Sir Tim Berners-Lee used his appearance at Sibos this morning to pitch the World Wide Web Consortium's efforts to streamline the online checkout experience and make payments more secure.
First unveiled two years ago, the W3C's payments initiative is pushing a set of standardised APIs that allow users to register payment instruments and select the right payment type through the browser, making payments easier to manage, particularly on mobile devices.
While there are numerous efforts underway to improve the online payments experience, W3C is using its unique status as the Web's main international standards organisation, as well as founder Berners-Lee's clout, to push its browser-centric answer.
All major browsers are now implementing the Payment Request API, which should help merchants streamline their checkout pages to make it easy for customers to pay - whether by card, mobile app or bitcoin.
Speaking in Toronto, Berners-Lee gave an apologetic plug for the project, talking up the value of a consistent experience for customers and of the trust that an agent such as Chrome has among users.
In a recent Finextra blog, TD Bank's Milos Dunjic gave the W3C effort a rave review, raising the possibility that it could kill off the unloved 3D Secure framework and even the digital wallet era.