Tag for micro Bitcoin donations rewards online content creators

ChangeTip is encouraging web users to show their appreciation for online content by sending a small Bitcoin donation with a comment tag.

The hype around new cryptocurrencies — particularly Bitcoin — has died down somewhat in recent months. However, rather than being the result of a falling out of fashion, it may be because Bitcoin has kept its market price fairly steady since the beginning of the year. It's also gaining traction as a digital tipping option, with platforms such as Cheers enabling buskers to accept the virtual currency. Now ChangeTip wants to encourage web users to show their appreciation for online content by sending a small Bitcoin donation with a comment tag.

At it's simplest, ChangeTip is a way for anyone to reward those who make great content with a small monetary contribution, rather than an arbitrary thumbs up. The startup's system uses web crawlers to search for mentions of the tag @ChangeTip on popular sites such as YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, GitHub and more. When someone uses the tag in a comment or on social media, along with a donation amount and the creator's account name, the system automatically initiates the transaction between each user's Bitcoin wallet.

Small donations made through other means often get cancelled out because services typically charge a minimum fee for the transaction, and even more when exchanging money across national borders. The service uses Bitcoin because — unlike other currencies — there is no transaction fee and it can easily be exchanged with any other currency. ChangeTip users can make their tip in the currency they want and the amount is automatically transposed into Bitcoin. Recipients can either use the Bitcoin as is, or turn it into the currency they use.

ChangeTip also allows tippers to use quirky monikers for set amounts to make the act of giving more fun. For example, a comment that reads '@User, have a cookie @ChangeTip' will send USD 1.50, while the offer of a 'high five' translates as a USD 5 donation.

Watch the video below to learn more about the service:

ChangeTip aims to turn web users' appreciation for free content into monetary rewards for creators, so they can support their favorite artists. Are there other ways to help consumers more easily compensate those who make the web what it is?