Interledger (ILP)
Open protocol suite for sending payments across different ledgers, networks and currencies — routing value packets through connectors the way the internet routes information, with no dependency on any single blockchain, bank or currency. Stewarded by the nonprofit Interledger Foundation, which funds financial-inclusion deployments and builds Open Payments, Rafiki and the Web Monetization standard; active grant programs, annual summit and hackathon through 2025/2026.
The strongest open standard for the 'global standard, local expression' commandment: a currency-agnostic, decade-old, W3C-track protocol that lets any monetary system settle with any other, stewarded by a mission-driven foundation with real 2025-26 activity. It scores low on issuance and stability only because it is pure infrastructure — it is not money, it is the plumbing fair money will need.
M69 Score
Scored against the Money2069 Manifesto — see methodology. Higher = more aligned.
Detailed Rating Breakdown
Issuance Model3x2.0
Not a currency — ILP issues no money and has no supply mechanism of its own; it moves value held on connected ledgers. Scored low on this category structurally (no debt-free issuance to credit, no real-economy linkage), not for bad design: the framework's issuance questions largely do not apply to pure interoperability infrastructure.
Spending Power Stability2x2.0
No stability mechanism or benchmark of its own (SPS-01: 1-2); transfers inherit the stability of whatever currency crosses the network. It makes no stability claims — the score reflects absence, not failure, of a mechanism.
Fiat Independence & Interoperability2x4.0
Currency-agnostic by design: no unit of account of its own (FI-01: 3), no reserves, works with or without banks (FI-03: 4), survives any single currency's failure (FI-05: 4). Its whole purpose is open interoperability between monetary systems — a published open standard with multiple independent implementations (FI-08: 5) explicitly built so local and national currencies can settle against each other (FI-07: 5).
Traction2x3.0
Ten years of continuous development since 2015 (TR-02: 4-5), an active well-funded foundation (TR-06: 5), W3C Web Monetization standard track, Mojaloop and inclusion-focused deployments, annual summit/hackathon and grants through 2025-2026 (TR-01: 5, TR-07: 4). But end-user reach is indirect and modest (TR-03: 2), no merchant acceptance of its own (TR-04: 2), and it is not a unit of account (TR-05: 1) — adoption remains substantially grant-driven (TR-09: 2-3).
Sovereignty3.0
Fully open-source, permissionless to implement and self-host (SO-02: 5); the protocol itself cannot be shut down even if the foundation disappears (SO-01: 4); non-custodial at protocol level (SO-04: 4); individual connectors can censor but are replaceable (SO-07: 4). The foundation is a single US nonprofit, a soft central point (SO-03: 3).
Governance3.0
Open specification process with public community calls and an active foundation (GO-01: 3, GO-03: 4), but no constitutional protection of the standard and foundation board holds effective direction (GO-07: 2-3). As pure infrastructure there are no monetary rules to protect (GO-08: n/a, scored mid).
Resilience4.0
Technology-agnostic, packet-based design that is explicitly meant to outlive any single ledger or era of infrastructure (RE-05: 5, RE-08: 4); simple elegant core (RE-04: 4); survived its origin-company transition (Ripple to independent foundation, RE-01: 3); foundation endowment gives multi-year runway (RE-07: 4).
Inclusivity4.0
Financial inclusion is the foundation's explicit mission — grants and deployments target remittances, gig workers and the underbanked (IN-03: 5); the protocol requires no identity (IN-06: 4), costs nothing to implement (IN-02: 4-5), and a nonprofit steward means no insider value extraction (IN-04: 4).