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I foresee micropayments being extremely common place in the future. Something like a digital wallet browser extension. And instead of paying 5p to watch a video

I foresee micropayments being extremely common place in the future. Something like a digital wallet browser extension. And instead of paying 5p to watch a video, you will instead pay 5p to skip 3 minute ads.

wayoutthere 5y ago
People have been saying this for decades. I don’t see a way for this to happen that is both more convenient to users and not open to all manner of automated attacks that would be difficult if not impossible to track down. Ad fraud is already a huge problem, as are things like ransomware. Micropayments would just give bad actors a direct line to your wallet.
- pseudozach 5y ago
  You can allow certain domains to automatically withdraw from your bitcoin wallet and set limits to how much they can withdraw. This is not a technical problem but more of a marketing/adoption one. There are very smart people working on these: https://socket.money/ https://socket.money/
  - wayoutthere 5y ago
    And what happens when one of those domains gets hacked and a malicious script injected into their code that takes advantage of a 0-day in the browser to siphon the cash? Not at all a far-fetched situation as it’s how ransomware works today.
lwhi 5y ago
I'd be happiest with a daily subscription model.
intrasight 5y ago
The articles said that the industry has been talking about micropayments for 25 years and says it's hard. I think the real issue is that no large-ish tech organization has any incentive to invest in micropayments.
- abecedarius 5y ago
  Digital cash saw no uptake for decades either, between Chaum and Satoshi. This may turn out similarly (and it's not as if it's implausible for digital cash to be a prerequisite for micropayments to take off, in practice).
user-the-name 5y ago
This would be an absolute nightmare experience. It would force you to make small decisions about money constantly. You would have to constantly make the decision "Do I want to pay some money now or do I suffer through this ad? How much have I paid lately? It feels like it might be adding up? But I really can't be bothered, maybe I'll just pay. I feel bad about paying so much though..." It would be utterly exhausting, which is why it will not happen.

wayoutthere 5y ago

People have been saying this for decades. I don’t see a way for this to happen that is both more convenient to users and not open to all manner of automated attacks that would be difficult if not impossible to track down. Ad fraud is already a huge problem, as are things like ransomware. Micropayments would just give bad actors a direct line to your wallet.

pseudozach 5y ago
You can allow certain domains to automatically withdraw from your bitcoin wallet and set limits to how much they can withdraw. This is not a technical problem but more of a marketing/adoption one. There are very smart people working on these: https://socket.money/ https://socket.money/
- wayoutthere 5y ago
  And what happens when one of those domains gets hacked and a malicious script injected into their code that takes advantage of a 0-day in the browser to siphon the cash? Not at all a far-fetched situation as it’s how ransomware works today.

lwhi 5y ago

I'd be happiest with a daily subscription model.

intrasight 5y ago

The articles said that the industry has been talking about micropayments for 25 years and says it's hard. I think the real issue is that no large-ish tech organization has any incentive to invest in micropayments.

abecedarius 5y ago
Digital cash saw no uptake for decades either, between Chaum and Satoshi. This may turn out similarly (and it's not as if it's implausible for digital cash to be a prerequisite for micropayments to take off, in practice).

user-the-name 5y ago

This would be an absolute nightmare experience. It would force you to make small decisions about money constantly. You would have to constantly make the decision "Do I want to pay some money now or do I suffer through this ad? How much have I paid lately? It feels like it might be adding up? But I really can't be bothered, maybe I'll just pay. I feel bad about paying so much though..." It would be utterly exhausting, which is why it will not happen.