4 ms·

Show HN: TipperCoin - Send Bitcoins over Twitter

34 points by sida 13y ago

retube 13y ago
is there an email equivalent service?
- locksley 13y ago
  Yeah, Coinbase does this.
- sida 13y ago
  Yeah, as locksley said you can use coinbase for over the email BTC transfers. The original intend for building TipperCoin is for tipping and supporting open sourced projects. To send a tip / act of gratitude to people that built cool stuff and that you don't personally know (as opposed to email, which you tend to know them). A few weeks ago, we built an open sourced browser wallet (www.sparecoins.io) and we posted it on reddit and got a bunch of tips with reddit tip bot. That was very encouraging for me. (The fact that people liked it enough to send us a tip!!) And so we decided to build this tipping service (open sourced, ofc!) to encourage supporting other projects.
steveklabnik 13y ago
Tipping is a really interesting aspect of cryptocurrency. I've never made a cent from blogging, but I added Dogecoin and Bitcoin links at the bottom of my last post, and actually got some tips. Tipping is also one of the reasons that Dogecoin is seeing such large growth, at least within Reddit.
- ninguem2 13y ago
  Is Dogecoin tipping real? I assumed it was just a parody of Bitcoin tipping.
  - steveklabnik 13y ago
    Nope, it is 100% real. Source: https://github.com/mohland/dogetipbot https://github.com/mohland/dogetipbot
    - sida 13y ago
      I am so surprised that dogecoin took off! haha
  - ahoy 13y ago
    I believe it's both real AND a parody of bitcoin.
- sida 13y ago
  I agree. I also find it's easier to tip Bitcoins. Emotionally, it doesn't feel like I am spending money, and as a recipient it also feels more novel (we got a few donations for some of our other projects). It is almost like a star on github but so much better. Like, "wow, they really like my project". It is very satisfying There has been a lot of talks on micro-transactions in cryptocurrency. I think there is going to be a long time before a micropayment paywall will become effective. Not enough people have bitcoins. I believe though that micropayment could grow out of tipping. When authors like yourself start accepting bitcoin donations, and one day there will be enough donations that someone would think, "oh wait, I don't need to need to spam my users with Google ads anymore." Personally, I would like to see services like Gary Bernhardt's screencasts to start accepting micropayments in Bitcoin. https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/screencasts/catalog https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/screencasts/catalog
  - steveklabnik 13y ago
    Yup. The fact that there are waaaaaay many Dogecoin and that they're easier to actually get encourages tipping too. I have a very small amount of DOGE, yet tipping 10 or even 100 doge is not even a second thought for me. I actually do accept BitCoin and Dogecoin for both of my ebooks now. In the past I'd actually given people who wanted to pay me in BitCoin free copies because I didn't even want to take them.
brosirmandude 13y ago
Cryptocurrency tipping culture is really interesting to me. I can't think of another culture or system that encourages people giving away small amounts of money because they like something you said or just because they feel like it. I can see tipping becoming huge on Facebook and Twitter. And possibly even as a pseudo payments system for services like Pinterest.
- sida 13y ago
  The beautiful thing is that tipping real money kind of doesn't feel right. Like, "hey ryan bates, good job on the railscast, here is a dollar" But, personally, when it is in cryptocurrency it feels very different.
  - quantumpotato_ 13y ago
    Can you elaborate?
gfodor 13y ago
I thought about how I'd add a tip action on HN via a Chrome plugin, but it's hard since HN users don't usually disclose contact info, so you can't onboard them when they receive a tip. Many HN users use their twitter handles, so that's something, but it would be nice if there were some simple OAuth API to get a user's e-mail. Or, pg could implement bit/dogecoin tipping :)
- hayksaakian 13y ago
  Reddit's tip not does it without an email address ----- You could let a username claim tips by making a comment like: CLAIM: email@domain.com To start managing their tips on your app / site
  - gfodor 13y ago
    reddit has direct messages, hn doesn't
  - sida 13y ago
    If only HN had a comment streaming API! PG, time to add some more features to hacker news
    - j_s 13y ago
      Or contact someone else who has already rolled their own: http://hnnotify.com/ http://hnnotify.com/
gfodor 13y ago
Request: dogecoin support. (seriously) It's better for tipping due to the fact that to tip someone a nickel right now with BTC I have to type out a long decimal.
- sida 13y ago
  haha nice. We should definitely look into dogecoin. I honestly didn't take dogecoin seriously until we got so many dogecoin requests today! Have you tried, 1 Beer (4 USD worth of BTC) or 1 Internet (1.337 USD worth of BTC) ? :P http://www.tippercoin.com/#/how-it-works/ http://www.tippercoin.com/#/how-it-works/
  - bendoernberg 13y ago
    If you're not sure if it'll be popular, make a post asking on reddit.com/r/dogecoin
    - steveklabnik 13y ago
      I already did a few hours back: http://www.reddit.com/r/dogecoin/comments/1tjj1p/we_need_this_for_dogecoin/ http://www.reddit.com/r/dogecoin/comments/1tjj1p/we_need_thi...
- spectrum 13y ago
  I am getting tired of all this dogecoin hype. This altcoin is not innovative, does not solve a problem that bitcoin has and was in fact created to mock all the altcoins. Yes it's funny (for the first 5 minutes) but tell me the added value? You think it's good for tipping because it's almost worthless? The beauty of bitcoin is that you CAN type out long decimals. The beauty is that you can USE bitcoin to pay for goods and services. Bitcoin was like Dogecoin 5 years ago, why are you trying to repeat this proces? If you look at the site of Tippercoin, you see that it is also possible to send for example a beer ($4) in bitcoin. Seems pretty easy to type, not? The way I see it is that most of the altcoins are created by and for people who think they have missed the Bitcoin-boat and are stuck with their old mining hardware. Hoping that their altcoin will take off, by pumping and hyping it everywhere including Hacker News, so they can make some easy money.
spectrum 13y ago
I'm afraid your logo is not allowed by Twitter: "Do not modify or alter the marks or use them in a confusing way, including suggesting sponsorship or endorsement by Twitter, or in a way that confuses Twitter with another brand." See https://about.twitter.com/press/brand-assets https://about.twitter.com/press/brand-assets I'd change it if I were you! Otherwise, very simple and usable service. https://www.pikapay.com/ https://www.pikapay.com/ would be a competitor.
- locksley 13y ago
  Ahhhhh, but it worked so perfectly! Oh well, thanks for the heads up :)

34 points by sida 13y ago

retube 13y ago

is there an email equivalent service?

locksley 13y ago
Yeah, Coinbase does this.
sida 13y ago
Yeah, as locksley said you can use coinbase for over the email BTC transfers. The original intend for building TipperCoin is for tipping and supporting open sourced projects. To send a tip / act of gratitude to people that built cool stuff and that you don't personally know (as opposed to email, which you tend to know them). A few weeks ago, we built an open sourced browser wallet (www.sparecoins.io) and we posted it on reddit and got a bunch of tips with reddit tip bot. That was very encouraging for me. (The fact that people liked it enough to send us a tip!!) And so we decided to build this tipping service (open sourced, ofc!) to encourage supporting other projects.

steveklabnik 13y ago

Tipping is a really interesting aspect of cryptocurrency. I've never made a cent from blogging, but I added Dogecoin and Bitcoin links at the bottom of my last post, and actually got some tips. Tipping is also one of the reasons that Dogecoin is seeing such large growth, at least within Reddit.

ninguem2 13y ago
Is Dogecoin tipping real? I assumed it was just a parody of Bitcoin tipping.
- steveklabnik 13y ago
  Nope, it is 100% real. Source: https://github.com/mohland/dogetipbot https://github.com/mohland/dogetipbot
  - sida 13y ago
    I am so surprised that dogecoin took off! haha
- ahoy 13y ago
  I believe it's both real AND a parody of bitcoin.
sida 13y ago
I agree. I also find it's easier to tip Bitcoins. Emotionally, it doesn't feel like I am spending money, and as a recipient it also feels more novel (we got a few donations for some of our other projects). It is almost like a star on github but so much better. Like, "wow, they really like my project". It is very satisfying There has been a lot of talks on micro-transactions in cryptocurrency. I think there is going to be a long time before a micropayment paywall will become effective. Not enough people have bitcoins. I believe though that micropayment could grow out of tipping. When authors like yourself start accepting bitcoin donations, and one day there will be enough donations that someone would think, "oh wait, I don't need to need to spam my users with Google ads anymore." Personally, I would like to see services like Gary Bernhardt's screencasts to start accepting micropayments in Bitcoin. https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/screencasts/catalog https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/screencasts/catalog
- steveklabnik 13y ago
  Yup. The fact that there are waaaaaay many Dogecoin and that they're easier to actually get encourages tipping too. I have a very small amount of DOGE, yet tipping 10 or even 100 doge is not even a second thought for me. I actually do accept BitCoin and Dogecoin for both of my ebooks now. In the past I'd actually given people who wanted to pay me in BitCoin free copies because I didn't even want to take them.

brosirmandude 13y ago

Cryptocurrency tipping culture is really interesting to me. I can't think of another culture or system that encourages people giving away small amounts of money because they like something you said or just because they feel like it. I can see tipping becoming huge on Facebook and Twitter. And possibly even as a pseudo payments system for services like Pinterest.

sida 13y ago
The beautiful thing is that tipping real money kind of doesn't feel right. Like, "hey ryan bates, good job on the railscast, here is a dollar" But, personally, when it is in cryptocurrency it feels very different.
- quantumpotato_ 13y ago
  Can you elaborate?

gfodor 13y ago

I thought about how I'd add a tip action on HN via a Chrome plugin, but it's hard since HN users don't usually disclose contact info, so you can't onboard them when they receive a tip. Many HN users use their twitter handles, so that's something, but it would be nice if there were some simple OAuth API to get a user's e-mail. Or, pg could implement bit/dogecoin tipping :)

hayksaakian 13y ago
Reddit's tip not does it without an email address ----- You could let a username claim tips by making a comment like: CLAIM: email@domain.com To start managing their tips on your app / site
- gfodor 13y ago
  reddit has direct messages, hn doesn't
- sida 13y ago
  If only HN had a comment streaming API! PG, time to add some more features to hacker news
  - j_s 13y ago
    Or contact someone else who has already rolled their own: http://hnnotify.com/ http://hnnotify.com/

gfodor 13y ago

Request: dogecoin support. (seriously) It's better for tipping due to the fact that to tip someone a nickel right now with BTC I have to type out a long decimal.

sida 13y ago
haha nice. We should definitely look into dogecoin. I honestly didn't take dogecoin seriously until we got so many dogecoin requests today! Have you tried, 1 Beer (4 USD worth of BTC) or 1 Internet (1.337 USD worth of BTC) ? :P http://www.tippercoin.com/#/how-it-works/ http://www.tippercoin.com/#/how-it-works/
- bendoernberg 13y ago
  If you're not sure if it'll be popular, make a post asking on reddit.com/r/dogecoin
  - steveklabnik 13y ago
    I already did a few hours back: http://www.reddit.com/r/dogecoin/comments/1tjj1p/we_need_this_for_dogecoin/ http://www.reddit.com/r/dogecoin/comments/1tjj1p/we_need_thi...
spectrum 13y ago
I am getting tired of all this dogecoin hype. This altcoin is not innovative, does not solve a problem that bitcoin has and was in fact created to mock all the altcoins. Yes it's funny (for the first 5 minutes) but tell me the added value? You think it's good for tipping because it's almost worthless? The beauty of bitcoin is that you CAN type out long decimals. The beauty is that you can USE bitcoin to pay for goods and services. Bitcoin was like Dogecoin 5 years ago, why are you trying to repeat this proces? If you look at the site of Tippercoin, you see that it is also possible to send for example a beer ($4) in bitcoin. Seems pretty easy to type, not? The way I see it is that most of the altcoins are created by and for people who think they have missed the Bitcoin-boat and are stuck with their old mining hardware. Hoping that their altcoin will take off, by pumping and hyping it everywhere including Hacker News, so they can make some easy money.

spectrum 13y ago

I'm afraid your logo is not allowed by Twitter: "Do not modify or alter the marks or use them in a confusing way, including suggesting sponsorship or endorsement by Twitter, or in a way that confuses Twitter with another brand." See https://about.twitter.com/press/brand-assets https://about.twitter.com/press/brand-assets I'd change it if I were you! Otherwise, very simple and usable service. https://www.pikapay.com/ https://www.pikapay.com/ would be a competitor.

locksley 13y ago
Ahhhhh, but it worked so perfectly! Oh well, thanks for the heads up :)