Ripple is pumping one billion of its XRP cryptocurrency (about $262 million) into Coil, a platform bidding to help writers and artists monetize their content on the internet.
Founded by former Ripple CTO Stefan Thomas, Coil uses an open API to stream micropayments in any currency, including XRP, to creators - such as writers, streamers and artists - in real time.
Launched in May, the publishing platform lets creators post public and exclusive content on their Coil-compatible websites, which is automatically enabled for streaming payments.
Then, anyone who wants to support the creators can join the community with a $5 monthly subscription. When they consume content, Coil streams a portion of the subscription in XRP micropayments to the authors in real time using the Interledger Protocol.
Creators - who do not pay a membership fee - have the option to be paid out in US dollars via cheque, ACH or wire transfer, or in XRP.
Coil will use the one billion XRP "grant" to give the platform a kickstart, building an ecosystem of creators, developers, companies and nonprofits that are using XRP through the Web Monetization open standard.
Some of the funds will also be used to help build awareness of Coil among creators, consumers and strategic partners. The firm has already invested in image-sharing site Imgur and Cinnamon, a video streaming service.
Ripple's investment arm, Xpring, has also participated in Coil's $4 million seed round alongside Thomas.
Ethan Beard, SVP, Xpring, says: "Advertising and site-by-site subscription models are ready for disruption. The low cost and fast transactions of XRP makes it an ideal tool for Coil to offer an alternative monetization method and have a positive impact on creators."