Coinbase launches bitcoin-based tipping tool

Coinbase has launched a new micropayments tool to help websites and blogs accept online donations in bitcoin.

Coinbase Tip will allow Coinbase wallet users to send micropayments to website publishers with a single click on an integrated ‘tip’ button. Once enabled, Coinbase Tip payments will be set by default to 300 bits (roughly 10 US cents at this point), but can be adjusted to be as low as 1 cent.

Other bitcoin wallet users will also have access to the service, but will have to navigate additional steps, the company told CoinDesk. CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong went on to stress that his company was not looking to compete with other bitcoin tipping solutions with this new venture, launching the solution in an attempt to make the crypto-currency more mainstream.

“One of the most exciting aspects of Bitcoin is that it enables new behaviours that aren’t possible with traditional payment networks,” Coinbase wrote in a blog post announcing the new solution. “A great example of this is micropayments (payments less than $1.00).

Micropayments are a growing trend, allowing online publishers to monetise their content without the need for advertising, instead relying on the goodwill of their readers. San Francisco-based startup ChangeTip has been enabling the exchange of tiny amounts of bitcoin on social media since February of this year.

There has also been some interest in similar services using altcoin, following the $445,000 funding round by dogecoin micropayments tool Dogetipbot.

Crypto-currencies rule in this new area of payments as traditional methods are often too expensive to facilitate these kinds of transfers. Bitcoin users are well aware of the use of small amounts of bitcoin. To date, over 30 per cent of orders on Coinbase are $1 or below.

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