Re: Announcing the IFEX Project

> Just to be clear - I think that what you've proposed with IFEX is very
> much in the spirit of what we're attempting to achieve with the Web
> Payments work. Where PaySwarm deals with the front-end e-commerce stuff,
> and OpenTransact is a light-weight value exchange mechanism, IFEX is the
> "backroom plumbing" that connects the various networks together and
> ensures that they bridge to the real world. That is, it ensures that
> money gets from point A to point B.

One of the strongest points for the IIBAN proposal in particular
(http://www.ifex-project.org/our-proposals/iiban) is that it provides
a nominally compatible interface for existing banking infrastructure
and the growing number of internet connected financial systems lying
either outside of the present IBAN-utilizing zone (Europe, Israel,
others... and growing rather quickly).  A PaySwarm authority or
OpenTransact system could conceivably provide (or even adopt) IIBAN
addressing for the users/accounts under its management or for which it
can provide settlement connectivity, and through this mechanism
facilitate ease of integration with existing financial settlement
systems.

> We (Digital Bazaar) haven't had a chance to read through the
> documentation in detail yet, but we are certainly going to do so  over
> the next several weeks. The part that has always been missing from
> PaySwarm is the back-end settlement mechanism. We are going to be using
> ACH transfers in the beginning, which should work - but if there are
> more cost-effective ways that we could utilize (such as IFEX), we'd much
> rather give our customers those options.

ACH sounds like a fine target for a proof of concept, though
US-centric.  Including an abstraction layer such as that proposed by
IFEX between your settlement system (ie. ACH) interface and the rest
of an implementation could be a great way to ensure settlement system
neutrality (conceivably a requirement for truly internationalized
financial connectivity, itself in turn conceivably a requirement for
any truly global/web-scale proposal).

> In any case, I hope you keep us apprised of IFEX's progress and we will
> try to do a thorough analysis of IFEX over the next several weeks. I
> know that it may be nearly impossible for you to join us on the calls at
> the time we have scheduled now, but we can always move a few of the
> calls to line up with your time zone as we'd love to have your input or
> guidance during the IFEX-related discussions.

Sure.  I'd love to join a call or two and don't mind scheduling around
it, though a date after the 20th would be most convenient.

Regards,
Walter Stanish
The IFEX Project
http://www.ifex-project.org/

Received on Monday, 16 April 2012 04:54:39 UTC