SatoshiPay has partnered with technology news site The Register to pilot a cryptocurrency micropayments trial for selected content on its website.
The trial, which is SatoshiPay’s first official partnership with a major news outlet, will allow users to purchase credits in the form of Stellar Lumens (XLM) on The Register’s website.
Users can then use to purchase the read the “Geek’s Guide to Britain” ad-free.
“The way people consume media is changing and technology is playing a huge role in evolving publishers’ content payment methods and sources of income,” said SatoshiPay founder Meinhard Benn.
“We see blockchain technology and Stellar in particular as a significant enabler of this evolution.
“With micropayments, publishers can cater for their readers’ demand for reduced advertising, whilst charging a small fee for viewing content. This is SatoshiPay’s first entry into mainstream publishing in the UK and we are proud to have partnered with one of the most outspoken and celebrated technology publications in the world.”
Jed McCaleb, co-founder of the Stellar Development Foundation, the non-profit organisation behind the Stellar network, described the partnership as an exciting moment for Stellar and the cryptocurrency community as a whole.
He said: “We’re proud to be powering SatoshiPay, helping make micropayments faster and cheaper than ever and thereby bolstering the publishing industry in its quest to unlock additional revenue streams in the new digital age.”
The Register, whose news site attracts more than four million monthly visitors, also organises conferences and publishes a travel guide for ‘geeks’.
Gavin Clarke, managing editor, said: “The publishing industry is locked in a battle between readers who don’t want invasive ads and publishers who want to monetise their content.
“Recent advances in blockchain and crypto currencies offer the chance to break that deadlock.”