21.co is targeting micropayments [1] (and many other things) in a novel way.<p>You will have a low powered bitcoin mining chip built into your device. This chip basically turns electricity into very small amounts of bitcoin (you&#x27;ll be able to specify to do this only when your device is plugged into the wall, so as to not drain the battery). The chip&#x27;s mining efficiency is less than state of the art bitcoin mining farms, but for the small amounts you are mining that really doesn&#x27;t matter. The benefit is having (a small amount of) <i>money</i> put onto your device without you having to make any effort at all and replenished over time. There will also be the ability to specify a threshold below which money can be transferred from your device to a website without your authorisation. So you might specify 1 cent a webpage (for a collection of high quality sites) that you&#x27;re happy to pay without constantly having to press an “ok” button.<p>This will then deliver a very low effort system for micro-paying websites requiring very little need for attention and management from the user, effectively automatically paying websites with device-generated digital currency rather than with attention&#x2F;exposure to ads.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;21.co&#x2F;learn&#x2F;21-micropayments&#x2F;#how-21-micropayments-work" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;21.co&#x2F;learn&#x2F;21-micropayments&#x2F;#how-21-micropayments-w...</a>