientation — Hetauda	Completed	Engagement with 10 cooperatives (~20 participants); Digital Readiness & Governance (DRG) session conducted
Community Outreach — Chabahil, Kathmandu	Completed	Awareness and onboarding session conducted with local cooperative stakeholders
Community Outreach — WEAN Cooperative, Lalitpur	Completed	Executive-level stakeholder engagement successfully completed
MoU Negotiations with Cooperatives	In Progress	13 cooperatives across Hetauda, Kathmandu, and Lalitpur engaged; agreements in finalization stage
Executive-level Stakeholder Meetings	Completed	Meetings conducted with CEOs, Board Members, and Senior Management
Team Mobilization (10 staff + 2 consultants)	Completed	Full project team operational since late January 2026
Project Website Launched	Completed	Official website launched and publicly accessible

Communications and Marketing

During this initial implementation phase, NIFN has taken a focused and relationship-driven approach to communications, prioritizing trust-building and technical clarity over strong partnership. The team has intentionally avoided major public announcements at this stage, as the project is still in development and undergoing internal SIT and UAT and pilot preparation with cooperators and partners.

Instead, communication efforts have been centered on direct engagement with stakeholders, including cooperatives, financial institutions, and technical partners. These interactions have focused on explaining the Interledger-based model, addressing operational concerns, and ensuring a clear understanding of the system before public rollout.

As part of foundational communication infrastructure, the official NIFN website has been developed to provide a central information hub about the project, its objectives, and its progress. This will serve as the primary platform for future outreach and public communication.

Looking ahead, NIFN plans to transition into a broader communications and marketing phase after successful completion of pilot testing. A “big bang” launch strategy will be implemented at that stage to publicly showcase the results, scale awareness, and support wider adoption across Nepal’s cooperative and financial ecosystem.

What’s Next?

For the next phase of implementation, the NIFN team will focus on completing core system development and conducting system integrations test (SIT) with in a controlled live pilot. This stage is critical in moving from technical validation to real-world usage with cooperative partners, in line with the approved grant work plan.

Key Planned Activities

Complete full setup and configuration of the ILP integration environment, including the Rafiki stack and ISO 8583 middleware.
Finalize middleware translator logic and ensure full ISO 8583 compliance across all test scenarios.
Execute Proof of Concept (POC) for end-to-end ILP-based transactions between ILP (NIFN), a wallet, and a cooperative in a controlled environment.
Conduct System Integration Testing (SIT) to validate interoperability, data integrity, and compliance across all system components.
Carry out User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with cooperative partners to gather feedback from real operational scenarios
Complete onboarding preparations and technical integration mapping for all MOUs signed cooperatives.
Technical and operational training will be provided to cooperative staff, along with user guidelines, SOPs, and onboarding documentation to ensure sustainable operations.
Strengthen coordination with additional cooperatives to assess system compatibility and prepare onboarding pipelines.
Finalize the teller-facing user interface to ensure readiness for real-user testing and operational use.
Launch the controlled live pilot, enabling cooperative staff to conduct real inter-cooperative transfer transactions within a monitored environment.
Continue strategic engagement with coperatives, BFIs, and Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to strengthen regulatory alignment and expand the partner ecosystem.
Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and monitoring dashboards to track transaction volume, system uptime, and adoption metrics. Collect feedback from pilot participants to make iterative improvements to the platform.
To prepare for scaling NIFN to more cooperatives and financial institutions, develop a roadmap that encompasses discussions on long-term sustainability, governance, and additional funding models beyond the pilot phase. The next phase will move from development to real-world deployment and validation, ensuring that NIFN becomes a production-ready interoperable payment network capable of scaling across Nepal’s financial ecosystem.

Community Support

As NIFN moves closer to pilot implementation, we deeply value collaboration, shared learning, and ecosystem support that can help strengthen both the technical system and its real-world adoption.

Rafiki Technical Troubleshooting:
We are currently finalizing our ISO 8583 mapping and would greatly appreciate opportunities to connect with peers who have experience integrating Rafiki with high-availability financial messaging systems. In particular, having a sounding board to discuss edge cases in transaction states, failure handling, and reconciliation flows would be extremely helpful as we refine system reliability and robustness.

Networking for Scalability:
We are actively looking to connect with organizations, fintechs, and infrastructure partners who are working on grassroots financial inclusion and interoperable payment systems. If there are opportunities to present our middleware architecture and pilot approach to a wider audience, we would greatly appreciate introductions that can help us explore scalability beyond the initial pilot phase.

Knowledge Sharing & Peer Learning:
We are always eager to learn from others in the ecosystem. If you have worked on interoperability, cooperative financial systems, or digital payment infrastructure, we would value the opportunity to exchange insights and learn from experience. Practical lessons on simplifying financial data exchange and improving system interoperability would be especially useful.

Post-Pilot Outreach & Global Visibility:
Once the pilot phase is successfully completed, we plan to move into a broader communication and outreach phase, including global promotion of the model. At that stage, we aim to share learnings, technical outcomes, and impact stories internationally to encourage adoption of interoperable financial systems in other regions facing similar challenges.

Overall, any guidance, collaboration, or connection will play an important role in helping NIFN grow from a national pilot into a scalable, globally relevant model for inclusive digital finance.

Additional Comments

NIFN project is progressing steadily and remains on track with its planned timeline. While still in the development and pre-deployment stage, strong foundations have been built both technically and through partnerships with cooperatives.
A key highlight has been the trust developed with cooperative institutions. Their willingness to engage, sign MoUs, and actively participate reflects growing confidence in the NIFN approach. At the same time, the technical team has continued refining the system based on real-world feedback, ensuring it is practical, secure, and aligned with the needs of Nepal’s financial ecosystem.
In the coming phase, the focus will be on completing integration and delivering a successful pilot. NIFN remains committed to building an inclusive and interoperable financial network that creates meaningful impact for communities across Nepal.

Relevant Links/Resources (optional)

Nepal Internet Foundation: https://www.nif.org.np
Nepal Interledger Financial Network: https://nifn.nif.org.np/

Covenant University Partners ILF on the Next Gen Program

Jonathan Oluranti — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 10:23:45 +0000

The global financial system is on the brink of a major transformation, and the next wave of innovation is being nurtured right here in Nigeria. Covenant University has officially partnered with the Interledger Foundation (ILF) to launch the Interledger Next Gen program, an initiative designed to bring open payments education directly into the classroom.

For tech enthusiasts, budding developers, and future financial leaders, this is a massive leap forward. Here is everything you need to know about this exciting launch and what it means for the future of fintech in Africa.

The Problem: A Fragmented Financial World

If you have ever tried to send money across borders or between different mobile money providers, you know that the current global payment ecosystem is heavily fragmented. Consumers and merchants are forced to navigate a patchwork of cash, debit cards, mobile money, and digital wallets.

These systems rarely communicate with one another, creating "walled gardens" that trap capital, hike up transaction fees, and delay settlements. Money that could theoretically settle in seconds often takes days.

The Solution: Open Payments and the Interledger Protocol (ILP)

To solve this, the Interledger Foundation is advocating for an open, interoperable payment network powered by the Interledger Protocol (ILP). ILP allows different currencies and distinct financial systems to seamlessly connect, acting essentially as a universal translator for money, much like how the internet routes data.

To make open payments the global standard, the ILF realized they needed to invest in the architects of tomorrow.

What is Happening at Covenant University?

As one of the leading tech and innovation campuses in Africa, Covenant University is at the forefront of this initiative. Through this grant and support from the Interledger Foundation, the university is integrating open payments directly into its curriculum to equip students with highly sought after skills.

Dedicated open Payments Courses: At Covenant University, we are launching two new courses entirely focused on financial inclusion, open payments and the Interledger Protocol.
Hands on Innovation: Theory is backed by practice. Students will gain practical experience building real world, interoperable fintech solutions that address actual market gaps.
Hackathons & Innovation Labs: The campus will host dedicated innovation labs, competitive hackathons and Demo Days where students can test their ideas, build prototypes, and solve pressing financial access challenges.
Incubator Program: The Incubator program will serve as a launchpad designed to help covenant university students transition their hackathon projects and coursework into market ready fintech startups
Micro Grants: We will ignite a Student Microgrant Program to provide direct financial support for student driven ILP projects.
Open Payments Innovation Week: The OPIW will be a hands on week dedicated entirely to problem solving, building and prototyping. Students will collaborate in teams to build payment solutions utilizing the Interledger Protocol and Rafiki.
Open Payments Conference: Covenant University will host the first Open Payments conference in the country, bringing together thought leaders across the industry, students and university faculty. Ps: More details about this will be shared publicly in subsequent months.

Key Updates

We've curated a robust curriculum comprising of 2 courses with 4 modules and 60 learning Units.

The Interledger Community 🌱

Reflections from UN Open Source Week 2026

Alabama A&M: Shaping the Future of FinTech

Open Payments Curriculum: Empowering a New Generation of Fintech Entrepreneurs — ILF Grant Progress Report

Brief Project Description

Project Update

Project Impact & Target Audience(s)

Communications and Marketing

What’s Next?

Community Support

Additional Comments

Relevant Links/Resources (optional)

Interledger Community Call: Hague University - Open Payments Innovation Lab | 8 July 2026

Deeper Look: Hague University - Open Payments Innovation Lab

Future of Open Payments: Bridging Finance, Technology, and Law for Financial Inclusion — ILF Grant Progress Report

Local Impact Mini-Grant:

From an idea to the Sandbox: What It Really Takes to Build Fintech in the Pacific, Part 1

Alabama A & M University: Dollarcraft Program — ILF Grant Progress Report

Brief Project Description

Project Update

Project Impact & Target Audience(s)

Progress on Objectives, Key Activities

Communications and Marketing

What’s Next?

Community Support

Additional Comments

Interledger Community Call: PCH Mexico | 10 June 2026

Deeper Look: People's Clearinghouse (PCH)

People's Clearinghouse — ILF Grant Final Report

Roberto Valdovinos for The People's Clearinghouse ・ Mar 31

Open Payments Month and Open Payments Accelerator:

The Currency of Community: Finance, Culture, and What Comes Next

My Learnings from Running a Technical Activity for our ILF Community

The ILF Community Is Not One Audience

How the Learning Month Was Structured

What the Data Said

What I Think It Means

The Hard Part: Getting a Pulse on a Segmented Community

What I'll Do Differently

The Signals That Mattered Most

What's Next

Safeguarding financial data, empowering civil society — ILF Grant Progress Report

Brief Project Description

Project Update

Project Impact & Target Audience(s)

Progress on Objectives, Key Activities

Communications and Marketing

What’s Next?

Community Support

Additional Comments

Relevant Links/Resources (optional)

Nepal Interledger Financial Network

Relevant Links/Resources (optional)

Covenant University Partners ILF on the Next Gen Program

The Problem: A Fragmented Financial World

The Solution: Open Payments and the Interledger Protocol (ILP)

What is Happening at Covenant University?

Key Updates