API3, a provider of decentrally governed and quantifiably secure data feeds that power Web 3.0 apps without employing third-party intermediaries, today announced it has entered into a 10-year development partnership with Open Bank Project to connect over 400 banking & open banking APIs directly to blockchains via API3’s Airnode, all housed under open-source code.
Open banking is a practice by which banks provide authorized third-party providers with access to banking data through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs).
Perhaps the most well-known open banking initiative is the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) – an EU regulation passed in 2015 that requires banks to create mechanisms that enable third-party providers to work securely, reliably, and rapidly with the bank’s services and data on behalf and with the consent of their customers.
As governments around the world have begun to adopt open banking regulations, an industry-standard framework for providing third-party access to banking data has started to emerge.
The Open Bank Project is a leader in this field by continuously working with government regulators and banks to help codify open banking standards, and by developing open banking APIs for many of the largest financial institutions in the world. Open Bank Project is one of the world’s largest open-source banking API initiatives with over 400 standardized APIs used by a community of over 11,000 developers.
Some of the largest banking institutions in the world utilize the Open Bank Project for developing financial technology services and solutions.
Open Bank Project + API3
Through their development partnership, Open Bank Project and API3 will enable banks to send data directly to blockchain networks through the use of API3’s Airnode first-party oracle. This provides third-party decentralized application developers with the opportunity to begin rapidly prototyping blockchain solutions powered by open banking data.
Potential use cases for open banking data on blockchains are numerous, and include solutions like secure and decentralized databases for data verification between banks and authorized third parties, the bridging of open banking data to blockchain-native systems like DeFi and self-sovereign identities, and data marketplaces and data unions enabling banking customers to monetize their private financial data.
“We are absolutely thrilled to work with API3 on enabling open banking on the blockchain. Hopefully, this will serve as a framework for financial regulators to explore and create new standards and set the foundation for the blockchain economy to converge with banking-based digital offerings.”
– Simon Redfern, CEO, Open Bank Project
To celebrate this partnership and to help provide adoption guidance for blockchain-banking, the Open Bank Project and API3 will co-host a series of tech sprints, where the entire blockchain community, financial institutions, and government regulators are invited to participate, discuss, and explore what a new financial reality could look like at large. Details will be announced shortly.
“API3 is incredibly excited to see the blockchain industry begin to merge with open banking, and we can’t wait to see the innovative solutions that will grow out of this. Now that traditional finance and crypto are converging, we hope this newfound connectivity between the two will build a foundation for the future of a digital banking experience inclusive of blockchain-enabled systems like DeFi.”
– Heikki Vänttinen, co-founder of API3
