Coil, a recently launched Google Chrome extension, is aimed at changing the way content creators monetize their artwork and enabling them to get paid in cryptocurrency while visitors are viewing their content. Coil’s long-term vision is to create a self-sustaining economy, where creators will have absolute governance over their content.
How Does Coil Work?
Coil was created by Ripple’s former CTO, Stefan Thomas, and it is headquartered in San Francisco. Users will gain access to high-quality content, with lesser advertisements, on the supported platforms by paying a $5 monthly subscription fee. Subsequently, creators will automatically receive donations in XRP tokens, which will equal to 30 millionths of a dollar per second for as long as visitors remain on the webpage.
Coil is based on the Ripple Interledger protocol, which was co-developed by Thomas and utilizes an open API called “Web Monetization, ” which can be easily integrated into almost any website. Although Coil is still in its beta version, it has already integrated into major platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Wikipedia and the Internet Archive.
Ripple’s CTO, David Schwarz, said in a tweet:
“This is one of the key innovations. Content providers don’t need any agreement with Coil. If they provide value in exchange for funds, Coil (and others) will pay them to get that value. If not, not. Universal and painless for creators.”
Coil as the Evolution of Web Monetization
Coil is not the first cryptocurrency-based application focused on monetizing web content. It follows on the heels of its predecessors like Coinhive and Brave, which have dominated the market up to date. Coil’s main distinction from its competitors — Patreon and Flattr — is the fixed bandwidth per second, which guarantees that payments are instantly delivered to the creators. Additionally, Coil could operate similarly to a pay-per-view concept, where subscribers would only pay for their actual usage.
Widespread Enthusiasm in the Ripple Community
On forums like Reddit, supporters voiced their excitement as they envision a widely adopted payment system that will eliminate the need for multiple accounts on services like YouTube and Netflix. Other Ripple proponents even expressed their belief that Coil could be the killer app that Ripple had been waiting for to boost the XRP token price. While the Interledger protocol allows content creators to receive micropayments in any cryptocurrency, the Coil team maintains a favorable stance toward the XRP token because of Thomas’s relationship with Ripple.
The curiosity remains as to how Coil will manage to generate adequate revenue as the value of XRP rewards could potentially surpass the total amount of member subscription fees. Nevertheless, as Coil is exclusively fueled by fiat currencies, we are looking at another use case that will bring digital assets a bit closer to the real world. Coil is undoubtedly expected to increase XRP’s liquidity and attract more users to cryptocurrencies, while Ripple wants to revolutionize remittance and cross-border payments.
