New App Lets Users Tip On Twitter With Bitcoin

Twitter users can now send small bitcoin transactions as a tip if they like a tweet, according to reports.

A new app called Tippin has been released as a Chrome extension, and is currently available to the browser’s users. The app lets people send bitcoin payments over the Lightning Network, which is an instantaneous and inexpensive way for people to send and receive bitcoin.

The Lightning Network is a way to make bitcoin transfers and transactions easy and manageable at a large scale. Although it was originally developed for bitcoin, the network can also be developed for use with other cryptocurrencies.

When someone enables the extension, a lightning bolt logo will appear inside every tweet, next to the “like” and “retweet” buttons.

The app builds on the idea of one of bitcoin’s main selling points: sending small payments to other people. Sergio Abril, a Tippin engineer, said the app is incredibly user-friendly. “In my opinion, tipping is going to be incredibly popular with the lightning network,” he said. “It’s the first time we can send small amounts at no cost, and we can do it incredibly fast.”

All someone needs to use Tippin is a Twitter account.

“Tippin started as a personal side project a couple months ago, so I could understand Lightning Network a bit more, and or course help push adoption, but it’s starting to get big,” Abril said.

There are plans for Tippin’s future, too. Abril said he wants to eventually add support on other social media platforms. Right now, the app is custodial, meaning users don’t completely have control over their funds, which makes the app much easier to use. However, non-custodial options are not off the table.

“Of course, Lightning Network itself is still in beta,” Abril noted. “So we have time to make this happen until it’s fully ready.”