Bootstrapping Interledger

When the Internet was first emerging and large university and research
networks were coming together on the back of the Internet Protocol the
challenge for everyday users was how they could access this new network of
networks without special permission or equipment.

We face a similar challenge with ILP in that very few of the ledgers
accessible to us support the one function that is critical to universal ILP
payments; real-time conditional transfers. (I wrote a bit about conditional
transfer here:
https://medium.com/@ahopebailie/the-power-of-conditional-payments-2d1ea531250a
)

So, just like the pioneers of the Internet we're improvising!

"Dial-up" interledger enables us to bootstrap the Interledger using
"virtual" ledgers between connectors that have established a bounded
trusted relationship.

In other words, if I run a small connector and I trust my friend Stefan who
also runs a connector then we can transact without needing an ILP-enabled
ledger between us.

We establish a credit limit that we are both comfortable with and agree on
a way to settle our positions as required (via Bitcoin, bank transfer or
even cash).

Consider what will happen if we build a community of people who are all
establishing similar peering relationships and then introduce ILP-enabled
ledgers to bridge any gaps between connectors that don't know one another.
Very soon we'll have an entirely new payments network where payments flow
like information does on the Internet today.

We're calling this project the Interledger Bootstrap Project and I've
started capturing some thoughts on the project wiki: https://github.com/
interledgerjs/ilp-kit/wiki

In short:
1. Get the ilp-kit code and run a node
2. Find other nodes to peer with
3. Do ILP-enabled transactions
4. Win!

The ilp-kit is still pre-release and likely to have some bugs and change a
lot so if you're keen to be an early adopter and help test and contribute
back to that project please do so. If you'd rather wait until the code
stabilizes a bit then keep watching the list and we'll let you know when
the first Beta is available.

Please feel free to make contributions to the wiki. It would be great if
this was a community effort!

Adrian