A payment channel framework for fast
& free off-chain ERC20 token transfers
µRaiden (read: Micro Raiden) is a payment channel framework for frequent, fast and free ERC20 token based micropayments between two parties. It comes as a set of open source libraries, documentation, and code examples for multiple use cases. Whereas its big brother the Raiden Network aims to allow for multihop transfers via a network of bidirectional payment channels, µRaiden already now enables to make micropayments through unidirectional payment channels.
Business models involving frequent payments between the client and the service provider are not efficiently possible on current blockchains due to slow confirmation times and high transaction fees. Using µRaiden, service providers can comfortably charge per-use of for example APIs, digital content and utilities via micropayments in Ethereum based tokens.
Machines can also be customers in machine-to-machine markets. We do not discriminate. The increasing demand for IoT or more general M2M (machine-to-machine) applications is evident in today's industry. Utilities, data storage, data usage, XaaS services, and APIs are all services that usually offer rate limits or subscription models because charging on a per-use basis is infeasible. With µRaiden, per-use charging finally becomes possible.
Micropayments are becoming an increasingly attractive alternative to intrusive advertisement and subscription walls. µRaiden gives users the option to decide on a pay-per-use basis whether they would rather endure ads or pay for a premium experience. Customers would not need to engage in the commitment of a monthly subscription model.
µRaiden supports efficient off-chain token transfers to predetermined receivers (many-to-one). µRaiden uses the Raiden Network's most basic building block, namely payment channels, and turns them into an easy to use off-the-shelf system.
µRaiden is cheaper, simpler to use, and more specialized to a smaller range of applications. µRaiden does not support multihop transfer fees, and therefore only allows to send tokens unidirectionally to predetermined receivers.
The Raiden Network will remove this limitation and allow to transfer tokens between any two parties in the Raiden Network.
In µRaiden, off-chain transfers cost ZERO fees. Only opening and closing payment channels incur standard Ethereum gas fees.
µRaiden relies on Ethereum's own security. Only the sender and receiver, identified by their respective private keys, are able to interact with their channel, both on-chain and off-chain.
Please visit our GitHub repository for instructions.