Microtransactions A Possibility With Bitcoin's BlockCypher

Blockchain-based web API company BlockCypher recently released a Microtransaction API making it possible to transmit payments as little as 2,000 satoshis (or roughly 0.5 cents). The offering also enables On-blockchain microtransactions marking a significant departure from the usual off-blockchain transactions.

“In addition to our normal Transactions API, we offer a unique, on-chain microtransaction endpoint that makes it easy to propagate smaller, nearly-instantly guaranteed, more frequent transactions that are still publicly auditable and trusted through their existence on the blockchain.”

So What’s New in This?

Earlier, it was nearly impossible to send amounts less than $1 over the internet because the cost of transmitting money was too high. Apple Inc. earlier levied a hefty 30% fee on microtransactions, making it extremely expensive to transmit small amounts of money.

Since these transactions will be recorded on the Bitcoin ledger blockchain, they need to be verified by the miners. Therefore, the fee levied should be enough to interest the miners.

Blockchain has managed to formulate a simple yet adaptive fee structure using its zero-confirmation confidence factor.

Co-founder of Internet giant Yahoo, Jerry Yang said,

“Micropayments have incredible potential for many industries worldwide. We’re excited that BlockCypher has figured out how to make it cost effective and fast to do microtransactions ON the block chain, fully demonstrating that it’s possible to transfer small amounts using Bitcoin.”

Like other Bitcoin transactions, every microtransaction will be recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain. Within seconds after the transaction is sent, the sender and receiver can monitor the transaction status on live.blockcypher.com by simply entering the address they want to check.

BlockCypher’s Microtransaction API allows for easy and quick transmission of Bitcoin micro payments.

So, if you have always wanted to send out a little donation to another charity, this could be worth considering! Try it out and share your comments below!