SatoshiPay is an app that processes micropayment transactions for content on the web. While it previously used bitcoin, it has announced a partnership with the distributed payment infrastructure Stellar. Stellar will now be SatoshiPay’s default ledger, and the first 100,000 users of SatoshiPay following this new collaboration will receive 500 free Lumens (XLM), Stellar’s native cryptocurrency.

SatoshiPay allows anyone to send small payments instantly; the brand name derives from the Satoshi Bitcoin unit worth one hundred millionth of a single Bitcoin that is named after Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. When someone visits a site that uses SatoshiPay, it sets up a cryptocurrency wallet in their browser. The visitor never has to create a login or account. SatoshiPay focuses on serving content providers using WordPress with an easy-to-install plugin. While the company admits browser wallets are not as secure as cold storage ones, it promises “state-of-the-art security processes” and remind users that its wallets are intended for small change and purchases, not life savings.

SatoshiPay initially relied solely on Bitcoin but has now switched to Stellar, citing quicker payments, lower fees and a “stable” and “mature” software ecosystem as principal reasons for the switch.

“We love Bitcoin for its pioneering role in the creation of our industry, but some blockchain networks it inspired have evolved faster than Bitcoin itself, so we decided to move on to superior technology,” SatoshiPay CEO Meinhard Benn said.

When SatoshiPay relied on bitcoin, users’ funds were locked in payment channels and unprocessed for a period of time, which is not the case with Stellar. Stellar’s network of servers verifies transactions and sync every few seconds.

“As a ledger that does not use resource-intensive proof-of-work calculations to secure transactions, Stellar offers extremely low fees (currently around 0.00003 cents per operation) and fast settlements (around [five seconds] to final confirmation),” Benn expressed.

Similarly, Jed McCaleb, co-founder of Stellar, said his company is “thrilled to be working with SatoshiPay to help lead the way by making micropayments much faster and less costly than ever before.”

On December 10, 2017, SatoshiPay announced it had formerly launched the partnership with Stellar. To use its new streamlined payment services, visit a content partner such as BTC Echo or Naftali Music. Clicking on the blue widget at the bottom of the screen allows you to “Top Up” through PayPal or your established Stellar wallet and purchase content.

Stellar has been making a lot of progress lately. For the first time, the cryptocurrency entered into the top ten rankings according to CoinGecko, and the price of XLM has surged to around $0.15. In April 2017, Stellar partnered with Bext360 to ensure fairness in the supply chain for coffee farmers, which uses blockchain technology to measure and record the quality of produce, information on the buyer and price paid.