The Interledger Foundation is a U.S. nonprofit working to make digital payments more open, affordable, and accessible. It supports open payment technology and funds the developers, researchers, educators, and organizations building on it.
Its work began with the Interledger Protocol, created in 2015 by Stefan Thomas and Evan Schwartz. The goal was to help money move between different banks, wallets, currencies, and payment networks as easily as information moves across the internet. The foundation became a nonprofit in 2019 and began operating publicly in 2021.
Briana Marbury serves as president and CEO. Stefan Thomas chairs the board, and Evan Schwartz remains a director. The organization is based in San Francisco but has a distributed international team.
The foundation supports three main technologies. The Interledger Protocol moves value between different financial systems. Open Payments gives developers a standard way to add payment features to their products. Rafiki provides open-source software that banks, wallets, and other regulated financial institutions can use to connect. The foundation does not charge a fee for using the protocol and has no investors.
Grantmaking is also a major part of its work. The foundation reports awarding more than $21 million to over 300 projects across more than 45 countries. Its programs support payment infrastructure, education, research, leadership, public policy, and creative work exploring how financial systems are built. Grants range from small campus awards of up to $5,000 to larger fellowships and accelerator programs offering between $50,000 and $92,000.
The foundation reported $96.4 million in net assets and $10.6 million in charitable distributions for the year ending December 2024. This financial base allows it to fund open payment technology and expand access to financial services without relying on protocol fees or outside investors.
The Interledger Foundation funds projects that make payment systems more open and useful for people who are underserved by traditional financial services. Its grants support six main areas: building open payment tools, teaching technical skills, researching barriers to financial access, leading longer-term projects, working with regulators, and using creative work to explore how money systems affect people.
Technical projects are generally expected to use the Interledger Protocol or Open Payments. The foundation looks for teams solving a clear problem for a specific community, especially when those teams understand the community firsthand. Priority areas include digital wallets that work across different networks, domestic and cross-border remittances, merchant payments, tools for informal businesses, and lower-cost financial services.
Funding is provided through grants rather than equity investments. Published awards range from campus mini-grants of up to $5,000 to SDK grants of between $5,000 and $50,000. The Open Payments Accelerator provides selected early-stage teams with $50,000, while the Interledger Fellowship offers $72,000 in compensation and a $20,000 project budget, for a total of $92,000. The foundation reported $10.6 million in charitable distributions during fiscal 2024, which means some funding extends beyond these named programs.
Grantees include startups, developers, financial service providers, researchers, educators, policy advocates, students, community organizations, and artists. Open opportunities change throughout the year. Current programs and application details are available at interledger.org/grants, and questions can be sent to programteam@interledger.org.
$5,000 – $92,000
Photo credit: Interledger Foundation
Open standards, no protocol fee
The foundation stewards the Interledger Protocol, the Open Payments API, and Rafiki. Its site says it charges no fee to use the standards and has no investors.
Grants from $5,000 to $92,000
Published programs include campus mini-grants up to $5,000, SDK grants of $5,000 to $50,000, a $50,000 accelerator, and a $92,000 fellowship.
More than $21 million deployed
The grants page reports more than $21 million across more than 300 projects in more than 45 countries. Fiscal 2024 charitable disbursements were $10.6 million.
Standards, skills, and rules
Alongside the software, the foundation funds education, research, and work with regulators. The about page says more than 1,000 students have been trained.
Focus areas
