Thursday, August 18, 2022

Have an idea involving micropayments? It's possible. Here's how

OK, hopefully the headline was scammy enough for you to click. No, this is not a scam. Yes, it includes using Bitcoin. No, it's still not a scam. This method gives you USD, you don't hold any Bitcoin. This doesn't expose you to any price volatility, nor are there exorbitant fees. It's virtually free to do.

Note: this only works for US, El Salvador & Argentina residents.

Here goes...

1.) Open an account at https://strike.me. This app is very similar to Cash App, but supports getting paid on the Lightning Network (which is a Layer 2 of Bitcoin). I believe Cash App is also working on this functionality.

2.) Set up your own self-hosted install of https://lnbits.com (or use cloud hosted version at https://voltage.cloud for ~$10 USD/mo).

3.) Connect LNBits to Strike. (Note: this is currently finishing development and will be out within weeks. If you want to test it, check out Github)

4.) Set up a way to get paid on LNBits. This software has tons of little apps that allow you to collect payment in various ways (paywall, or event tickets, or tip jar, or line-item invoices, or Spotify jukebox, or anything else).

5.) Collect a payment in LNBits. You price things in USD. But, you're receiving BTC...

6.) That BTC is immediately forwarded to Strike, converted to USD and available for withdrawal to your bank account.

Following these steps you can collect micropayments in USD for next-to-nothing fees (like <$0.01 per transaction, yes serious) and you have no exposure to the volatility of BTC.

Your potential customers can hold their balance in USD as well, if they don't want to hold any crypto. They just deposit some USD into their Strike account to pay these micropayments. Nobody ever sees any crypto, just USD.

Don't be a hater. I don't stand to make any money off this or anything. I discovered this whole thing recently and am amazed on what's possible. I had no idea that I can accept a payment of $0.25 USD and receive $0.24+ within seconds.

You all are smart here. I think you can figure out how to build a business around this idea.


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