The Interledger Community 🌱: Chiara

Interledger Foundation, Here to Support and Waag

Chiara — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 20:21:42 +0000

Here to Support, in collaboration with Waag Futurelab, is the newest recipient of the Digitial Financial Services grant from the Interledger Foundation (ILF). The two organizations will work together to investigate how undocumented residents in the Netherlands currently access financial services and how the utilization of the Interledger Protocol can facilitate their financial access.

This partnership opens new possibilities for addressing the financial exclusion faced by undocumented communities. According to Malou Lintmeijer, Co-Director of Here to Support,

"For years, we've focused on the exclusion from banking that different undocumented communities experience. Working with ILF and Waag Futurelab gives us a unique opportunity to research potential solutions to these challenges thoroughly. We hope this will lead to the creation of a trust-based banking system in the Netherlands in the future."

This initiative marks a significant step towards understanding and reshaping the financial landscape for those who have been historically marginalized. Briana Marbury, President and CEO of the Interledger Foundation stated,

"The partnership between the Interledger Foundation, Here to Support, and Waag Futurelab is crucial in addressing financial exclusion for vulnerable residents of the Netherlands. Together, we will use the interoperable power the Interledger Protocol to work towards an open and inclusive solution for undocumented people."

This collaboration not only reflects ILF's core mission, but will also lay the groundwork for other regions to explore creative alternatives to traditional financial infrastructure that can enhance access and inclusion.

Learn more about Here to Support, Waag and their project at the Interledger Summit 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. If you can’t join us in person, please sign up to our newsletter for access to the virtual live link!

Interledger Community Call Explained - 11 September 2024

Chiara — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 19:24:01 +0000

In case you missed the community call on September 11 here is the detailed recap highlighting the People's Clearinghouse project and Web monetization developer guide.

Notes, Recording and Podcast

Watch the Meeting recording on Youtube
Listen to the podcast for free on SoundCloud here
Public note-taking document here

People's Clearinghouse 🏦

Our biggest share out during the community call was the update from People's Clearing House (PCH), that was presented by Roberto Val, Roberto Carlos Cruz Villalba, & Adriana Hernández.

You can listen to the details on youtube and view their presentation here.

Roberto begins the presentation by introducing PCH and describing their work. He emphasizes that transitioning from a cash-based ecosystem to a digital ecosystem can have a significant impact. Directing funds to community banks rather than national corporate banks, can increase local savings and investments, leading to greater access to credit opportunities for local projects. This is essential for developing the local economy.

Roberto Carlos then presented the details on the Cross Network Provider (CNP) and remittance scenario. Here is a general flow of what it would look like -

Roberto goes into the detail of the CNP and the technical aspects of sending and receiving transfers.

Lastly, Adriana presents on the technical challenges that micro banks go through and how PCH helps. She gives the details on the work and the updates on the LCC connector and API's.

PCH is hoping to have a live demo at the summit, make sure to meet them if you are interested in their project or have any questions!

Tech Updates 💻

The next presentation was from our previous ambassador, Santosh @devcer, who gave us a detailed look at the developer guide to migrating changes in Web Monetization.

Developer guide to migrating the breaking changes in the latest Web Monetization draft

Santosh Viswanatham ・ Jan 17

#webmonetization #tutorial

You can listen to Santosh on youtube and view his slides here. If you are interested in testing out the private beta version, message Ioana at ioana@interledger.org

Next we had Max Kurapov, @mkurapov one of our skilled software developers, share an insightful explanation about the work week in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Read the details:

Rafiki Updates - September 2024

Max Kurapov for Interledger Foundation ・ Sep 11

#rafikiupdates

You can follow along on the community call recording here.

ILF Updates 🌐

The only major update we have is that Ayden @ferdeline, one of our 2024 ambassadors, working on the Dynamic Coalition on Digital Financial Inclusion has successfully secured a session at this year’s annual United Nations Internet Governance Forum – this is an opportunity to discuss the efforts around digital financial inclusion and showcasing how the Interledger Protocol is contributing to an open, equitable, and accessible financial system.

Digital Financial Inclusion and the United Nations Internet Governance Forum

Ayden Férdeline ・ May 14

#policy #research #advocacy #ambassador

Interledger Summit

Save your spot!

Join us for the Interledger Hackathon

Where we'll be

Our tech team will be at the following events - if you are there please ping us or say hi!

State of the Browser Saturday, 14 September 2024
Smashing Conference October 7–10, 2024
W3C TPAC Web Payments working group

Thanks everyone for reading!

Don't forget to contribute to the Interledger project on GitHub and give it a ⭐

If you have any feedback or suggestions for the call please fill out this form!

Meeting Minutes and Recordings from Interledger Community Call - 14 August 2024

Chiara — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 14:09:31 +0000

Thank you to everyone who joined the call, continue reading for the recap of our August 14 Community Call highlighting the latest update on implementing Open Payments into JoPACC banking system.

Notes, Recording and Podcast

Watch Meeting recording on Youtube
Listen to the podcast for free on SoundCloud here
Public note-taking document here

ILF Grants!

ILP Digital Financial Services Grant is open to apply until August 30, 2024. Read the application guidelines before applying.
The Ambassador Program Grant is open to apply until August, 30th, 2024. Read the application guidelines
The NextGen Higher Education Grant will be open until further notice.
ILF NextGen Higher Education Grant live

Fynbos updates:

@adrianhopebailie shared that they successfully completed the Canadian integration with the help from Chimoney. You can now sign up for a digital wallet in Canada! Adrian then explains that the US and EU pairing project is progressing with GateHub. He then goes into more detail on data sharing agreements and the technical aspects of making the project successful.

View more on the EU data protection law- GDPR

Deep dive into the JoPACC project

The end of the community call focused on the JoPACC project. If you don't know, JoPACC is the "Jordan Payments and Clearing Company, a private share-holding company that the Central Banks and Commercial Banks of Jordan own."

The update was presented by Beniamin Munteanu and Saaed Kokash. Ben started with a live demo of how the payments would work that you can view here .

Saaed then goes into the presentation that you can view here.

Tech Updates

Rafiki Updates - August 2024

Sabine Schaller for Interledger Foundation ・ Aug 14

#rafikiupdates

Web Monetization August 2024 Updates

Tseli for Interledger Foundation ・ Aug 14

#webmonetization #browserextension #supportcontentyoulove #paythewebforward

Web Monetization mid-year Work Week

Ioana Chiorean for Interledger Foundation ・ Aug 13

Last but not least - @feraltc Nathan’s blog post: Open Payments: The Cinderella Story of Finding a Fitting Authorization Method

Interledger Summit Save your spot!
Sat, Oct 26 | Sun, Oct 27
Learn more about the Hackathon
Sat, Oct 19 | Sun, Oct 20

Comments from the Call:

Jeremiah - “I have a list of regulatory, tax, and Internet security topics I would still love to see researched by qualified people as part of the ambassador program”.

Research I’d like to see funded

Jeremiah Lee ・ Sep 14 '23

#discuss #research #webmonetization

If you have any feedback or suggestions for the call please fill out this form!

Thanks everyone for reading and Thanks @vineel for helping to get these notes out!

Interledger Foundation and WalletGuru

Chiara — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 16:26:50 +0000

The Interledger Foundation is proud to support Wallet Guru in a second round of ILP Digital Financial Services funding.

Wallet Guru is developing the world's first payment streaming platform that enables users to pay for services in real-time.

“Hundreds of millions of unbanked consumers in the developing world must prepay for services like cell phone coverage, broadband internet, pay-TV, and streaming, using costly alternative payment methods. Paradoxically, this results in them paying higher rates than those with postpaid services. Leveraging Interledger, Wallet Guru is developing a platform that provides the fastest and most efficient solution for paying services in Latin America, specifically for prepaid customers. This will enable consumers to stream funds in real-time, ushering in a new era of subscription-less services.” — Fernando Almiñana, Wallet Guru Co-Founder.

With the shared mission to promote and expand digital financial inclusion, Wallet Guru and Interledger Foundation's collaboration will drive innovation and develop open payment opportunities in Latin America and beyond.

“Wallet Guru has demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of the technical, regulatory, and market realities of its innovation. It is exciting to witness Interledger-powered projects transition from theoretical to practical. Their commitment to expanding how people consume and pay for essential modern services exemplifies digital financial inclusion and aligns with the Foundation's mission,” Chris Lawrence, Chief Programming Officer.

We are excited to see the amazing work this year!

This project is suported by the ILP Digital Financial Services Grant. Opportunity to apply is still open and will stay open until August 30th. Read more details on the grant below and apply here .

Interledger Foundation Accepting Applications for ILP Digital Financial Services Grant

Julaire Hall for Interledger Foundation ・ Apr 30

#financialservices #callforproposals #announcements #grantfunding

Interledger Foundation and Chimoney

Chiara — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 15:40:13 +0000

Chimoney has received a second round of funding from the ILP Digital Financial Services Grant!

Chimoney is a global payment infrastructure provider specializing in building and providing businesses, startups, and communities around the globe with access to a powerful API and multi-currency wallets. Interledger Foundation is delighted to be working with Chimoney on this groundbreaking project, which aims to expand global access to digital financial services.

"We are excited to continue to partner with the Interledger Foundation to make digital financial services more accessible and inclusive. This collaboration unlocks more value for Chimoney and the Interledger Protocol by making Interledger available to tens of thousands of users in Canada, Nigeria, and beyond," Uchi Uchibeke, Co-Founder and CEO of Chimoney.

The project makes all Chimoney Wallets Interledger-enabled and will include the launch of a new Chimoney App: The Interledger App for Canada with support for Web Monetization and Open Payments. This approach enables efficient, scalable fund transfers between Chimoney Wallets and peer wallets, benefiting our existing and future users and further connecting them with the world.

Interledger Foundation Accepting Applications for ILP Digital Financial Services Grant

Julaire Hall for Interledger Foundation ・ Apr 30

#financialservices #callforproposals #announcements #grantfunding

Meeting Minutes and Recordings from Interledger Community Call - 10 July 2024

Chiara — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 19:03:38 +0000

We’ve had an eventful last month, here are the updates from our Community Call:

Watch Meeting recording on Youtube
Public note-taking document here

The Interledger Foundation is a global nonprofit foundation and steward of the Interledger Protocol (ILP) and Open Standards. Our role is to advocate for the adoption of open, interoperable payment solutions while supporting organizations that want to build on Interledger, and maintain a robust open-source community.

The call started off with Fynbos updates:

@adrianhopebailie shared that they will soon finish onboarding with Chimoney so that they can support Canadian users with the Fynbos wallet. They also have a separate project with Chimoney to enable transactions between Chimoney users (Canada) and the US. Lastly, Fynbos and Gatehub are working together with a consultant to get peer to peer crossborder payments between the US and EU. Adrian finishes off by saying they may have payments working between US and Europe by the next call (maybe :D).

Key updates from the Hackathon at the University of Cape Town:

Sarah Jones @joblerstune, an ILF Developer, gave us some great insight into the hackathon events that took place at the end of June. The weekend started with a bootcamp on digital Financial inclusion and open payments.

Dr. Allen David's, a Senior Lecturer in Economics, covered topics such as the traditional banking system, the alternative payment systems available today, financial exclusion, and the complexities of cross border and cross currency payments. Our very own Sarah Jones, Lawil Karma @lwlkarama and Sabine Schaeller @sabineschaller also presented to the students.

The weekend culminated in a 24-hour Hackathon that allowed students to develop their own projects surrounding open payments. Sarah explained that almost 40 students were in attendance throughout the weekend, and there was a great turnout of projects. The hands-on experience and brainstorming sessions helped students think critically about the standards and the possibilities that Interledger could provide.

Dr. Davids then gives some comments on his experience at the hackathon.

“it's always really been a dream of mine to sort of see what a cohort of intelligent, bright, ambitious and driven students do with this open payments framework and see how they are able to apply that framework to potentially use cases”

We wrap up the call with presentations from the winners:

1. SecureLifeCover - 1st Place

Winners: Darryl Nyamayaro, Siphiwe Bogatsu, Donel Chihoma, and Jason Joannou

This project was developed to be a dynamic fintech solution that helps underserved South African communities manage funeral cover payments, ensuring no payment is missed and relieving families of financial stress during difficult times.

Darryl Nyamayaro says “it's about the 61% of Africans who rely solely on the informal funeral cover. And miss payments can result in funeral costs ranging from 3000 rands to 50,000 rands and this is a financial and emotional burden that No family should face during a time of loss.”

2. Spend Secure - 2nd Place

Winners: Marc Levin, Ben Cleveland

This platform allows senders to send funds for specific purposes, preventing misuse by receivers, leveraging the granularity that can be achieved with the Grant Negotiation Authorization Protocol. For example, parents might pay into a “community” like a grocery store, convenience store, or even an organization. Their child/dependent can then go to that store and securely spend the money and the transactions can also be tracked by the families.

One of the runners up were, Naartjie, presented by Shaun Brick & Johan Brits

Naartjie reimagined the capabilities of the protocol - to demonstrate how friends can directly pay retailers, suppliers, and manufacturers, bypassing complex authorization screens.

Feel free to read more thoughts on the Hackathon in Sabine’s blog

Don't forget:

The Call for Speakers for the ILP Summit 2024 is open until August 6th, 2024. Apply here.
ILP Digital Financial Services Grant is open to apply until August 30, 2024. Read the application guidelines before applying.
The Ambassador Program Grant is open to apply until August, 30th, 2024. Read the application guidelines
The NextGen Higher Education Grant will be open until further notice.

Join our next call on August 14th, 2024 at 11 AM EST.

Thank you for reading!
Chiara

Community Call Explained!

Chiara — Tue, 21 May 2024 23:00:49 +0000

In case you missed the community call on May 8th, here is the recap:

Interledger Summit Call for speakers closes on May 28th!

For more details and to submit your proposal go here.

Grant Information:

ILP Digital Financial Services Grant: The deadline to apply is August 30, 2024. Read the application guidelines before applying.
NextGen Higher Education Grant - Opening May 30th, 2024!
Ambassador Program Grant - Opening June 4th, 2024!

Fynbos updates:

On the call, @adrianhopebailie explains their progress in connecting multiple wallets, stating that they have "deployed the production API keys to enable an EU experience with the help from GateHub!"

He then goes into more detail about the collaborators they are working with to create a connection between users in the US and the EU. He also explains the specifics of working with GateHub to create a Fynbos branded wallet using the GateHub infrastructure. Lastly, Adrian dives into the Fynbos project timeline and the challenges they've faced, such as obtaining licensing and addressing regulations.

Listen to the details here.

Breakpoint Update:

Benny, from Breakpoint Team, gave updates on the Work Week in Cluj, which covered:

A documentation review, TestNet roadmap, Telemetry decisions, an implementation proposal, onboarding on Rafiki Money, Interledger Pay, Rafiki Admin UI, and a deep liquidity discussion.

Listen to the Breakpoint Workshop updates.

Next, we had the latest on GateHub:

If you don’t know GateHub, it was one of the first wallets to integrate with the Interledger Protocol! Enej, from Gate Hub, highlights that their 10-year anniversary is coming up and that their work on wallets and issuing gateways on the XRP Ledger has gone well so far. GateHub supports 19 currencies, serving 1.6 million wallets and 1.4 million users.

Enej announced that they successfully launched open payments for the general public. This means anyone with a GateHub account can utilize the open payments and test out the payment pointers. Listen to more here. You can also watch a short walk through of the GateHub platform here.

We ended the call with Web Monetization updates from Tseli:

@tseli wrote, we are committed to building a solid extension that offers sound user experience and utility.

In order of priority, we look forward to an alpha release that includes:

Making one-time payments

Handling web-monetized iframes

Enabling or disabling continuous payments

Displaying the remaining authorized wallet balance

Formatting the displayed amount when the asset scale is high

You can watch the details explained here or read her post.

Web Monetization Extension - year-to-date updates

Tseli ・ May 9

#webmonetization #anotherwaytopay #browserextension

Thanks for reading!! Don't miss the next community call June 12th, 2024 :D

Your Monthly Roundup is Here!

Chiara — Wed, 01 May 2024 12:36:46 +0000

Hey there! For those who don’t know me, I’m Chiara and I work on the Marketing and Communications team at The Interledger Foundation.

This month, I get the pleasure of sharing the April Roundup!!

We’ve had a busy month, so here are the key updates:

If you haven’t heard, we are going to Cape Town, South Africa for the annual summit!

You can find more information about the summit here. If you are interested in participating in a talk/demo, workshop, panel or contribute the Interledger Innovation Exhibit, you can read more about the opportunities and apply here. Call for speakers is open until May 28th!

The ILP Digital Financial Services grant is also open!!

Interledger Foundation Accepting Applications for ILP Digital Financial Services Grant

Julaire Hall for Interledger Foundation ・ Apr 30

#financialservices #callforproposals #announcements #grantfunding

The open call for submissions started on April 30th and will be open until August 30th. Read more about our grant and requirements here.

One of the biggest share-outs this month was the April Community Call.

Meeting Minutes and Recordings from Interledger Community Call - 10 April 2024

Vineel R. Pindi for Interledger Foundation ・ Apr 11

#community #getstarted #discuss #ilpcommunitycall

During the community call we had updates from Fynbos, Sabine and Mifos

Fynbos shared an update on their project and the next steps in connecting multiple wallets in the US, South Africa, and Europe (coming soon)!

Sabine discussed details about the Rafiki updates, and the new Alpha 8 release!

when is Rafiki ready for Beta?, you may ask. The answer to that is: As soon as all our security additions are merged in…

During the call she shares more details on the security features and where we are at with a Beta release.

Rafiki Updates - April 2024

Sabine Schaller for Interledger Foundation ・ Apr 10

#rafikiupdates

Lastly, Mifos gave us a deep dive into their project ILP for Digital Public Infrastructure.

I found the update from Mifos so helpful as they explained Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and Digital Public Good (DPG) and why it’s important for us. I recommend listening to the call but here is my quick recap:

According to the document that Mifos shares, DPI is defined as:

A set of shared digital systems which are secure and interoperable, built on open standards, and specifications to deliver and provide equitable access to public and/ or private services at societal scale and are governed by enabling rules to drive development, inclusion, innovation, trust, and competition and respect human rights and fundamental freedoms -India’s G20 Presidency, 2023

During the call, Mifos explains that “just like ports, highways, and water systems, digital infrastructure organized on a public basis can form the backbone of socio-economic development.”

Mifos uses the UN Secretary-General's definition of DPGs as:

Open source software, open data, open AI models, open standards and open content that adhere to privacy and other applicable laws and best practices, do no harm, and help attain the Sustainable Development Goals

Mifos then goes into details of the initial stages of their project, which included 18 interviews with experts and designs for adoption. If you want to know more about DPI, Mifos shared this helpful link!

There are way more details to share from everyone so if you missed any of this or want to learn more you can listen and watch the community call here:

Watch Meeting recording on Youtube.
Listen to the Podcast for free on SoundCloud and Castopod.

Next, we had the first Hackathon on Rails!

Bowie State University made a trip to Fayetteville State University, where the students learned about Interledger, the possibilities of open payments, and the impact it can have on the greater economy.

Tomisin, the Bowie State Community Engagement Scholar writes...

Reflecting on our project during the hackathon, our team focused on developing solutions for digital financial inclusion. Using the Interledger Foundation as inspiration we came up with the initiative, EmpowerU.

Read about their trip and the project they worked on with students from Fayetteville State University and Cape Town University!

Riding the Interledger Express: Innovating for Inclusion at the Bowie State and Fayetteville State Hackathon

𝒯𝑜𝓂𝒾 ・ Apr 29

#education #interledgerfoundation #opensource #getstarted

Don’t miss the latest Digital Money blog post!

The Mobile Money Ecosystem, North America

Julaire Hall for Interledger Foundation ・ Apr 23

#digitalmoney #blogging #financialinclusion #discuss

Julaire Hall explores the Mobile Money Ecosystem in North America...

At a global level, it is highly probable that the future of money will consist of a mix of centralized and decentralized central bank digital currencies. If we’re talking digital payments then we must explore how CBDCs will expand the current landscape and foster greater inclusivity to those currently underserved and unbanked.

Last but certainly not least!!

Listen to the latest F|M Podcast episode: Re/Simulate

This week, we have a dynamic collective from Mexico City and Quito: Felipe Brugues, Ana Rodriguez, and Juan Carlos Leon.
Their project, Re/Simulate, uses 3D-printed clay sculptures to investigate the effectiveness of financial and economic programs.

The eight episode of the F|M podcast is out now!!

Lawil Karama for Interledger Foundation ・ Apr 30

#podcasting #futuremoneygrantee #interledgerfoundation

What a month!

Thank you for reading!! Leave me comment.

Chiara

The Interledger Community 🌱: Chiara

Interledger Foundation, Here to Support and Waag

Interledger Community Call Explained - 11 September 2024

Notes, Recording and Podcast

People's Clearinghouse 🏦

Tech Updates 💻

Developer guide to migrating the breaking changes in the latest Web Monetization draft

Santosh Viswanatham ・ Jan 17

Rafiki Updates - September 2024

Max Kurapov for Interledger Foundation ・ Sep 11

ILF Updates 🌐

Digital Financial Inclusion and the United Nations Internet Governance Forum

Ayden Férdeline ・ May 14

Interledger Summit

Join us for the Interledger Hackathon

Where we'll be

Meeting Minutes and Recordings from Interledger Community Call - 14 August 2024

Notes, Recording and Podcast

ILF Grants!

Fynbos updates:

Deep dive into the JoPACC project

Tech Updates

Rafiki Updates - August 2024

Sabine Schaller for Interledger Foundation ・ Aug 14

Web Monetization August 2024 Updates

Tseli for Interledger Foundation ・ Aug 14

Web Monetization mid-year Work Week

Ioana Chiorean for Interledger Foundation ・ Aug 13

Comments from the Call:

Research I’d like to see funded

Jeremiah Lee ・ Sep 14 '23

If you have any feedback or suggestions for the call please fill out this form!

Interledger Foundation and WalletGuru

The Interledger Foundation is proud to support Wallet Guru in a second round of ILP Digital Financial Services funding.

We are excited to see the amazing work this year!

Interledger Foundation Accepting Applications for ILP Digital Financial Services Grant

Julaire Hall for Interledger Foundation ・ Apr 30

Interledger Foundation and Chimoney

Interledger Foundation Accepting Applications for ILP Digital Financial Services Grant

Julaire Hall for Interledger Foundation ・ Apr 30

Meeting Minutes and Recordings from Interledger Community Call - 10 July 2024

We’ve had an eventful last month, here are the updates from our Community Call:

The call started off with Fynbos updates:

Key updates from the Hackathon at the University of Cape Town:

We wrap up the call with presentations from the winners:

Don't forget:

Join our next call on August 14th, 2024 at 11 AM EST.

Community Call Explained!

Interledger Summit Call for speakers closes on May 28th!

Grant Information:

Fynbos updates:

Breakpoint Update:

Next, we had the latest on GateHub:

We ended the call with Web Monetization updates from Tseli:

Web Monetization Extension - year-to-date updates

Tseli ・ May 9

Thanks for reading!! Don't miss the next community call June 12th, 2024 :D

Your Monthly Roundup is Here!

If you haven’t heard, we are going to Cape Town, South Africa for the annual summit!

The ILP Digital Financial Services grant is also open!!

Interledger Foundation Accepting Applications for ILP Digital Financial Services Grant

Julaire Hall for Interledger Foundation ・ Apr 30

One of the biggest share-outs this month was the April Community Call.

Meeting Minutes and Recordings from Interledger Community Call - 10 April 2024

Vineel R. Pindi for Interledger Foundation ・ Apr 11

Rafiki Updates - April 2024

Sabine Schaller for Interledger Foundation ・ Apr 10

There are way more details to share from everyone so if you missed any of this or want to learn more you can listen and watch the community call here:

Watch Meeting recording on Youtube.

Listen to the Podcast for free on SoundCloud and Castopod.

Next, we had the first Hackathon on Rails!

Riding the Interledger Express: Innovating for Inclusion at the Bowie State and Fayetteville State Hackathon

𝒯𝑜𝓂𝒾 ・ Apr 29

Don’t miss the latest Digital Money blog post!

The Mobile Money Ecosystem, North America

Julaire Hall for Interledger Foundation ・ Apr 23

Last but certainly not least!!

Listen to the latest F|M Podcast episode: Re/Simulate

The eight episode of the F|M podcast is out now!!

Lawil Karama for Interledger Foundation ・ Apr 30