Interledger: Creating a Standard for Payments

The web has enabled free and open information exchange for a vast number of users around the world. However, it has so far failed to do the same for payments. Instead of finding the cheapest route for each payment from a competitive network of providers, we rely on a small number of proprietary operators with global reach. The work happening at the Web Payments Working Group at W3C is attempting to remove some of the friction in performing payments on the Web by defining a standard payment API and messaging in browsers. This will make payments on the Web easier but not entirely frictionless or integrated. As active participants in the W3C's Web Payments Working Group we present a browser polyfill of one of the prosed payment APIs and will walk the audience through the goals of the WG and vision of how payments will work on the Web in the future. Building on this, we will introduce the Interledger Protocol (ILP), a new neutral payments protocol being incubated in the Interledger Payments Community Group, also at the W3C. We will demonstrate how, in the future, the combination of the W3C's Web Payments APIs and the power of ILP payments will not only be frictionless but fully integrated into how we use the Web. Ubiquitous payments in an Internet of Value.