A microtransaction (microtransaction) is a transfer of a very small amount for a product or service, usually in an online environment. It involves payments of mere cents or fractions of them: paying to read a single article, to listen to a track, to access a piece of content or a small digital service.
The main difficulty of micropayments in traditional systems is fees. If the fixed charge for processing a transfer is comparable to the payment amount itself or exceeds it, carrying out such operations makes no economic sense. That is why the usual card and payment services are poorly suited for settlements of tiny amounts.
Cryptocurrencies and related solutions change the situation. They allow very small amounts to be transferred — often less than the minimum unit of a fiat currency — at minimal cost. This opens up opportunities for new models of paying for content and services:
- per-item payment for articles, videos and music;
- pay-per-use payment;
- built-in payments in applications and games;
- rewards to authors directly from the audience.
