1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
|
################################################
Introduction to Taler (Core-)Banking Integration
################################################
This chapter provides an overview of the different ways that a bank or core
banking system can provide integration with GNU Taler.
Settlement Account Access
#########################
To make a GNU Taler deployment possible, the exchange service needs API access
to a settlement bank account. The settlement account is used to fund digital
cash withdrawals into users' Taler wallets, as well as to pay out merchants
that deposited digital cash with the exchange.
The following two operations need to be supported by the settlement account:
1. Querying transactions on the settlement account.
2. Initiating payments (simple credit transfer).
Note that there is only **one** settlement account needed per Taler deployment.
There is no per-user settlement account. Thus, creating or managing bank
accounts is not a requirement.
A core banking system could directly provide the HTTP/REST APIs
consumed by the Taler exchange (:doc:`api-bank-integration`). Otherwise, an adapter (typically part
of the libeufin component) needs to be written.
Improved Withdrawal Process
###########################
In principle, any typical account-based (core-)banking system can be used as
the underlying account-based financial layer for GNU Taler.
However, without extra support from the bank, withdrawals can be difficult for
unexperienced users. Thus to make sure that a Taler deployment can achieve
mass adoption from non-technical users, extra integration by the bank / core
banking system should be provided.
Withdrawals without any extra support from the core banking system require the
user to make a transaction to a particular bank account (i.e. the exchange's
settlement account) with a rather long cryptographic identifier in the subject.
This identifier is generated by the user's wallet when initiating a withdrawal
from the wallet application. If the user misspells the identifier, the payment
will be sent back automatically by the exchange.
However, until the wire transfer is successfully completed, the wallet has no
information about whether the transfer was already made by the user or if it
was even made correctly. This makes it hard to show accurate information to
the user about the status of withdrawing digital cash into their Taler wallet.
Withdrawal Bank-Integration API
===============================
A core banking system can provide better support for GNU Taler withdrawals by
allowing users to initiate *Taler withdrawal operations* from their bank
account (e.g. in their banking app or online banking). A Taler withdrawal
operation has a unique identifier (chosen/generated by the core banking
system), called the WOPID (Withdrawal Operation Identifier).
The core banking system can provide a (public) API to access withdrawal
operations (:doc:`api-bank-integration`).
The wallet learns the WOPID and API address via a ``taler://withdraw/...``
QR-Code or link.
The wallet generates the cryptographic identifiers required for the withdrawal,
allows the user to choose an exchange (the bank may suggest a default one!),
and then submits this information (chosen exchange, reserve public key) for the
respective WOPID to the bank-integration API.
The user can then confirm the withdrawal by completing the 2FA of
their bank account for the operation. (Alternatively, the user can abort the operation
in their banking client / 2FA app.)
Upon completion of the 2FA / confirmation step, the core banking system
initiates a credit transfer for the withdrawal operations (with the chosen
exchange as the creditor and the cryptographic identifier / reserve pub in the
subject). Afterwards, the withdrawal operation is marked as done.
The wallet can continuously query the status of the withdrawal operation (via
the API address and WOPID).
In the Taler wallet app, the user can now always see the accurate status of
their withdrawal operation (e.g. bank transfer done, aborted, confirmation/2FA
pending).
Payto-URI Integration
=====================
When initiating a withdrawal from the Taler wallet, the wallet can generate a
payto:// link or QR code (see `RFC 8905 <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8905.txt>`_)
with the payment information necessary to make a
credit transfer to the exchange's settlement account.
Banking apps may provide integration here simply by handling payto:// URIs.
Integration based on payto:// URIs prevents mistakes in typing the
cryptographic identifier and bank account number during withdrawals. However,
it still does not allow the wallet do accurately show the status of a
withdrawal to the user.
Future: Intent-Based Integration on Android
===========================================
(This type of integration is currently not specified, but planned for the future.)
On the Android platform, applications can communicate via
`Intents <https://developer.android.com/guide/components/intents-filters>`_.
That would allow the Taler wallet to open a credit transfer dialog in a
supported banking app to fund a withdrawal. The banking app can send the
status of the credit transfer (confirmed/aborted by the user) back to the
wallet, which can then show more accurate status information about the
withdrawal to the user.
Integration for Merchants
#########################
The Taler merchant backend has the option to connect to what
we call the :doc:`Bank Revenue API <api-bank-revenue>`.
A core banking system may provide this API to merchants that have a business
account at the that bank. The API provides read-only access to incoming
transactions on the merchant bank account.
It allows merchants to easily and automatically reconcile incoming bank
transfers from the Taler exchange's settlement account with the respective
Taler payments. Usually multiple Taler payments are aggregated into one larger
payment in the underlying banking layer.
|
