Cryptocurrency tip bots were once touted to be the next revolution to bring Bitcoin to the masses. Unfortunately, things have worked in a different way, even though Bitcoin has been rather successful through other means. But this begs the question if there is even room for such tip bots in the future, or if the concept is dead.
The Future of Cryptocurrency Tip Bots Is Uncertain
Every since ChangeTip announced they would be shutting down, a new void has been created in the cryptocurrency tip bot sector. The service allowed people to link various social media and other accounts to ChangeTip, and both send and receive Bitcoin tips that way. Moreover, they also partnered with charitable organizations in the past, bringing more attention to their services.
But earlier this year, ChangeTip was acquired by Airbnb, and the majority of team members have been working on other projects ever since. Now that ChangeTip is shutting down in a few weeks, the future of cryptocurrency tip bots is very uncertain. In fact, one could even ask out loud if there is a demand for such a service these days.
Other cryptocurrency tip bots have gone through their own struggles as well. BitcoinTip, the first every cryptocurrency tip bot to gain traction, was shut down in 2014 after losing user internet on Reddit. Litetip, the Litecoin tipping service, is still in existence today, but the success of LTC has been stagnating for years now.
Cryptiv is perhaps one of the services that can still gain some traction, as it can be integrated with Youtube and Twitch. Tipping content creators in Bitcoin directly opens up a lot of opportunities, even though it may do nothing to boost cryptocurrency awareness. Most of these tips are converted to fiat currency in the end, which is not necessarily a good thing for Bitcoin adoption.
One of the main reasons why a lot of these tip bots are shutting down is due to regulation and AML policies. Micropayment service providers are scrutinized over their money transmitter business, even though their service won’t necessarily be used for nefarious purposes. However, there is another concern, as linking existing social media accounts to a centralized platform can be seen as a violation of privacy. This latter concern is of little consequence to most people, bt it also highlights can inherent problem with cryptocurrency tip bots in general.
Cryptocurrency, and more notably Bitcoin, is gaining more popularity regardless of tip bot availability. It remains important to have a peer-to-peer transfer service for cryptocurrency, but those features are native to the protocol itself. Making more people aware of cryptocurrency is direly needed, but tip bots a not be the right way to go.
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