Beyond Access: Building the Future of Finance in Colombia

One of the world’s most renowned literary genres, Magical Realism, was born in Colombia, a place where the extraordinary feels part of everyday life, where every region brings its own colors, cultures, flavors, and rhythms.

That diversity is reflected not only in the culture but also in how Colombia builds and innovates.

Over the last few decades, the country has transformed into one of Latin America’s most dynamic environments for technology and financial innovation. This October, the Interledger Foundation is heading to Medellín for three days of conversation, connection, and building around one central question:

What does it take to move beyond access?

From Innovation at the Edges on October 15 to our 2 day Open Payments Hackathon on October 16–17, we’re bringing together researchers, fintechs, community organizations, developers, and innovators to explore and build the future of finance.

Colombia: a strategic country for financial innovation

Colombia continues to modernize its payments infrastructure through Bre-B, the instant payments system led by Banco de la República. 

As a result, Colombia has made significant progress in financial access. Today, 96.3% of adults hold at least one financial product. Yet 66% of payments still happen in cash, and 95% of digital transfers stay within the same financial institution.

Access is growing, but that doesn’t automatically mean participation.

This is the idea behind Beyond Access, an Interledger Foundation campaign exploring the gap between having access to financial services and meaningfully participating in a digital financial system. 

Across the three days in Medellín, we want to connect conversations that too often happen separately. We’re bringing together the people exploring these challenges—and the builders creating what comes next in digital payments. 
 

October 15: Innovation at the Edges

We begin with Innovation at the Edges, a one-day showcase exploring companies across Latin America using open technology to reach underserved communities and move financial services from access toward adoption, usage, and ownership.

Attendees will hear from Interledger grantees including MiPlata, People’s Clearinghouse, Fliqa, and Wallet Guru, who have used or experimented with Interledger technology in different ways to advance financial innovation and address real-world challenges.

We’ll also hear regional perspectives from Puntored, FIND and This Week in Fintech, bringing the conversation closer to the financial behaviors, needs, and realities of communities across the region.

The goal is not simply to showcase technology, but to explore what happens when that technology meets real communities.

Innovation at the Edges takes place in Medellín on October 15, from 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., followed by refreshments and networking. RSVP here. 

October 16–17: From conversation to code

The next day, we move from exploring the challenges to building solutions.

The Open Payments Hackathon is a fast-paced, 2 day experience bringing together developers, students, entrepreneurs, finance professionals, and curious builders to experiment with the Open Payments API.

Participants will form multidisciplinary teams and build working prototypes that address real-world challenges in digital payments, interoperability, and financial inclusion.

Participants can expect hands-on development using the Open Payments API and Interledger technologies, technical talks, mentorship from engineers and developer advocates, and plenty of opportunities to connect with other builders.

You don’t need to be an Interledger expert to participate. In fact, you don’t need to have used Interledger before you arrive. And for teams that want the full hackathon experience, overnight hacking is an option.

The hackathon is a place to experiment, make mistakes, learn quickly, and turn an idea into something tangible.

Join us in Medellín this October.

If you want to stay updated with all open opportunities and news from the Interledger Foundation, you can subscribe to our newsletter. We also welcome you to join our community slack or participate in the next community call, which takes place each second Wednesday of the month.

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