Interledger Foundation Announces New Grantees For 2024 Ambassador Program

The Interledger Foundation is pleased to announce its new round of Ambassadors for 2024.

The Ambassador program was created three years ago to activate various communities worldwide to become involved in the Interledger Foundation’s vision for a world where anyone can send a payment as easily as an email.

The Ambassadors will receive a $30,000 grant to use towards research, building, organizing, advocating and imagining new paths to digital financial inclusion with Open Payments Technology. The selection criteria for an Ambassador focuses on individuals who operate at the intersections of digital finance, open-source, technology, research, policy, creativity, and community. Our Ambassadors serve as an extension of the Foundation and were picked because of their expertise, merit and their proposal’s originality and alignment with the Interledger Foundation’s mission and goals.

This year’s Ambassadors are:

• Victoria Coker – United States (New York, Mississippi, Louisiana)  –  Founder of Black Web Fest/ Multidisciplinary Artist/ Marketer / Software Engineer – Victoria will be doing an analysis of the United States poorest cities through a documentary.
• Smriti Parsheera, PhD – India – Lawyer and public policy researcher in India. Smriti will be exploring the digital experience of a community living in the Himalayan district of Lahaul-Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, India.
• Stephanie Perrin – Canada – President of Digital Discretion. Stephanie will be researching best practices and policy for adoption of Interledger Protocol.
• Ayden Férdeline – Germany – Public Interest Technologist. Ayden will expand the conversation of ILP within the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as well as making policy recommendations in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

“I’m excited by the potential these dynamic leaders have to impact people around the world,” said Chris Lawrence, Chief Program Officer of the Interledger Foundation. “This group of Ambassadors has a deep understanding of the mission of Interledger and the potential of what the Interledger Protocol can do to help end digital financial exclusion. These leaders inspire hope for our collective future and we are honored to support them and their work to transform the world for the better.”

Interledger Foundation believes payment networks should be interoperable to remove barriers to participating in the global financial ecosystem.  Since 2020, the Interledger Foundation has awarded $14 million for 188 projects in over 40 countries, supporting organizations researching and building Open Payments solutions using the Interledger Protocol (ILP). The Interledger network connects financial infrastructure to make payments easier, faster, and less expensive.

About The Interledger Foundation

The Interledger Foundation was established in 2020 as a U.S.-based global nonprofit grantmaking foundation. Their aim is to increase access to digital financial services by advocating for the adoption of an open-source currency network, powered by the Interledger Protocol (ILP), working directly with underrepresented groups.