Micropayment has become something of a buzz word over the last few years. Everyone can see the democracy this form of payment can offer the internet. However, there has been no global application that can claim to have solved the issues surrounding this concept;

https://s3.postimg.org/whpgrngvn/Micropayment.jpg
<a href='http://www.freepik.com/free-vector/hands-with-coins_761218.htm'>Designed by Freepik</a>

## Micropayment:
> A micropayment is an e-commerce transaction involving a very small sum of money in exchange for something made available online, such as an application download, a service or web-based content.

> Micropayments are sometimes defined as anything less than 75 cents and can be as low as a fraction of a cent. A special type of system is required for such payments, which are too small to be feasible for processing through credit card companies.

[Source](http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/micropayment)

## Steemit and Micropayments
There is a very good section on Steemit’s relationship to Micropayments in the [White Paper - Page 40](https://steem.io/SteemWhitePaper.pdf). I am going to talk through this section and refer to my experience on Steemit, to see whether Steemit’s model could be the answer to all Micropayment problems.

## Micropayment Problems

**Cost:** 
The biggest problem to overcome is the transaction cost involved in micropayment. Visa, MasterCard, and even Bitcoin Transaction fee’s are far too high to process a payment of $0.01 to $0.50.  

**Engagement:** 
Micropayments require a decision by the consumer to pay for the content they love. But the problem is, making a decision to ‘tip’ someone so little, barely feels worth making a decision in the first place.

> **The only transactions that users can approve without thought are ones that cost them nothing**, thus any micro-transaction of positive value will incur mental costs through its requiring a decision. 

Brave Bitcoin Browser are making some interesting strides in this area, with their Ad-Blocking Browser. If you fund a Bitcoin wallet on Brave, they will automatically micro-pay your favourite sites. You can read more [here](http://www.coindesk.com/brave-browser-launch-bitcoin-micropayments/) and [here](https://brave.com).   

**Who Should Pay?**
Should the hosting site allocate funds to content providers from profits generated, or should the consumers pay the content providers directly, on top of being exposed to advertising throughout their experience..

## Steemit’s Approach..
Steemit’s founders see the concept of Micropayment, and how it could feasibly work, differently to many industry leaders…

> Everyone benefits from everyone’s actions so everyone should pay or no one should pay, depending on how you look at it. 

> Steem bypasses micropayments completely because when a user upvotes a post it is the community that pays the bill. The same amount of money will be spent whether the user upvotes a post or not and the funds will not come from the voter. 

No one individual pays, the whole community of Steem and Steem Power holders pay. There are around 50,000 votes per day on the Steemit Blockchain, and each of these votes are essentially micropayment between Content Creators, Content Curators and Steem/Steem Power holders.

## Remember the Feeling.. 
https://s11.postimg.org/96gwpeuqr/Steemit_Thumb.jpg
<a href='http://www.freepik.com/free-vector/social-media-like-icon_758229.htm'>Designed by Freepik</a>

I remember the feeling when a single up-vote from myself allocated $0.01 for the first time. It was exciting to be able to reward a Content Provider I liked $0.01 worth of Steem based cryptocurrency. And the best thing about it, It didn’t cost me (personally) a thing. It was built into the system I accepted when I signed up.

## Steem Blockchain Killer App - Free Transactions
If Steemit, or another Steem Blockchain Base Application gains traction moving forward, the fact that Steem transaction are free on the Steem Blockchain is a massive reason why using the Steem Blockchain for micropayment makes sense. 

**Have Steemit Solved the Micropayment Problems?**

I believe that, if Steem Dollars continue to prove to be Stable, Steem **has** provided a legitimate solution to Micropayments problems. Steemit addresses each of the main points of concern over current Micropayment projects, something which no other application offers.. 

**Interested to hear everyone’s thoughts on this topic…**