Cross-border remittances are often discussed as a private transfer problem, but for many communities they are a critical piece of local economic infrastructure. In Latin America, especially in rural and underserved regions, the real opportunity is not simply to move money from one country to another, but to ensure it arrives in a form that strengthens local participation, resilience, and access to formal financial services.

This talk will share practical lessons from Interledger Foundation partnerships in Mexico and the broader region, where interoperable payment infrastructure is helping connect remittance flows to local financial ecosystems. We will look at how open protocols can reduce friction for providers, enable local institutions to participate more effectively, and support financial inclusion beyond basic access. We will also explore why policy goals around inclusion, competition, and digital economy growth depend on infrastructure that can actually perform at scale and across networks.

The session will connect the technical design of interoperable payments with the lived realities of remittance recipients, rural financial institutions, and payment providers. It will show how open connectivity can help turn cross-border transfers into domestic economic capacity, and why trust, reliability, and interoperability are now central to the future of finance.