Open Payments is a protocol that can be implemented by digital wallets to facilitate interoperability in the setup of payments for different use cases.
It builds on ideas from the OAuth and OpenID Connect protocols that allow two account-servicing entities (wallets, merchants etc.) to interoperate so that a user/business with an account at one wallet is able to setup and execute a payment to a user/business with an account at another institution.
Open Payments builds on the Interledger protocol which is used to execute the payment. Open Payments is focused purely on assisting the two Interledger-enabled systems to discover the necessary service endpoints and exchange the necessary data to execute a payment for a variety of use cases including:
- Web Monetization
- Tipping/Donations (low value/low friction)
- eCommerce checkout
- P2P transfers
- Subscriptions
- Invoice Payments