Proof of concept completed
Introduction:
Similar to the recent dominance of AI breakthroughs in the startup industry, the remittance market is experiencing significant growth, with anticipated growth projected to soar even further. This surge is propelling central banks, financial service providers, and fintechs to innovate. Responding to this need, the Mojaloop community has unveiled an exciting foreign exchange extension.
INFITX has played a crucial role in realizing this initiative, and we are thrilled to announce the successful completion of a proof of concept showcasing these extensions. The results underscore how an already inclusive instant payment rail can seamlessly incorporate cross-border remittances, paving the way for foreign exchange providers to engage with a payment network as a marketplace directly.
Background:
This marks the inaugural occasion where Mojaloop natively supports foreign exchange within instant payment transactions.
Building upon previous Mojaloop foreign exchange offerings, this achievement is the culmination of four years of extensive modeling, discussions, and debates within the community.
The new design addresses participant concerns comprehensively, establishing a genuine marketplace for foreign exchange services.
Challenges Addressed:
A solution was needed that ensured messages passed directly between transaction participants without revealing sensitive competitive information on exchange rates while maintaining the non-repudiation characteristics of a Mojaloop Transaction. Another critical challenge was crafting a reserve-commit process, ensuring account ledgers in both source and target currencies are committed simultaneously once all participants agree to proceed. This while maintaining pre-funded cover for all transactions to avoid introducing financial risk and subsequent cost into the system. This proof of concept demonstrates the feasibility of this design while still upholding level-one principles for financial inclusion and accessibility.
Proof of Concept Overview:
The proof of concept aims to validate the feasibility of a foreign exchange provider participating through a payment switch to support end-to-end cross-currency transactions. It demonstrates that source and destination participants only need knowledge and integration with their local currency, minimizing effort for cross-currency integrations. The proof of concept showcases the integration and updating of core banking systems for all participants during the transaction.
Technical Details:
The objective was to extend the Mojaloop inclusive instant payment switch and participation support component to include the new fxTransfer API and transfer flow extensions. For a more technical understanding, Vijay Kumar, the lead architect, has provided a video demonstration of the integrated solution and Mojaloop core extensions’ impact on participant ledgers.
Key Features and Benefits:
The surge in remittance signifies an expanding migrant workforce and increased local trade between countries. Current foreign exchange services are both costly and slow for the often marginalized communities they serve. This proof of concept illustrates how remittance foreign exchange services can be instant and have transparent, lower costs, paving the way for a more financially inclusive solution.
Future Implications:
The open-sourced nature of Mojaloop, mandated for financial inclusion through high-volume, low-cost payment solutions, could disrupt the remittance market. Explore the potential future implications of incorporating foreign exchange services into Mojaloop, discussing how this expansion may foster further innovations and collaborations within the financial technology space.
Conclusion:
An instant and inclusive foreign exchange payment service is feasible, paving the way for an exciting more inclusive future.
Acknowledgments:
This proof of concept owes its success to the concerted efforts of the Mojaloop Product Council, Change Control Board, and other community members and member organizations who contributed to the design and led to its successful realization.
Call to Action:
Mojaloop’s open-sourced nature, dedicated to financial inclusion, has the potential to disrupt the remittance market. If you are intrigued, inspired, or have feedback on this POC, please contact INFITX or Mojaloop to get involved and support this collaborative effort.
About Us:
INFITX is an organization driven by financial inclusion outcomes, the team was part of the founding organizations of Mojaloop and we are proud to be a promoter member of Mojaloop and its community.
