Term

Microtransaction

A microtransaction is a very small-value payment enabled by low fees and fast confirmations, useful for tipping, content, and IoT.

Type:
payments
usability
Also known as:
micropayment
1
concept

Microtransactions require low on-chain fees or L2 channels to be practical. They unlock new use cases like pay-per-use APIs, streaming payments, and granular incentives.

Example 1.1

"Bitcoin Cash's low fees make tipping and small purchases feasible directly on-chain."

Example 1.2

"Payment channels aggregate many tiny transfers into occasional settlements, lowering costs."

2
considerations

UX, privacy, and volatility affect adoption. Wallets can batch outputs, use cash accounts, or employ LN-like channel abstractions to improve experience.

Example 2.1

"Recurring microtransactions benefit from automated tooling and stable fiat on-ramps."

Example 2.2

"Merchants can set minimums or aggregate payments to reduce dust and UTXO bloat."

All terms and definitions may update as the Cryptionary improves.