Coinbase launches Bitcoin tipping service
Coinbase Inc., a popular Bitcoin wallet and exchange service, has announced a new micropayments tool called Coinbase Tip.
Coinbase Tip allows web publishers to accept Bitcoin tips from supporters, giving them another way to start monetizing on their content. According to Coinbase CEO and Co-founder Brian Armstrong, the launch of this new service coincides with the latest upswing in the interest towards micropayments.
”We believe there is a new micropayments economy, the beginning of which you’re just seeing and I think it’s significant because this business model just wasn’t really possible before bitcoin,” Armstrong said in an interview.
Putting a tip button on a web page could also get Bitcoin more attention, as it might intrigue site visitors as to what that tip button is and what Bitcoin is.
Create your Coinbase Tip button
Creating a tip button for your web page is quite easy. Just go to https://www.coinbase.com/tip and look for the box asking your URL. If you leave it blank, the button will automatically use the URL of the current page.
Click the ‘Get code’ button. A code will then be generated which you will copy and paste on your page. If you have multiple buttons, you only need to paste the <script> tag once.
What you need to know
The Coinbase Tip experience isn’t the same for everyone. Though it claims to offer a one-click tipping, that only happens if the tipper has a Coinbase Wallet. Others who are using third-party wallets will go through additional steps to leave a tip.
Though it seems like Coinbase is competing with other services that offers a way for people to tip others using Bitcoin, Armstrong stated that that is not their primary goal with the new micropayments service.
“We don’t look at what the competition does around these things,” Armstrong said. “If we can help the bitcoin ecosystem overall, that’s probably where we most want to focus.”
photo credit: btckeychain via photopin cc
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