[ih] History of the Economics of the Internet?

[Steve Crocker]

Around 1995 at CyberCash, we designed a micropayment system.  It was
included in our patent.  It featured highly efficient currency conversion
-- this was before the Euro -- with a rapid trigger to adjust our online
rates if bank rates shifted substantially.

We didn't get much uptake.  Attached is my "wound-licking" retrospective.

Cheers,

Steve


On Tue, Jul 28, 2026 at 7:04 PM Greg Skinner via Internet-history <
internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

> On Jul 28, 2026, at 1:39 PM, Jack Haverty via Internet-history <
> internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
> >
> > For example, I recall hearing presentations at some conference in the
> early 1990s about "micropayments" and the technical ideas and progress
> which were currently being tested.  Yet today, we are all barraged with
> content that we can't access unless we subscribe to something.  Everyone
> wants a subscription and the continuous revenue stream it would bring -
> similar to the "all you can eat" philosophy sometimes used by restaurants
> if only for special events. Micropayments were touted as alternatives to
> subscriptions, so an Internet user could pay for one "meal" (article) at a
> time instead of committing to weeks or months of all-you-can-eat content.
> >
> > What happened to micropayments?
> >
> > Any economists out there?  Perhaps someone can relate the history and
> timeline of how the Internet Economy has evolved over the decades?   Is The
> Internet dying?
> >
> > /Jack Haverty
> >
>
> Mark Manasse of Severe Tire Damage <https://www.std.org/index.html> (the
> band mentioned here earlier that was the first to livestream over the
> MBone) invented Millicent <
> https://web.archive.org/web/19970601153143/http://www.millicent.digital.com/>,
> one micropayment system, while he was at DEC (Digital) SRC.  There are many
> other sources of information about him and Millicent online.
>
> --gregbo
>
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