The Interledger Foundation, a global nonprofit organization and steward to the Interledger Protocol(ILP) has announced their new round of 2025 Interledger Foundation Ambassador Cohort.
With the goal of building equity and inclusion, Interledger created the grant program to assist individuals/leaders around the world that are passionate about helping those who have been systematically excluded from financial access.
The intention for this year’s cohort was to strengthen the Foundation’s commitment to improving interoperability and access to digital financial services for the 1.7 billion unbanked globally.
The criteria for selecting the cohort includes finding experienced applicants with specific expertise who are hoping to explore new innovative pathways to create and implement open-source technologies that align with the Foundation’s vision for a world where everyone can send a payment as easily as an email.
Based on that, the Ambassadors will commit eight months to their project and receive $30,000 in grant money to research, develop, cultivate and support their communities to create opportunities for economic activation and growth.
“We selected five outstanding candidates whose innovative and insightful projects are poised to create meaningful impact,” said Chris Lawrence, chief programs officer at the Interledger Foundation. “By researching the challenges around digital financial inclusion, their work can catalyze greater financial health in our global society. This group truly exemplifies the forward thinking and mission-based rigor that we need to push the possibilities beyond the financial systems we know today.”
Congratulations to the new Cohort:
Sheena Allen -Los Angeles, CA – “Financial Exclusion in the Southern U.S.: The Real Whys, Challenges, and the [Potential] Role of Digital Inclusion,” – this study investigates the financial exclusion faced by unbanked, and underbanked in the Southern U.S.
“The funding from the Interledger Foundation allows me to take a grassroots, on-the-ground approach to my research, which is something larger firms often overlook. Traveling to different cities and connecting directly with financially underserved communities is essential to uncovering insights not captured in traditional data. As someone who grew up in this environment, I bring a lived perspective to the work, and this funding helps me turn that perspective into meaningful research that can drive more effective, inclusive solutions.”
Gavin Chait – France – Hop Sauna, is an open-source template stack ready for custom development of community-moderated Open Payments-enabled web shops, including a base server and client, with documentation, to support rapidly creating new types of federated commercial social applications.
“I am fascinated by the frontiers of human progress: innovation vs ignorance; wealth vs poverty, migration vs stasis. The future of financial inclusion lies in understanding people, not just building products. While digital access has expanded opportunities, many of the financially excluded face deeper, systemic barriers that tech alone can’t solve. My work focuses on uncovering the root causes of exclusion, particularly in the South, so we can design financial tools that are both accessible and culturally relevant. I believe that by grounding innovation in real, lived experiences, we can create a more inclusive financial future that works for everyone.”
Xiaoji Song – Berlin – “Shifting Power in the Informal Economy” – highlights the Informal economic activity in a continent that has over 90% digital connectivity. She researches how the informal economy is essential to the livelihoods of marginalized communities, yet its informality—often not by choice—results in exclusion, stigma, and limited choices when seeking labor rights protection and economic empowerment.
“This project aims to understand how the digital financial inclusion efforts from the Interledger ecosystem can support crafting pathways for labor rights protections and economic empowerment of the communities involved in the informal economy, as well as how we can build networks to shift power towards them in relevant political processes and build alliances for wider economic justice.”
Andria Barrett – Canada – “Empowering Global ROSCA Users through Digital Financial Inclusion” – focuses on Rotating Savings & Credit Associations (ROSCA) users and aims to discover what steps need to be taken to support their transition to using digital financial tools that encourage global participation.
“I grew up watching my Mother remit money back to Jamaica every 2 weeks. It was an expensive and cumbersome process for her. The idea of an open system that is inclusive and removes barriers is what I wish existed for her years ago. This grant will allow me to introduce open payments/open technology to ROSCA app developers. The more ROSCA apps created, the more people globally will be able to participate to keep this traditional way of saving money alive.”
Caroline Sinders – Brooklyn, NY – “By Design? The Hidden Harms Within Banking Apps” – highlights how harmful design patterns are barriers to digital inclusion because they unintentionally trick, confuse, manipulate, or nudge users into making unintended decisions.
“This project aims to provide those building new digital financial services with insights on how to design inclusively and mitigate the risk of unintentional harm when engaging with demographics or contexts. By surfacing, documenting and naming these examples of harmful design, we can strengthen digital financial inclusion by ensuring that software and design are as equitable, and easier to use for everyone, as possible.”
Each of the ambassadors will present their work at this year’s Interledger Summit in Mexico City in November 2025.
