Company:SatoshiPay

From HandWiki
SatoshiPay
TypePrivate
Founded2014
FounderMeinhard Benn (CEO)
Alexander Wilke
(COO)
Headquarters,
Area served
Global
ProductsMicropayment Processing
WebsiteOfficial Website

SatoshiPay is a company that processes micropayment transactions creating monetization opportunities for content creators. It offers a payment platform allowing content providers to charge consumers a small fee (as low as a fraction of a cent) to read, watch, or listen to content.[1] SatoshiPay processes payments using Stellar Lumens (XLM). In the past, the company used bitcoins (or smaller Bitcoin units called, "satoshis").[2][3][4] SatoshiPay has received four rounds of funding totalling more than two million Euros.[5][6]

History

SatoshiPay was founded in Berlin, Germany in 2014[3][7] by Meinhard Benn, Henning Peters, and Kilian Thalhammer. Benn serves as the company's CEO.[8] The company was a part of the Axel Springer Plug and Play Accelerator, which included numerous other technology companies.[9][10] In October 2014, the company received €50,000 in funding in part from the Axel Springer Accelerator.[11] In July 2015, SatoshiPay won second place at the Coinbase BitHack v2.[3][7][12]

In September 2015, the company received €160,000 in seed funding from Fast Forward Innovations Limited (previously Kuala Innovations),[13] an investment firm run by British entrepreneur Jim Mellon and Canadian entrepreneur Stephen Dattels. As part of the deal, Fast Forward Innovations acquired a 10% stake in SatoshiPay.[5] According to Fast Forward Innovations, their investment was part of a larger funding round led by Coinsilium, an investment company focused on blockchain technology.[14] The company released a closed beta version of their technology in November 2015. In January 2016 Coinsilium, the blockchain technology investment company, invested €200,000 in SatoshiPay.[15] Coinsilium later sold their shares in SatoshiPay to Blue Star Capital.[16] The company released a beta version of its software along with a WordPress plugin on February 1, 2016.[17]

SatoshiPay launched an API on May 31, 2016.[18] Since launching, SatoshiPay has formed partnerships with UK tech news site, The Register; TEMPO Money Transfer; business news site, IBTimes; YouTube creators Steinwallen and DrProof; and musicians Naftali and David Kuckhermann (former percussionist for Dead Can Dance).[19] Due to Bitcoin’s inability to scale to large numbers of transactions and its fees becoming prohibitive, the company relaunched their platform based on the Stellar network in December 2017. On July 26, 2018, SatoshiPay announced its intention to hold a public IPO.[6]

Technology

SatoshiPay's technology is a blockchain-based platform that enables content providers to charge consumers small amounts of money to gain access to the provider's media. These charges are referred to as "nanopayments,"[8] and they can be as small as a fraction of a cent.[7][20] This is differentiated from traditional paywall subscription services in that each piece of content can be purchased individually. Users pay per article, per song, or per download.[5] Unusual models, such as paying per paragraph or per second of video watched, are also possible.[3] User funds are held in the user’s browser and each individual transaction sends the payment directly from the end user to the publisher. SatoshiPay's payment mechanism works across websites and allows consumers to use the service without having to sign up or download software.[2] In July 2017, SatoshiPay made an announcement of its plans to phase out Bitcoin for a faster settlement network. Although a partnership with the IOTA Foundation was considered, SatoshiPay later partnered with the Stellar Network to use Lumens (XLM) for its micropayment services.

References

  1. Cancian, Daniel (21 September 2015). "Kuala Innovations acquires stake in SatoshiPay". DigitalLook. http://www.digitallook.com/news/news-and-announcements/kuala-innovations-acquires-stake-in-satoshipay--869727.html. Retrieved 17 October 2015. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Grundy, Chris (6 September 2015). "Why the Future of Bitcoin Lies in Europe". CoinDesk. http://www.coindesk.com/why-the-future-of-bitcoin-lies-in-europe/. Retrieved 17 October 2015. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Brenneis, Friedemann (3 August 2015). "SatoshiPay – Bitcoin-Nanopayment aus Berlin" (in German). Coinspondent. https://coinspondent.de/2015/08/03/satoshipay-nanopayment-aus-berlin/. Retrieved 17 October 2015. 
  4. Holmes, B. (16 October 2015). "Kuala Innovations Injects Funds Into Factom To ‘Unlock Embedded Value’". Brave New Coin. http://bravenewcoin.com/news/kuala-innovations-injects-funds-into-factom-to-unlock-embedded-value/. Retrieved 17 October 2015. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Warner, Joshua (21 September 2015). "Kuala Innovations Invests In Nanopayment Provider SatoshiPay". London South East. http://www.lse.co.uk/AllNews.asp?code=vv3387xf. Retrieved 17 October 2015. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 https://medium.com/@SatoshiPay/satoshipay-getting-ready-for-ipo-in-london-ca5a5a7c681
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Grundy, Chris (14 August 2015). "Digital Currency Startups Prosper in Berlin’s Vibrant Bitcoin Community". Bitcoin Magazine. https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/digital-currency-startups-prosper-berlins-vibrant-bitcoin-community-1439587533. Retrieved 17 October 2015. 
  8. 8.0 8.1 Kyriasoglou, Christina (29 September 2015). "Britischer Warren Buffet investiert in Nanopayment-Startup". Gründerszene. http://www.gruenderszene.de/allgemein/satoshi-pay-jim-mellon-seed. Retrieved 17 October 2015. 
  9. Kannenberg, Axel (19 December 2014). "Axel Springer fördert Bitcoin-Startups" (in German). Heise Online. http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Axel-Springer-foerdert-Bitcoin-Startups-2498575.html. Retrieved 17 October 2015. 
  10. Skrabania, Lydia (25 November 2014). "Das sind die zwölf neuen Startups bei Axel Springer Plug and Play" (in German). Gründerszene. http://www.gruenderszene.de/allgemein/springer-accelerator-batch-5. Retrieved 17 October 2015. 
  11. "October 27, 2014 - Funding Round Angel". CrunchBase. https://www.crunchbase.com/funding-round/71e87ee4c0d381c5a4f97ed5b66532d6. Retrieved 17 October 2015. 
  12. "Coinbase Announces Winners of BitHack v2". Coinbase. 2 July 2015. https://blog.coinbase.com/2015/07/02/coinbase-announces-winners-of-bithack-v2/. Retrieved 17 October 2015. 
  13. https://quoteddata.com/2015/10/kuala-innovations-changing/
  14. Bello Perez, Yessi (21 September 2015). "SatoshiPay Gets €160,000 Investment from Jim Mellon Fund". CoinDesk. http://www.coindesk.com/jim-mellon-vc-bitcoin-micropayments-satoshipay/. Retrieved 17 October 2015. 
  15. "SatoshiPay Raises €360,000 In Seed Funding". Cointelegraph. 25 January 2016. https://cointelegraph.com/news/satoshipay-funding-coinsilium. 
  16. https://cointelegraph.com/news/london-based-blockchain-accelerator-unloads-satoshipay-shares-to-bluestar-capital
  17. https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/satoshipay-launches-bitcoin-nanopayment-network-for-online-content-1454530389/
  18. https://medium.com/@SatoshiPay/satoshipay-reaches-10-000-users-wallets-and-releases-api-f656656c910a
  19. https://medium.com/@SatoshiPay/satoshipay-launches-stellar-integration-and-six-new-partnerships-1ce6c74059b6 Due to Bitcoin’s inability to scale to large numbers of transactions and its fees becoming prohibitive, the company relaunched their platform based on the Stellar network in December 2017
  20. Allison, Ian (8 July 2015). "Bitcoin's blockchain technology could give back more than software has ever eaten up". International Business Times. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/bitcoins-blockchain-technology-could-give-back-more-software-has-ever-eaten-1509899. Retrieved 17 October 2015. 

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