Glossary
I
Interledger Foundation (ILF)
The Interledger Foundation (ILF) is a global nonprofit foundation and steward of the Interledger Protocol, the Open Payments standard, and Web Monetization.
The ILF offers an open source Web Monetization browser extension that showcases a pay-as-you-browse model, allowing you to define how often and how much to pay to web monetized websites.
O
Open Payments
Open Payments is an open standard for implementation by wallet providers. When implemented, third-party applications, like the Web Monetization extension, can set up payments to and from payment accounts.
Wallet providers who support Open Payments will issue each of their customers’ accounts with a unique ID that’s either called a wallet address or a payment pointer.
P
Payment pointer
A payment pointer is a secure, unique identifier that’s assigned to payment accounts that use Interledger’s Simple Payment Setup Protocol (SPSP) to exchange payment information. The shorthand for a payment pointer starts with $. For example, $wallet.example.com/alice.
As a supporter of web monetized content, you’ll enter your payment pointer into your Web Monetization extension to link the extension to your account.
To web monetize your own content, you must convert your payment pointer to its URL equivalent because the monetization <link> element does not support the $ in the href value. Enter your payment pointer into the field provided on paymentpointers.org to get your URL.
T
Test network
The ILF provides…
Test wallet
The ILF provides…
W
Wallet address
A wallet address is a secure, unique identifier that’s assigned to payment accounts that use Open Payments to exchange payment information. All wallet addresses are URLs (e.g., https://wallet.example.com/alice); however, not all URLs are wallet addresses.
As a supporter of web monetized content, you’ll enter your wallet address into your Web Monetization extension to link the extension to your account.
To web monetize your own content, you’ll add your wallet address as the href value within the monetization <link> element.
Wallet provider
A digital wallet provider, such as Fynbos or GateHub, that can assign your payment account a payment pointer or a wallet address to enable you to send and/or receive payments using Web Monetization.
Wallet providers are regulated entities within the countries they operate.
Web Monetization agent
A non-user facing component of a Web Monetization extension or web browser. The purpose of the Web Monetization agent is to:
- Recognize when an HTML document contains one or more monetization
<link>elements - Parse the payment pointer or wallet address in a monetization
<link> - Extend the HTML DOM API so that
monetizationis a valid link type - Instrument payments by calling the Open Payments APIs
- Fire
monetizationevents after an outgoing payment request is created - Process
monetizationevents sent to the browser window via theonmonetizationevent handler - Enable CSP
monetization-srcand Permissions Policymonetizationdirectives
Web Monetization service provider
An entity that has:
- Full control over the financial account from which payments will be made
- Ownership of the financial account’s associated payment pointer or wallet address
- The ability to grant authorization for payments to be sent from the account
If you, as an individual, meet the criteria above, then you are acting as your own Web Monetization service provider.
In some jurisdictions, it may be impossible to obtain your own Web Monetization payment account. If you’re unable to obtain your own account for this or any other reason, you may be able to sign up with a third-party Web Monetization service provider.
A third-party Web Monetization service provider is an entity that meets the above criteria and with whom you enter into a service agreement. In return, the service provider authorizes you to send payments from their account. The service provider retains full control over the account and can grant/revoke your authorization to send from the account at any time.