With the recent project by Bitcoin Lightning network, called Tippin, the concept of online tipping has really taken off. This project was initiated to allow the public to send and receive micropayments such as tips, at any location.
During the period of three months since its initiation, tips worth more than fifteen thousand dollars have been transferred, indicating a bright prospect for the adoption of this technology. This rapid acceptance of Tippin can be attributed to its easy and user-friendly nature, where a link is sent to the user after registration for them to share micro amounts of Bitcoin.
Users on the receiver’s end can retrieve their tips whenever they wish to, so Tippin provides the users with a web custodial wallet for managing Bitcoin transactions through Lightning Network.
Lightning Network came into being with the debate of scaling for Bitcoin, which worsened in 2017 and finally led to the development of Bitcoin Cash. In order to keep the Bitcoin block size unchanged, they had to make other changes such as improving the speed of transaction, and so, the Lightning Network was proposed as a solution. Currently, at a little over 2 million dollars, the capacity of the Lightning Network has expanded ever since its inception.
Tippin was created by Sergio Abril initially as a personal project to promote the use of Lightning Network, and even though it is in its earliest stages where its use is restricted to just sending and receiving digital money, it includes many other features like improving wallet usage and association with merchants.
Kevin Rooke, a cryptocurrency commentator, claims that there have been more than 14 thousand registrations, four thousand browser extension installations, over ($15000) fifteen thousand dollars-worth of tips and around 559 TV channels associated with Tippin so far.
