Bitcoin Micropayment Channels

Our project focused on researching Bitcoin-based micropayments and designing a prototype that implements Bitcoin micropayment channels. Micropayments have been researched and discussed for the past two decades but no single scheme has achieved widespread adoption. Micropayments are payments of a very low value that incur high frictional costs when performed over traditional payment systems. These high costs have prevented the creation of certain business models dependent upon micropayments. We researched previously proposed micropayment schemes in order to fit Bitcoin-based micropayments into a larger historical context. We ideated various potential use cases for Bitcoin micropayments and decided upon implementing the use case of a router selling bandwidth.