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The Swaptacular project consists of three main parts:

1. A decentralized network architecture.
2. A set of interoperability protocols.
3. Reference implementations for the interoperability protocols.

Together, these parts define how independent organizations can operate interoperable currency and payment systems without relying on a centralized ledger.

Decentralized network architecture

In Swaptacular’s network architecture, there are five types of nodes:

1. Accounting Authorities maintain account balances and form the backbone of the network.
2. Currency Issuers create currencies and issue money into circulation. In Swaptacular, they are also called debtors.
3. Debtors Agents connect currency issuers to accounting authorities. They may also act as guarantors for debtors.
4. Currency Holders make and receive payments. In Swaptacular, they are also called creditors.
5. Creditors Agents connect currency holders to accounting authorities. They may also facilitate automated currency exchanges between creditors.

The diagram above shows the simplest possible Swaptacular network. Note that different network nodes (accounting authorities, creditors agents, debtors agents) can be operated by different organizations or individuals. Thus, much like the Internet itself, Swaptacular’s network is decentralized by design.

A key point is that one creditors agent can connect currency holders to many different accounting authorities. The following diagram illustrates the connections that can exist between different types of nodes in a real-world network:

This second diagram shows two different creditors agents, each connecting currency holders to multiple accounting authorities. It also shows two debtors agents connecting currency issuers to the same accounting authority.

Interoperability protocols

At the core of Swaptacular’s network architecture is the Swaptacular Messaging Protocol, which governs the communication between accounting authorities, debtors agents, and creditors agents.

The protocol uses two-phase commit to coordinate payments reliably throughout the network. This makes it possible to implement automated currency exchanges in the spirit of Circular Multilateral Barter, thereby reducing reliance on dominant reserve currencies.

In order to allow currency holders to use a client application of their choice, Swaptacular recommends creditors agents to follow the Payments Web API Specification.

Because interchangeability between currency-issuing applications is less critical, Swaptacular does not currently define a standard Issuing Web API.

Swaptacular takes interoperability between independent implementations seriously and provides precise, clear, and concise specifications for every important aspect of the system:

• Swaptacular Messaging Protocol
• JSON Serialization for the Swaptacular Messaging Protocol
• STOMP Message Transport for the Swaptacular Messaging Protocol
• Swaptacular SSL/TLS Certificates
• RootConfigData JSON Documents
• The “swpt” URI Scheme
• Digital Coins in Swaptacular
• CoinInfo JSON Documents
• Payment Requests and Transfers in Swaptacular
• PR-zero Payment Request Documents
• Payments Web API Specification

Reference implementations

• Accounting Authority
• Debtors Agent
• Creditors Agent
• Automated Currency Exchanges
• Service that manages OAuth2 login and consent
• Currency Issuer UI
• Currency Holder UI
• Swaptacular Web API reverse proxy
• STOMP protocol client and server
• Managing Swaptacular certificate authorities

All reference implementations aim to:

1. Be correct.
2. Remain as simple as possible.
3. Be useful in real-world deployments.
4. Demonstrate that horizontally scalable implementations are indeed possible.

For testing, you can install and run a full set of Swaptacular network nodes on your laptop.

You can also deploy Swaptacular to Kubernetes clusters.