June 14, 2026

Capitalizations Index – B ∞/21M

Bitcoin for Buskers – a Case Study in Micro-Transactions

Bitcoin for buskers – a case study in micro-transactions

Bitcoin for Buskers – a Case Study in Micro-Transactions

Emilio Janus · April 16, 2018 · 11:00 am

Heavy footfall, the call to action, a pay what you want strategy for instant payments accepted worldwide. Here’s why cryptocurrency could soon become the buskers’ preferred virtual hat.


Picture the Scene

It’s Sunday afternoon and you’re doing some browsing at a local market. You’ve just got yourself some tasty tacos from one of the food stands. Yes, I meant real physical browsing, not sitting at home in front of your computer screen!

Looking for somewhere to enjoy your tacos, you notice a crowd gathered around a group of street musicians. They’re pretty good, so you spend several minutes listening whilst you eat. It’s only when you’ve finished the food that you realize you’re out of change.

There’s an App for That

Faced with the problem of an increasing propensity for cash-free audiences, Josh Thomson and his busking partner started accepting electronic payments on the streets. Well, if fictional homeless people can do it then why not? In fact, I think if I were busking on the street I’d plaster a QR code all over the front of my bass drum.

Josh has spent four and a half years traveling around the world and busking for a living. He says that he has noticed differences in attitude between audiences in different countries.

There's an app for that

The Future of Travel

Mr. Thomson, who is an Australian, says that audiences in his home country are more wary of making electronic payments. However,  he notes that:

In Europe and the UK, with apps and PayPal and everyone getting into bitcoin, people actually are paying buskers with digital currency

A Generation Gap

Unsurprisingly, older generations are more likely to feel that digging into your pockets is more anonymous than swiping a card payment. But those who have grown up with Chip and PIN have always been taught that card payments are safer than cash.

And of course, the crypto-generation are fully aware of the benefits of a crypto payment. Josh also says that accepting electronic payments has also encouraged larger individual donations.

I can just imagine some hipster showing off in front of his friends and dropping a whole wad of crypto on my busking ass. In fact, I can’t think of a better way to part a hipster and his money.

Let’s just hope that this doesn’t catch on with the chuggers.

Have you ever given money to a busker using digital currency? As we become more and more a cashless society, do you think it will continue to catch on? Let us know in the comments below.


Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/ElectricLove23, Reddit/kleef

bitcoinbitcoin paymentsbuskingcrytpcurrencymicropayments Show comments

Published at Mon, 16 Apr 2018 15:00:35 +0000

Altcoin News

Previous Article

best cryptocurrency – top 3 cryptocurrency to invest in

Next Article

Bitcoin Price Could Hit $25,000 This Year, Soar to the Moon After: Analyst

You might be interested in …

Волатильность стейблкоина и самый жуткий костюм на Хэллоуин: криптомемы недели

ForkLog Волатильность стейблкоина и самый жуткий костюм на Хэллоуин: криптомемы недели После небольшого перерыва криптомемы возвращаются. Выходите из спячки) В начале недели цена биткоина начала преодолевать многомесячное сопротивление, приблизившись в какой-то момент на бирже Bitfinex […]

Is Ripple Price Being Fueled by Confused Investors?

Riding the wave of recent positive news for Ripple, the XRP token is roaring with a 200% price surge over the weekend as the cryptocurrency market is reaching higher highs. But is Ripple for real or is it being fueled by confusion among new investors? 


Is Ripple For Real?

Jokes were abound this weekend as the cryptocurrency industry embraced April Fool’s Day in usual fashion. Meanwhile, Ripple experienced a serious surge with its market cap soaring from $360,000 USD to over $2.3 billion.

13

The price of Ripple XRP token experienced a whopping seven-fold increase in the past few days, and easily outperformed recent stalwarts such as Dash, Monero and the SegWit hopeful Litecoin in the past week. Even bitcoin, which managed to break the $1,100 barrier on news of becoming a legal form of payment in Japan, could not match yesterday’s 200% rise. 

The rise comes amid news of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ recently joining Ripple’s Interbank Group for Global Payments Based on Distributed Financial Technology.

mitsubishiufj

“We are pleased to join Ripple’s Global Payments Steering Group,” said Hirofumi Aihara, General Manager, MUFG Digital Innovation Division. “…Collaborating with other members of GPSG, MUFG will contribute to the creation of standards for Ripple’s network.”

Ripple is positioning itself as a cheaper payment network, particularly for large banks and enterprises, with a much higher throughput compared to bitcoin. CEO Brad Garlinghouse explained that Ripple could rival traditional systems such as Visa with nearly 70K transactions in just 3.7 seconds and at a lower cost than bitcoin.

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

However, the token might be setting up for a reality check as some believe the price surge has been fueled by a “misunderstanding.” Critics on Bitcointalk.org reacted to the meteoric rise, pointing out that Ripple, the company, is not the same as the XRP token and its Ripple Consensus ledger.

According to Ripple, its Global Payments Steering Group (GSPG) is where “leading banks are working with Ripple to reduce the time and cost of settlement, while also enabling new types of high-volume, low-value global transactions.”

By coming together to form the GSPG, these banks are laying the foundation for a new payments network, underpinned by Ripple’s solutions and supported by rules and governance for global settlement.

In other words, new demand for the XRP token could merely be speculative at this point as banks would be able to bypass transactions on the Ripple Consensus Ledger with their own Ripple-inspired platforms.

The commentator also noted:

Check the volumes, [Poloniex] currently stands for $150M+ volume, RCL only 20. What now is happening is a pump, driven by people misunderstanding the news.

The Rise and Rise of Cryptocurrencies

Overall, April is getting off to a hot start for cryptocurrencies as the total market capitalization is now a record $27 billion. It has been on an uptrend, particularly accelerating as of late following the rejection of the COIN bitcoin ETF in mid-March.

1

Though Bitcoin price has remained relatively stable oscillating between $900 and $1,200 amid scaling uncertainty, its overall dominance of the market has seen a huge drop from 84% to 68%.

Nevertheless, while the rejection of the first ever ETF might be seen as a setback for bitcoin to some, the media attention received in the run-up to the decision appears to have attracted new investors to the crypto space as a whole.

What is the real cause for Ripple’s price rise? Is bitcoin waning dominance a temporary phenomenon? Let us know in the comments below!


Images courtesy of coinmarketcap.com, Shutterstock, twitter, MUFG 

The post Is Ripple Price Being Fueled by Confused Investors? appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.