What is Tippin.me?

The Bitcoin network continues to move forward with the advancement of their layer-2 solution, the Lightning Network protocol. While much more work must be done on the Lightning Network protocol, members from the Bitcoin development community have started to build projects on the Lightning Network and one of the more popular projects is Tippin.me.

The application seems to be growing at a fast clip and has received endorsements from major proponents of bitcoin such as the current Chief Executive of Twitter and Square, Jack Dorsey.

This will be a brief guide into Tippin.me and why it has become a popular micro-payment application.

The Who
The founder of Tippin.me is Sergio Abril.

The When
Sergio Abril created the web application and deployed it around January 2019.

The What
Tippin.me is a simple concept, provide users with a custodial web wallet which would allow them to send and receive micro-payments. The application is designed to facilitate tips, and as such, users can utilize the Lightning Network to conduct micro-transactions in a seamless manner. It is simple, quick, and inexpensive.

The Why
The founder created the application to provide a simple way for individuals to send Lightning Network protocol micro-payments without the need for an LN node. Contributions such as these are important because they add to simplification and allow more people to get involved in these new technologies.

With Tippin.me, users didn’t have to deal with the initial complexities of setting up a Lightning Network node or having to deal with the other current nuances of perpetually staying online, or taking additional cumbersome actions that would have been an impediment.

The Numbers
According to an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, Sergio Abril has stated that he’s adding at least 200 users daily. The current number of users on the Tippin.me application was, at the time of the publication, around 14,100 users. At the latest count, at least 16,000 tips have been facilitated through Tippin.me and the Bitcoin Lightning Network.

The How
How Does Tippin.me work?

Here’s how you can set up an account.

The first step is to go to the extension component of your current browser, Google or Firefox, type in Tippin.me into the search bar, then integrate the application your specific browser.

The second step is to create an account on Tippin.me. When on the website, navigate to the “Join Now” button, then finalize the process by joining with Twitter. The Twitter process allows for the simplest way to utilize Tippin.me. After finalizing the Twitter authentication process, you are done.

To receive tips, share your page on your Twitter account, your YouTube channel, or in other online applications where you regularly engage and converse.

To send tips, download a Lightning Wallet, (Éclair for android or ZAP for iOS and desktop), add some satoshis, connect to Tippin.me via their “open a direct channel” option, and you can start sending BTC tips.

The application is also integrated with Lightning Joule, if users are running Joule, they won’t even have to scan a QR code to complete a transaction.

That’s it, check out Tippin.me and join the thousands of satoshi tippers.