{"id":248,"date":"2026-01-19T07:24:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T07:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gdn.int\/newsite\/?page_id=248"},"modified":"2026-08-14T07:36:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T07:36:54","slug":"open-transaction-networks","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gdn.int\/digitalisation\/open-transaction-networks\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Transaction Networks"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Building the Economics of Open Transaction Networks (OTNs)<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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UPI payment code at a store in India | iStock\/Naturecreator<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Timeline<\/a><\/h4>

2026 - 2028 \n(in four phases)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Geographical Scope<\/a><\/h4>

Asia, Africa, and Latin America<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Funder<\/a><\/h4>

<\/b>Gates Foundation<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Overview<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Open Transaction Networks (OTNs) are a new form of digital market infrastructure that allow multiple independent providers and competing applications to transact through shared, protocol-based rules rather than a single centralised platform. Built on core layers of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), such as digital identity, digital payments, and consent-based data sharing, OTNs enable participant verification, payment authorisation, and information exchange. Together, these systems can reduce verification, contracting, and settlement costs while supporting interoperable market participation.<\/span><\/p>

By lowering barriers to entry for small businesses and reducing reliance on dominant intermediaries, OTNs may enable more open and contestable markets. At the same time, they raise questions around governance, incentives, consumer protection, and whether market power shifts across layers. As OTNs are still at an early stage globally, robust empirical evidence on their long-run effects remains limited.<\/span><\/p>

Early deployments using the Beckn Protocol, including India\u2019s Open Network for Digital Commerce and Namma Yatri, indicate that OTNs can increase competition by unbundling the supply chain. However, it remains unclear how durable these effects are, how they vary across sectors, and what risks emerge as networks scale.<\/span><\/p>

With support from the <\/span>Gates Foundation<\/span><\/a>, GDN\u2019s programme seeks to build the economic foundations needed to evaluate OTNs across sectors, including health, agriculture, mobility, commerce, and energy, focusing on what works, for whom, under which design choices, and at what cost.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Our Approach<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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As part of the programme, GDN will lead and manage three workstreams:<\/span><\/p>

  1. Theoretical modelling –<\/b> Develop a theoretical model of OTNs to clarify the mechanisms for outcomes such as adoption on both sides of the market, network effects, search and matching quality, pricing and fees, market structure, and overall welfare.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>
  2. Empirical research –<\/b> Competitively select local research organisations to conduct country-level research on OTN implementations. Countries will be selected based on their relevance, the feasibility of evaluation, and their potential to generate insights that inform network design.<\/span><\/li>
  3. Capacity building –<\/b> Strengthen the capabilities of local research organisations through methodology training workshops and individualised mentorship. Research teams will be paired with senior researchers from GDN’s Global Scientific Advisory Committee, who will provide ongoing guidance throughout the programme.<\/span><\/li><\/ol>

    These three workstreams support the programme’s two aims: to build research capacity in the Global South on emerging innovations such as OTNs, and to inform decisions on whether, when, and how to adopt, design, and scale interoperable market systems that improve lives and livelihoods.<\/p>

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    LATEST UPDATES<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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    CALL FOR RESEARCH TEAMS: Building the Economics of Open Transaction Networks<\/b><\/a><\/h3>

    The programme is now entering its second phase, with local research teams being selected to conduct empirical research in India, Kenya, and Brazil. <\/span>Selected teams will each receive grants of USD 50,000 and participate in a collaborative research programme with strategic and technical guidance from GDN's Global Scientific Advisory Committee, comprising senior economists and OTN experts. Applications must be submitted by 21 August 2026. <\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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    EVENT | Accelerating Financial Inclusion through Open Transaction Networks and Secure Digital Payments<\/b><\/a><\/h3>

    This ADBI-GDN session explored innovative pathways for designing digital payment ecosystems and implementing OTNs. Held on the sidelines of the Digital Transformation Indonesia Conference & Expo in Jakarta, it explored cases from India, the Republic of Korea, and beyond to better understand how this approach can navigate inclusive digital transformation in Indonesia. Access the presentation on the event page to learn more about the programme's theoretical and empirical work. <\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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    Stay Connected<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    If you have questions, please contact the OTN team at <\/span>OTN@gdn.int<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>

    You can also subscribe to the GDN newsletter<\/a> to receive the latest programme updates and announcements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Building the Economics of Open Transaction Networks (OTNs) UPI payment code at a store in India | iStock\/Naturecreator Timeline 2026 – 2028 (in four phases) Geographical Scope Asia, Africa, and Latin America Funder Gates Foundation Overview Open Transaction Networks (OTNs) are a new form of digital market infrastructure that allow multiple independent providers and competing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-248","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gdn.int\/digitalisation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gdn.int\/digitalisation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gdn.int\/digitalisation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gdn.int\/digitalisation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gdn.int\/digitalisation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/gdn.int\/digitalisation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":666,"href":"https:\/\/gdn.int\/digitalisation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/248\/revisions\/666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gdn.int\/digitalisation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}