Interleger Capable Wallet

Integrating Interleger into the VNM Wallet

The Snake Nation Platform is an application for content tracking, rewards, and ownership that uses blockchain technology to transfer value. It is an extension of the existing Snake Nation community which comprises real world places, university societies (clubs) and digital platforms helping to create an unrestricted globally inclusive creative economy. We are Currently in Beta and have launched a digital token called Venom (VNM) on the Stellar blockchain. With VNM we can leverage off of blockchain technology to provide increased transparency of content origin, simplify the transfer of value, and reward platform contributors. Members can earn VNM through content engagement such as FlameUps, Comments, Shares, Views etc. Likewise VNM can then be used to unlock content paywalls, for P2P and cross-border payments, e-commerce or content promotion within the platform. Brands are able to launch contests and competitions using VNM, which participating members can be rewarded from. Our mission is to become a gateway to the global creative economy for marginalised creatives. By providing every member a VNM wallet, we reduce the barriers to entry and exorbitant costs associated with today's fragmented global payment systems. The VNM wallet stores all their earnings from their creative product, as well as provide a way to utilise VNM in the real world as fiat. We plan to continually integrate and build upon tools and technologies that make accessing, utilising and withdrawing VNM for other currencies as easy as possible for our members. It is with this spirit that we landed on the Interledger Protocol (ILP). ILP is an open protocol suite for sending payments across different ledgers, unlike traditional payment networks that operate independently from each other. Sending value is easy only if the sender and recipient have accounts on the same network / bank, but can be slow and expensive if they have accounts on different networks. Interledger makes it easy to transact in whatever currency or payment network you choose, because Interledger is not tied to any one company, blockchain, or currency. Using Interledger, you can send ZAR to someone who wants to receive ETH, or you can send USD to someone who wants to receive Naira. All you need to know is their ILP payment pointer. Traditional payment account identifiers are usually a series of random numbers or alphanumeric characters that represent the user’s account on a payment network. This is true for public addresses for crypto wallets or bank account numbers. Payment Pointers on the other hand, are a great improvement to payments user experience, as they allow for an alternative to payment identifiers which is simple to identify and remember for users the same way email of social media handles are memorable. Since ILP is not independent to any payments network, payment pointers are also not limited to any one payments network or blockchain. Payment Pointers start with a $ character to distinguish them from other identifiers and make it obvious that they are related to payments. To convert a Payment Pointer to a URL the $ is replaced with the standard prefix of a secure URL, https://. My personal payment pointer for example would be $tawanda.snakenation.io which would resolve to the url: https://tawanda.snakenation.io/.well-known/pay, this url will in turn expose the account details, payments instructions etc. This is important to our mission, as it extends the capabilities of our member’s wallets who are largely unbanked. Access to payment pointers will allow users on our platform to seamlessly participate in trade which involves other currencies and payment networks outside of VNM and Stellar’s ecosystem. This means users on our platform will be able to withdraw VNM in their respective currencies by utilising their payment pointers and in turn brands that traditionally would only be able to access our users using Fiat, will no longer have to deal with varying exchange rates and fees on global payouts.