Stablecoins and Micro Payments
The Future of Browsing: When Every Click Has Ease of Transaction, but a Corresponding Cost Thanks to Stablecoins
A recurring frustration has always been the lack of any ability for micropayaments online. Why are we entering credit cards to sign up for a yearly subscription for something we don’t want because someone sends an article every once in a while. Why are we paying up to 3% in fees to these middlemen every time we purchase anything online? The same applies videos, podcasts or anything else really – a system like that cannot and will not stand for long. Question isn’t really why not have metered, usage-based internet, but how long will it take and what will that mean? We are sick of ads and sick of being the product and would love to take control and even profit from our browsing — when can it go both ways where we get paid for our attention and our contributions right back into our stable coin wallet? We now have a solution with stablecoin adoption post the Genius Act passage; how does that change the world and how do we profit by getting ahead of it?
For years, the internet has operated on an attention economy. We get free content, but we pay for it with our time and personal data and advertising. While this model has democratized access to information, it's also led to a fragmented, ad-saturated, and often low-quality online experience. Where are we going and can we get free of that system were we endlessly trade privacy and quality for convenience and where we rely on expensive transaction costs?
Stablecoins, pegged to fiat currency like the US dollar and now reliably backed by treasuries and regulated by the US government will allow for micropayments from your cursor as you browse the internet, meaning we can open doors to pay-as-you-go and even profit-as-you-go for less cost and with less friction.
Traditional payment systems aren't built for micropayments. The fees associated with processing a few cents a click make them impractical. Try sending someone five cents through a credit card or bank transfer – the fees would dwarf the actual amount. In contrast, stablecoins offer:
Near-Instant Settlements:Transactions can be confirmed and processed in seconds, or even milliseconds, regardless of the amount.
Extremely Low Fees: Transaction fees on many stablecoin networks are fractions of a cent, making even the smallest payments economically viable.
Global Accessibility: Stablecoins transcend national borders and traditional banking hours, allowing for seamless payments to anyone, anywhere, with an internet connection.
Programmability: Smart contracts can automate payments based on specific conditions, opening up a world of possibilities for dynamic content access and creator rewards.
The implications for our daily browsing habits are nearly endless as are the opportunities to build products and innovations:
Ad-Free, Premium Content by Default: Instead of ads, you see a small, discreet prompt: "Read this article for $0.05" or "Watch this video for $0.10." If you find value in the content, you click, and the payment is instantly and seamlessly deducted from your stablecoin wallet. This empowers users to bypass ads entirely and directly support the creators they value.
"Pay-Per-Engage" and "Pay-Per-Scroll" Models: Content creators could implement hyper-granular payment models. Perhaps a blog post costs $0.01 per paragraph read, or a podcast charges $0.005 per minute listened. This encourages creators to produce truly engaging content, as users only pay for what they consume and find valuable.
The Rise of the "Attention Economy" 2.0 (with a Twist): Instead of advertisers paying for your attention, you could be compensated for it. Imagine opting into a system where websites pay you a fraction of a stablecoin to view certain sponsored content, or to complete a short survey. Your attention becomes a valuable asset that you control and monetize directly.
Hyper-Personalized Experiences without Data Exploitation: Because creators are directly compensated, they have less incentive to collect and sell your personal data. This could lead to a more private and secure online experience, where personalization is driven by your explicit choices rather than your inferred browsing habits.
New Business Models for Creators: Artists, musicians, writers, and independent journalists could build sustainable livelihoods directly from their audience, bypassing intermediaries that take significant cuts. Imagine tipping a live streamer 10 cents for a great performance, or unlocking a bonus chapter of an e-book for a quarter.
The "Decentralized Web" Fully Realized: Micropayments empower decentralized applications (dApps) and peer-to-peer networks. Users could pay for decentralized storage, computing power, or even access to niche communities directly with stablecoins, fostering a truly open and resilient internet.
Of course, user experience will need to be incredibly smooth, with browser extensions and wallet integrations that make micropayments as effortless as clicking a link. The question of how fast can it be build is a real one, but as an area to explore for investing in the next 2-5 years we know there are real opportunities. Payments is a huge focus in our attention and has been for years and we are excited about the opportunity, though always considering what extent all browning may have a cost, which might turn users off from low-quality paid content or over-saturation of payments.
We think it could easily happen faster than we think and as an investor in layer 1s, we certainly hope that all this adoption will allow the value of the underlying tokes to appreciate and we will explore that further in the future.