At the recent Domineum Blockchain Day, Lorien Gamaroff (Co-Founder of Centbee) gave a keynote speech highlighting the advantages of the BSV blockchain as a foundational step in innovation for businesses and enterprises.

As an introduction to his keynote, Gamaroff gave a quick history of the internet, which resembles the current situation in blockchain technology in certain aspects:

‘[T]here were many different kinds of inter-networks that were being created. Some were being created for specific reasons and specific tasks. And it was quite a messy, noisy space. I’m sure many of you who are very young aren’t aware of this,’ he said.

‘And those who are older well could remember the time when we had these different networks going on. But of course, what happened was the world ended up settling on the single inter-network, and that was because it was just the most obvious choice.’

Gamaroff further states that governments and larger institutions disliked an independent network protocol. Since it was not under their control, they were unsure whether there were more efficient and secure solutions. The various protocols, which were specialised to very specific applications, caused more problems than they provided solutions. The different protocols were not compatible with each other and required the creation of gateways, which the operators charged large amounts of money to set up and maintain.

However, especially with blockchain as a key technology for web3 applications, IoT and the Metaverse, interoperability plays an important role. Therefore, universal scalability is a necessary characteristic of an enterprise blockchain. One feature of such a blockchain is micropayments.

Micropayments on a global scale – a groundbreaking feature

Regarding the topic of payments on the internet, Gamaroff explains that they had long been a problem:

‘[W]hen it comes to the Internet, though, of course, one of the biggest issues was payments. We knew that in those days, up until today, even the credit card networks were never built for Internet transactions as using credit cards is too expensive. And what that’s done is it has made it impossible for innovative business models that depend on low-cost payments to ever be able to be achieved.

‘And no businesses out there today have been able to create a successful business model that allows people to pay small fractional amounts of money to even the point of paying one Naira for a service because of course there’s no payment technology that can support that.’

This is where Gamaroff sees the inherent strength of blockchain, particularly in the form of the BSV blockchain. While other blockchains have similar strengths in terms of transparency and regulatory compliance, reliable micropayments that scale to global levels are not only a novelty but also a unique feature of the BSV blockchain.

Use cases enabled by micropayments

• Content monetisation: Micropayments can allow content creators, such as writers, artists, musicians, and YouTubers, to charge small amounts for their work. This way, users can access high-quality content without committing to subscription fees.

• News and journalism: Micropayments can support the journalism industry by allowing readers to pay small amounts to access individual articles, thereby helping sustain quality reporting and investigative journalism.

• In-app purchases: In mobile apps and games, micropayments can be used to purchase virtual goods, upgrades, or additional content without the need for large upfront payments.

• Pay-per-use services: Services like cloud computing, APIs, and data analysis can be charged on a pay-per-use basis using micropayments. Users only pay for the resources they consume, making these services more accessible to small-scale users.

• Micro-donations: Charities and non-profit organisations can benefit from micropayments by enabling supporters to make small, frequent donations. This can lead to a steady stream of contributions that add up over time.

• IoT micropayments: Internet of Things (IoT) devices can use micropayments to access specific services, data, or resources. For instance, a smart fridge could pay a small amount to access a recipe database.

• Content licensing: Micropayments can facilitate the licensing of copyrighted content for specific uses. This can help copyright holders receive fair compensation for their work while allowing others to utilise it in a controlled manner.

• Ad-Free browsing: Micropayments can be used to compensate website owners for ad revenue they might lose by providing an ad-free browsing experience to users who pay a small fee.

• Freelancer and gig economy payments: Micropayments can support the gig economy by enabling freelancers and independent contractors to receive payments in real-time for tasks completed, eliminating the need for delayed payouts.

Why the BSV blockchain is the superior option for micropayments

Finally, it is important to address the question of which blockchain is best suited for handling micropayments. The Lightning Network as a second layer solution from BTC and the BSV blockchain are available for this purpose. Certainly, the public interest as well as the market for solutions based on BTC is greater. However, the BSV blockchain offers compelling advantages.

An important advantage of the BSV blockchain is certainly its transparency and auditability. With this feature, all parties involved can verify independently of each other at any time.

Both solutions offer the necessary low transaction costs. The overall scalability of the BSV blockchain is much better, as it is not limited by the number of participants in the network and their capitalisation in the network. Rather, BSV scales globally for businesses, industry and government purposes alike. While it does not scale unbounded, its maximum capabilities have yet to be explored.