ProTip App Proposes Bitcoin Solution for Content Monetization

So says Chris Ellis of the ProTip micropayments project that is seeking to create peer-to-peer mechanisms for people to support musicians, artists and other creators of digital media using bitcoin.

ProTip is a web browser plug-in that functions as a specialized wallet, designed to issue automated bitcoin payments every week.

Planned for an early May open-source release, ProTip creates a list of bitcoin wallet addresses pulled from websites most often visited by the user.

AutoTip utilizes meta tags when identifying wallets addresses on a Web page - a feature that Ellis said has been adopted by ProTip.

Services like ChangeTip - a company that has faced criticism from the bitcoin community, as well as Ellis and others on the World Crypto Network for its centralized nature - have also proven to be popular with users looking to pledge small amounts of money to one another.

Despite past failures with micropayment experiments, Ellis argued that online media can benefit from alternative forms of monetization in order to reduce dependence on third-party revenue and the need to create content that serves primarily to boost advertising revenue.

Development of the initial ProTip software is nearing completion, and Ellis said that private testing of the platform has already been underway for some time and that "People have been using it."

The timeline for development of paywalls and in-app messaging between ProTip subscribers and content creators is contingent on the success of the project's Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.

As of 27th March, ProTip has raised more than $6,000 in both bitcoin and fiat out of a goal of $50,000.

According to Ellis, the plan is to make ProTip open source on 1st May, though he said that the development team isn't rushing to release a project that isn't ready for public use.