Open Transaction Networks and Platform Competition

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In brief

Open transaction networks let buyers and sellers on different apps transact with one another through a shared protocol, as India’s Open Network for Digital Commerce and Namma Yatri do for retail and mobility. The question for governments is whether platforms will join such networks voluntarily or need to be mandated to do so.

We model two competing platforms that choose whether to open their buyer side, their seller side, both or neither to the network. Existing theory suggests that platforms typically underinvest in interoperability, and we show that full interoperability can instead emerge as the equilibrium of platform competition.

The paper is part of the Economics of Open Transaction Networks programme at the Global Development Network, funded by the Gates Foundation, which is taking the model to transaction data from five implementations in India, Brazil and East Africa.

Open Transaction Networks | Kishen Shastry

Open Transaction Networks and Platform Competition

In brief