Popular Bitcoin micro-tipping platform Changetip announced they would shut down shortly. After running the service for over two years, it seemed this was only a matter of time. Despite over 350,000 tips being spread among Bitcoin community members, the acqui-hire by Airbnb spelt the end of this service. The team will continue to work on other projects, but ChangeTip will come to an end.
No More ChangeTip Bitcoin Tipping Service
Over the past two years, the ChangeTip Bitcoin service has become synonymous with micro-tipping users on the Internet. The service allowed users to link various social media accounts to the service, allowing for convenient sending and receiving of tips. ChangeTip even supports GitHub and Slack, as those two platforms are places where a small reward can go a very long way over time.
Things had been evolving quite well for ChangeTip, as they served over 100,000 people at their peak. This was an excellent way to promote the usage of Bitcoin, both within the community as well as for those people who have never ventured into the cryptocurrency world. The company even attracted the attention of Airbnb, although in a different fashion.
Ever since Airbnb acqui-hired all of ChangeTip’s employees in the spring of 2016, it only seemed to be a matter of time until the service was shut down. Airbnb has no plans to integrate Bitcoin any time soon, but they have their eye on blockchain technology. The majority of ChangeTip employees were already working on Airbnb services, and the only viable outcome was to shut down the Bitcoin micro-tipping service.
Running a Bitcoin tipping service requires maintaining servers, customer support, and managing a variety of expenses. While ChangeTip explored options to keep the service going, there is no viable business model they can embrace to do so. Users can still withdraw their funds, though, and withdrawals are processed within 24 hours maximum. Donating remaining balances to charity is also an option for those people who want it.
More importantly, users have the possibility to fully close their account which will result in all social data being deleted. For more privacy-oriented users, this could be an option worth exploring, although it is not mandatory by any means. The withdrawal process will be available for a few months, by the look of things. No official closing date has been announced yet, but further details will be communicated over time.
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