A payment pointer is an identifier that allows money to stream to you, much in the same way an email address allows you to receive email.
Here's how to set one up.
First, you need to set up a digital wallet. This is the service that provides you with your payment pointer and allows you to exchange and store currency. There are multiple digital wallet service providers to choose from, but be sure to select one that supports the Interledger Network. I use Uphold.
Next, you need to find your payment pointer. Uphold generates unique a payment pointer for each currency, so make sure you select the currency you want to receive your payments in. If you're having a hard time finding your payment pointer (it took me forever!) try this resource.
Here's what my payment pointer looks like:
$ilp.uphold.com/Pim6RmKGHnxL
Anyone with this payment pointer can send me currency, just like anyone with my email address can send me email.
Next, put your payment pointer to work! The first place to do that is right here on community.webmonetization.org. Go to the extensions on your settings page and add your payment pointer to your Web Monetization settings.
Now, whenever anyone with Web Monetization enabled in their browser views your content on this platform, they will be streaming you micropayments!
You can do much more with your payment pointer. Do you have a website or web application? Insert the monetization meta tag, a simple line of HTML, to enable Web Monetization on your site or app.
Everything I've described so far allows people to send money to you. To return the favour and stream micropayments to other people's payment pointers while you browse the web, you need to set yourself up with a service that enables this through your web browser. Coil is currently the only provider of this service. When your Coil account is activated, you'll need to install the browser add-ons/extensions (available for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Brave and Microsoft Edge) and you'll be ready to go!
Top comments (8)
Here is notes on our journey navigating this for our project:
Mostly work in progress, but hope this is helpful to y'all.
The setting is now located at community.interledger.org/settings... (not /misc).
Thanks for flagging this, Jeremiah! I've updated my post with the new location.
Thanks Erica! For anyone looking I found the Web Monetization box in the MISC section of the Settings tab.
Can you please, help me out, I'm finding it difficult getting my uphold account activated
@eadintech Can you email the details of where you are running into trouble? I can forward them to our contact at Uphold who may be able to assist you. erika(@)grantfortheweb(.)org
Hey thanks, this made finding my payment pointer easier - as well as receiving stream micropayments, can payment pointers be used to send tips or donations?
Sorry I missed this @graeme. Currently, payment pointers on this site only stream micropayments. We eagerly await the opportunity to send tips. One day!! One-off donations are also not yet available, but you can "donate" your micropayments (read more).