An early video by internet entrepreneur and bitcoin advocate Kim Dotcom has revealed a brief peek at his Bitcache platform will make use of bitcoin for payments.
The early sneak preview was released by Dotcom to over half a million followers on Twitter on Sunday. Dotcom highlights the ‘encrypyed anonymous content delivery’ service of Bitcache & Megaupload 2, powered by bitcoin payments.
With Bitcache, developers and publishers will be able to receive payments to a Bitcache bitcoin address for uploading content onto the internet, including websites beyond Dotcom’s file-storage phoenix Megaupload 2.0.Dotcom’s preview describes the product as a “trusted global distribution of digital goods”, with Bitcache serving as the payment engine for content shared on the internet.
“You can basically create a payment for any content that you put on the internet. [It] can be either Megaupload or any other file-hosting or streaming site on the internet,” explains Dotcom.
The early walkthrough preview showcases an interface wherein publishers or uploaders can enter the price for downloading or streaming their content, in their preferred currency. The equivalent of this price in bits is revealed before users are prompted to enter their bitcoin wallet details for receiving payments. The interface allows users to create wallets with Bitcache. It is yet unknown if the Bitcache client enables support for other bitcoin wallets.
“The coolest thing about this is the uploader decides the price-point,” Dotcom adds. “So this can basically be a two-penny file, or it can be a 2-dollar file or a 20-dollar file.”
At the beginning, supported content will include files and video streaming before Dotcom’s plan to “enable entire websites to use this technology to monetize their #urwebsite.”
Perhaps notably, Dotcom has previously confirmed that Bitcache will use off-chain micropayments to swerve congestion delays on the bitcoin blockchain.
The outspoken internet entrepreneur first revealed plans to resurrect Megaupload with Bitcoin’s help in mid-2016. By October, Dotcom launched a bitcoin-only fundraiser for Megaupload 2 and Bitcache for a planned launch in January 2017. However, the launch didn’t go according to plan and Dotcom revealed “complexities” in a merger deal with a Canadian company. In February, New Zealand’s high court ruled that Dotcom can be extradited to the United States after stateside authorities’ years-long effort to do just that. Dotcom’s legal team will appeal the extradition order.