
A new video on YouTube shows a Wi-Fi hotspot that anyone can connect to, as long as they pay for the privilege – in bitcoin.
This means that anyone with a connection to the internet could share their connection with complete strangers in exchange for bitcoins, Cyptocoinsnews says.
While the setup looks fairly basic at the moment, the ease with which a connection could be acquired from complete strangers, and paid for digitally, could turn this work-in-progress into reality.
According to CCN, the Bitcoin Wi-Fi hotspot is based on a Rasberry Pi. The small, cheap computer is plugged into a home router, and a Wi-Fi antenna enables it to share that Internet connection with anyone else within the antenna’s range. When someone on another computer attempts to connect to the hotspot, they’ll be prompted with a message requesting a Bitcoin payment before they can access the Internet.
The current demo already allows for payments for various time frames, such as a few hours or a few days, but it’s possible that payment channels could improve options for Bitcoin Wi-Fi users even further.
Mesh networks are not expanding much further than a link between neighbours or a few strangers in the park, because there is not much of an incentive for people to join.
Implementing this system on a larger scale could create the right incentives for people to allow others to connect easily to their devices for the purposes of routing traffic to someone else, CCN adds. These kinds of mesh networks would likely start on a small scale in larger cities, but it is unknown how large they could grow once people realize they can get paid for routing traffic on a new, decentralized network.
Whitepapers
Related reading
Central banks best suited to issue digital currencies
By Aaran Fronda A recent report by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) said that central banks rather than private ... read more
Instant payments: innovations inbound for corporates
In 2020, instant payments look set to continue their current trajectory to become the biggest trend in payments. While these schemes already offer numerous benefits to corporates, leveraging innovations such as APIs and request to pay will go some way to unlocking their full potential, argues Michael Knetsch
Obstacles exist for banks to meet ECB’s instant payments goal
The cost of joining instant payment platforms will be one of many hurdles banks and payment services providers must overcome to meet ... read more
Banks must be aware of “biases” in data used to train ML models
Financial institutions need to be conscious of biases in the historical data that is being used to train machine learning (ML) models, ... read more