The SMTP-ing of Bitcoin

Why the Coinbase Buy Widget is a big deal

If I ask “Have you used the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol recently?” you might look at me like I was speaking High Valyrian. Gibberish!

But, if I ask “Have you sent email today?” you’d probably say, “Of course”!

This is the predicament bitcoin finds itself in. This extremely useful technology is often shunned by laymen because it is seen as difficult and confusing to understand.

So, how do you get people to experience the benefits of bitcoin when the biggest hurdle is getting people to possess bitcoin in the first place?

How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?!

Enter the Coinbase Buy Widget. With this new tool, people can purchase small amounts of bitcoin instantly with a debit card.

Breaking Down Barriers

For the micropayment needs of PopChest, this is a major advancement. Our entire video platform is built atop bitcoin and the Coinbase API. Viewers pay from their bitcoin wallet to the video publisher’s bitcoin wallet, then PopChest serves the video after verification on the blockchain. The limiting factor in this arrangement is the number of viewers that have a bitcoin wallet.

Preview of PopChest with Coinbase Buy Widget

Even though getting bitcoin is light-years easier than the early days (…cash-stuffed envelopes sent to Japan, anyone?), for new entrants the process of physically getting your first bitcoin could still take days. And, before that, there has to be an education process on cryptocurrency, which in itself is a barrier.

By implementing the Coinbase Buy Widget, our prospective base will jump from 10 million bitcoin wallets to 2.5 billion debit cards.

Viewers no longer need to previously possess the digital currency to immediately use PopChest. And, maybe more importantly, viewers can get the advantages of bitcoin without needing to understand the technology behind it.

You get email without knowing about SMTP.

PopChest will unveil its Coinbase Buy Widget integration during the IDEAS Los Angeles Conference on Media & Technology (June 15–16). Until then, enjoy watching this Donald Trump piñata from SuchWow.tv using PopChest bitcoin micropayments.