Ripple CTO David Schwartz's recent decision to step back from his role sparked community discussions, particularly regarding the future of projects like Coil. In response to a user's plea to continue developing Coil, Schwartz offered a candid explanation of the fundamental challenges encountered in achieving truly universal interoperability for digital payments, shedding light on the complexities that led to Coil's sunset.
The Vision and Its Obstacles
Coil, a platform designed to enable creators to monetize content through instantaneous micropayments via Web Monetization and the Interledger Protocol (ILP), ultimately "got stuck," according to Schwartz. He drew an analogy with email, which boasts both a universal namespace (domain names) and a universal exchange protocol (SMTP), allowing for seamless communication. Coil envisioned ILP offering a similar universal framework for money — a universal namespace and a universal protocol with guaranteed interoperability. However, Schwartz revealed that a truly universal protocol for money, guaranteeing interoperability across all systems, proved to be an impractical goal.
Practicality vs. Universality
The core issue, Schwartz explained, is that while ILP serves as a protocol for moving money, it must coexist with myriad other payment methods. Requiring users of alternative payment systems to onboard with ILP endpoints to ensure universal interoperability simply isn't feasible or necessary. In an attempt to address part of this challenge, Ripple developed PayString, a universal namespace for payment endpoints supporting various systems like XRPL, Bitcoin, PayPal, and Zelle. While PayString provided a unified addressing system, it couldn't guarantee the universal interoperability that ILP originally aimed for. Schwartz also pointed to past regulatory obstacles to cross-system payments outside of self-custody as a significant hurdle, acknowledging that their impact on the current landscape remains a question.
