[throwaway4837]

If you don't like Bitcoin, you could always just get an address and if you get tipped, sell immediately. I don't see how this is any different than an app with "gems" you can buy and re-sell back to the app. Some games like Entropia[0] have a fixed exchange rate with the dollar, allowing you to "cash out" of the game, if holding game currency isn't your thing.

It's just game currency essentially for the social app. When I think about it like that, it makes me less nervous.

[0] https://account.entropiauniverse.com/account/deposits/#:~:te....

[xigoi]

> I don't see how this is any different than an app with "gems" you can buy and re-sell back to the app.

The difference is that the Bitcoin transaction will cause millions of computers to waste a serious amount of electricity calculating hashes over and over.

[ursuscamp]

It uses the Lightning network, which is a separate network using off-chain transactions. The Lightning network crams upwards of infinite transactions into a single on-chain transaction, called a payment channel.

[channel_t]

IIRC lightning network transactions only use as much electricity as 10 emails, although I guess at some point a real Bitcoin transaction will happen eventually.

[philihp]

Yeah pretty much. A lightning channel is a bit like putting money down as a retainer for a lawyer, or putting a deposit down in a hotel.

The real transaction happens at the beginning, and another transaction happens at the end when the channel closes and we settle out who gets the remainder.

[remram]

No one is claiming that "gems" are "the native currency of the internet" though.