Interledger Foundation expands open payments teaching

Interledger Foundation has partnered with more than 10 universities to introduce open payments teaching into academic programmes across North America, Europe, Australia and Africa.

The initiative targets students in business, technology and entrepreneurship who are likely to work on payment systems and financial infrastructure. It focuses on the weaknesses of current payment networks and teaches how interoperable alternatives can be built using the Interledger Protocol.

Payment systems remain fragmented across cash, cards, instalment services and digital methods, often requiring separate technical integrations for merchants and service providers. Interledger Foundation argues this makes the market slower and more expensive than necessary, particularly for cross-border transfers, where settlement can still take days.

The university partnerships are part of a broader effort to expand use of the organisation's open source protocol, which is designed to move money between institutions and currencies without relying on a single closed network.

Course rollout

Several participating institutions are incorporating the material into existing degree programmes, while others are creating dedicated courses, internships and prototype projects.

At Alabama A&M University, open payments is being added to credit-bearing business coursework through the Dollarcraft programme. Students will research financial inclusion and build digital banking prototypes alongside engineering students.

The Atlanta University Centre Consortium, which includes Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine and Spelman College, is bringing together 25 students from historically Black colleges and universities to design and test open payment projects addressing financial inequities.

Benedict College is launching an ILP Pathways programme in which students complete a 150-hour internship before mentoring local young people and helping minority-owned businesses adopt open payment systems.

Bowie State University has already run a multi-campus programme that reached more than 700 students across four continents through coursework, micro-internships and hackathon-style activities. It is now expanding that programme to seven additional historically Black colleges and universities in the US.

In Nigeria, Covenant University is introducing two new courses focused on open payments and the protocol. The work will include practical projects in innovation labs, hackathons and digital inclusion clinics.

The Hague University of Applied Sciences is launching an interdisciplinary course linking finance, law and technology, described by Interledger Foundation as an early step in building a European pipeline of graduates trained in open payments.

USIU-Africa in Kenya is adding the protocol to entrepreneurship training and startup incubation in Nairobi. The programme is intended to support 40 students developing financial inclusion products for underbanked communities.

At the University of Cape Town, open payments has been integrated into a Master's in Financial Technology programme, where students must create working payment applications as capstone projects. The university has also opened a Financial Innovation Hub focused on financial technology research across Africa.

Western Sydney University is adding an eight-week module to cybersecurity and business courses, asking students to design and test secure, interoperable financial applications.

Wider strategy

The education programme also reflects a broader debate over how digital payment infrastructure should develop. Domestic instant payment schemes such as India's UPI and Brazil's Pix have shown how shared rails can reduce friction within national markets, but cross-border interoperability remains more difficult.

Interledger Foundation sees higher education as one way to build a workforce familiar with open payment design from the start of their careers. The strategy shifts part of the focus from software development alone to curriculum design, internships and applied student projects.

The organisation says it has invested more than $21 million in more than 200 projects across 42 countries. Other partners include People's Clearinghouse, Paysys Labs and Kanzu Finance.

Briana Marbury, president and CEO of Interledger Foundation, said the university partnerships are intended to help students design interoperable systems from the outset.

“The next generation of leaders has the opportunity to build payment systems that improve the closed, siloed systems of the past,” Marbury said. “Working with these universities, we have the opportunity to instill in students the knowledge and tools they need to design for interoperability from day one, so open payments become the standard, rather than the exception.”