Interledger started as a project I stumbled upon back when I was first finding out more about Ripple and XRP. Since then it has now blossomed and become one of the core technologies I am studying along with Web Monetization. The current way I am contributing to Interledger is by learning different aspects then turning around and producing content on Coil.com for the community.

Normally, people who become aligned with a project like Interledger are those with computer backgrounds as developers. I, personally, do not know anything about coding nor am I interested in learning at this point in time. What I like to do and what I feel I'm best at is educating through avenues such as blog creation and book writing.

What is Interledger 2020?

Interledger 2020 began as a post within the Interledger community forum by a gentleman named Evan Schwartz. Evan is a co-inventor of Interledger itself, and also is the engineering lead at Xpring. He is someone I'd like to meet in person but for now know of him through the web and through his video talks on YouTube.

Within the thread on the community forum, Evan wanted members to give their take on 2019 and how the year went with the project and how processes could be improved. Being as I started learning about the project within the last couple months, this article is going to be center around my appreciation for the technology and to help spread general awareness.

The Protocol to Connect Them All

Interledger is an open protocol suite that allows payment packets to be routed to multiple different ledgers across the globe. The protocol makes it possible for someone to send dollars and have those dollars be received in XRP the digital asset for example. Walled gardens among payment systems are being replaced with a seamless way to transmit value from a sender to a receiver.

Interledger literally is the protocol that connects them all. All ledgers and payment networks from all over the world of all shapes and sizes. Can you imagine a world that enables payments to be transmitted as easily as data does today? Interledger is a significant component inside of Ripple's overall vision for the Internet of Value.

One of the great aspects behind Interledger is that its agnostic. In other words, no matter which blockchain is being used, no matter which currency is being used, and no matter which company the transaction is starting or ending with, the payment will indeed go through. Any and all value systems are now interoperate with one another in a way that hasn't been done before.

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Real-Use Case

My experience with Interledger has been primarily with the content site, Coil.com. I have been consistently active on the site since the middle of September, and it has been an incredible experience to say the least. I've met so many interesting and talented creators who also love sharing their work to the platform.

The real use-case of Interledger comes into play when it is time for payments to be sent. In a previous article, I had written about the Anatomy of a Payment Pointer describing how a payment pointer works. With Coil, you need to have either an XRP Tip Bot payment pointer, or a Stronghold payment pointer in order to receive payments.

As described in that article above, a payment pointer is like an email address with the difference being that it tells the sender where to send a payment instead of the way an email would send text or photos to someone's inbox. Coil pays it's creators in USD, but then Interledger allows each creator to receive that USD in XRP because the XRP Tip Bot is Interledger enabled.

**Other use-cases exist as well but I need to get more familiar with them before they get shared in an article.

The 2020 Outlook

Looking ahead to 2020 makes me really excited because I am intensely optimistic regarding how much deeper the Interledger project can and will go. With the protocol being used as one of the central component's to building the Internet of Value, I can only imagine what the future holds for not only the project, but for everyone who takes advantage of the technology and starts experimenting with it now instead of later.

I envision many more developers and content creators to start discovering Interledger organically as more become informed on what is taking place behind the scenes. The X factor in creating buzz around the project will come, I believe, from people's pure excitement which leads them to share and bring additional talent to the table. Also, the more use-cases that develop the better as the project expands into different industries.

The sky is the limit and this technology is revolutionizing the way payments are being made in the 21st century and beyond. We are sitting in the middle of history being made and we have the choice to either participate or to wait on the sidelines and watch others play in the space. I want to be involved by continually learning and then sharing that knowledge in a tangible format for readers to grab hold of and gain value from.

Many great successes are to come down the road for Interledger. Let's celebrate the fact that the team is hard at work and is making progress towards a very bright future. In the meantime, feel free to join in on the discussions happening inside the community forum.

What is Ripple Pulse?

Ripple Pulse is a publication in article format composed by myself, Ken Melendez, housed on the Web-Monetized content platform, Coil.com. Ripple Pulse is in no way affiliated or endorsed by the company and is simply to be viewed as a source of entertainment for relevant news and legitimate information regarding the Ripple ecosystem. Any personal views or speculation contained in this series is strictly my opinion and is not to be taken as financial advice.

Who is Ripple?

Ripple is an enterprise-grade payment solutions company partnering with corporate entities around the globe, specializing in cross-border settlement. Their mission is based around driving the Internet of Value, where money moves as efficiently as information does today. The company has been in existence since 2012 and has re-branded over the years from OpenCoin, to Ripple Labs, and now to simply Ripple.

Why does this matter?

Discovering detailed information about the Ripple ecosystem matters because the company is solving one of the biggest problems in all of global finance, cross-border settlement. As the current settlement system stands, foreign accounts need to be pre-funded with large amounts of capital serving no other purpose than sitting there waiting for a transaction to go through which can take anywhere from 3-5 days.

Ripple is working WITH central banks and regulators from multiple countries to solve the pain points of tied up capital, stone-age transaction times, and unnecessarily high transaction costs. The company has been hard at work for the past 7+ years and shows no signs of slowing down.

Ripple is striving to put a dent in the universe, specifically within the payments realm, different than any other organization in the industry. Institutional and retail investors alike need to pay close attention to any and all developments occurring within the ecosystem to stay on the cutting-edge of this unprecedented phase in history.

Pulse Highlights:

*⦿* Record-breaking Ripple customer count

*⦿* Stunning and informative XRP art/graphics

*⦿* Raised in Space investment in data agency

☕️ Dear reader,

The current landscape of the digital asset ecosystem calls for an eye laser-focused towards progression. Real utility is sinking into the existing infrastructure as more partnerships are formed regularly between Ripple and prominent banks and financial institutions. Moreover, companies are implementing RippleNet technology to create a better experience for their customers.

What does this mean from an investment perspective? It means that we are living in the age of opportunity. Digital assets such as XRP are highly UNDERVALUED as the market remains almost completely speculative. Is there potential high risk and high volatility involved? Yes. Is there potential for high reward as a combined result of speculation and utility? Absolutely.

Never before in the history of digital assets have we seen the type of progression we are witnessing today. A few years ago, it was stated that financial institutions would never consider using digital currency to facilitate transactions. Today those same institutions are whistling a different tune as they are realizing how harnessing the technology can benefit their business.

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The truth of the matter is, the internet is taking over our lives. Shopping is being done on sites such as eBay and Amazon. Friends and family are staying in touch on Facebook and Twitter. Music and movies are being streamed on Spotify and Netflix. The world is adapting and accepting these changes, which means it's only a matter of time before payments catch up as well.

People want things fast. People want things now. We live in an instant gratification society that isn't willing to wait for the product to arrive at their door or for a movie to buffer for longer than a second. Cross-border payments as they stand take 3-5 days to settle, a percentage of them failing before reaching their destination.

Ripple is improving the way banks and financial institutions send money cross-border. Cheaper fees and faster settlement times lead to increased liquidity which is by and large the name of the game. XRP serves as a bridge-asset between two fiat currencies, eliminating the need for nostro/vostro accounts which tie up working capital.

We are sitting in the age of opportunity even though a majority of the population knows absolutely nothing about the current landscape. If you go up to 10 random people on the street and you ask them what XRP or digital assets are, they will look at you like you're a straight up psychopath. Friend, the time is now to take advantage of what the future has in store. A future facilitated by the power of blockchain and digital assets.

On the Ripple Front

Customer Expansion

At the annual Swell event in Singapore last month, Ripple made a special announcement revealing that they now have over 300 customers worldwide whom they are doing business with. The wording before the announcement was that there was over 200 customers to date.

We have customers in more than 45 countries and 6 continents using RippleNet, with payout capabilities in 70+ countries.

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Not only has Ripple seen an increase in the number of customers, but they have also seen an increase in the number of customers using ODL, or On-Demand Liquidity (previously xRapid). The Swell conference made way for customers to share their experience with using ODL and how it has impacted their business.

Take a look at the following video of panelists that describe their experiences with On-Demand Liquidity in detail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfNJ_0VfHNo

The results were breathtaking as each individual from each company expressed their views on the product and what it means for the future of the payments industry. More ODL corridors are continuing to open up, with Australia being a recent one and Brazil coming up in the near future.

RippleNet Home

The Ripple Home announcement was also made at Swell, which provides Ripple customers with company performance and payment flow information in real-time. The product gives customers growth opportunities to expand into new or existing corridors.

Evaluate the size and potential of a market, and immediately find a partner that best fits your business goals.

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Take a look at the video below which showcases RippleNet home. The video was taken by Mr. B, an XRP community member who attended the event in Singapore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiTIvUNCrzc

RippleNet Home is a great asset for those who implement RippleNet technology to enhance their businesses. It serves as yet another tool to enrich the experience of Ripple customers worldwide.

TransferGo

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TransferGo is in the news as they are extremely pleased with the progress their company has seen thanks to RippleNet. The company focuses on cross-border remittances and initially launched to serve Europe's migrant workers. The process before they joined RippleNet was slow and resource-heavy.

Plugging into RippleNet’s global network of banks and financial institutions has reduced integration costs and the company is passing those savings onto its customers.

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Daumantas Dvilinskas, Co-Founder and CEO, says that customers are saving up to 90% on traditional fees for cross-border transfers. 90% is a high number, and leading remittance providers will be forced to up their game in order to compete with the speed and accuracy that Ripple supplies their customers using RippleNet.

Not only is Ripple helping TransferGo improve their customer's transaction fees, but they are also helping the company expand into new regions.

RippleNet is facilitating new relationships and helping us to expand to new geographies.

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XRP Community

An XRP community member is one who supports the advancement of the Ripple and XRP ecosystem in some shape or form. Whether that be investing in the digital asset, creating content, fashioning works of art, the list goes on. The main hub where most community members interact with one another is on Twitter, but other locations are viable throughout the web as well. Let's take a look at what the community has been up to lately.

Coordination Project

As of a couple days ago, it was announced by the Digital Asset Investor, that him, Mr. B XRP, and Brad Kimes were working together on a project that has yet to be revealed. As of the time of writing this article, the announcement has yet to be made and will be talked about in the next edition of Ripple Pulse.

Here is the initial tweet from DAI on the topic:

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We wait in anticipation to see what these 3 gentlemen are up to. Whatever the announcement is, DAI says that it's going to be cool. Keep an eye out on Twitter for the announcement that should be coming this week.

YouTube Creators

The XRP community has some intelligent and admirable members who create consistently on YouTube, publishing informative content regarding Ripple and XRP.

Here are a couple creators worth noting due to their dedication and passion for spreading honest and non-hype details on the digital asset landscape.

Kevin Cage

Kevin Cage is a straight shooter, and 100% dedicated to the growth of the Ripple/XRP ecosystem. He is the king of the phrase “do your own research”, as he wants his audience to look into the information for themselves instead of taking action based on his findings. It's a joy to listen to his input and to hear the reasons why he is bullish on XRP.

Jungle Inc.

Jungle Inc. is incredibly talented and informative. Each video he puts out is right on the money, and I haven't heard him miss a beat. Recently he has been trying a new format by recording himself instead of the computer screen which is a nice switch from the norm.

Graphics Work

One community member who has been doing a lot of great work recently in the graphics realm is Dario Suveljak. Most people know him as Stedas. He is the one who creates magnificent posters and infographics that illustrate community members as well as Ripple/XRP related facts.

Here is one example of Dario's work. He created an infographic related to Ripple as he shares pertinent numbers from within the ecosystem.

Stedas.hr

Here is one of the community posters that he created as well.

Stedas.hr

In addition, an XRP community member and Coil publisher, Srdan Vocanec, interviewed Dario at the very 1st Croation XRP meetup. Definitely take a moment to read the interview on Srdan's Coil page. It is one thing to hear about the recent happenings surrounding Ripple and XRP, but seeing them in graphical format really helps to anchor the information and allows for easy sharing.

Coil

Coil.com is a content platform that supports the Web Monetization API standard as well as Interledger Protocol, or ILP. Coil was first launched back in May of this year and serves as a hub for creators to share theirs ideas within a single location, in addition to allowing the monetization of websites outside of Coil such as YouTube or personal blogs.

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As of this moment, the platform remains in beta while a small to medium-sized group of creators experiment and explore the many features. Starting early next year, progress within the Web Monetization ecosystem is expected to ramp up with the coming Grant for the Web proposal calls.

Grant for the Web

Grant for the Web is a $100M fund designed for those who desire to learn about and implement Web Monetization in their companies or projects. The fund is even open to content creators looking for alternative ways to monetize their content besides intrusive ads or data collection.

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As it stands, the operations team behind the grant is collecting helpful responses and suggestions from the community within the community forum. If you want to learn more and stay in the loop regarding the fund and it's development, the forum is the place to do so. Calls for proposals are expected to launch in the beginning of 2020.

Interledger

Interledger is a protocol suite that serves to seamlessly bridge different ledgers across the globe. No matter which currency you start with sending, the recipient can recieve the currency of their choosing. Just like the internet connects the web, Interledger connects payment systems to eliminate walled-gardens.

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Recently, Interledger community member from the W3C and CEO of Coil, Stefan Thomas, spoke at a Mozilla View Source conference. Stefan spoke about Web Monetization, but also touched upon Interledger which is the technology that makes Web Monetization possible to begin with.

Below is the video footage from that presentation. The story that Stefan tells at the beginning will help you understand where he got his start and why he is seeing success manifest in his life today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZckA-__R2sc

New Creators

Coil is an ever-growing ecosystem filled with people from all backgrounds and industries, creating content about vastly different topics. With the growth of the platform comes creators worthy of noting. Let's take a look at a couple of them.

❃ Michael B and Patty B ❃

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I can easily say that we have a power couple on our hands here at Coil. These two love building relationships with people and are also passionate about everything XRP related. They recently had to put their dog down which is sad (sorry guys). Each of them speak from their heart and are as genuine as they come. Feel free to stop by Michael B's and Patty B's pages to show them your support.

Content Builders Club

The Content Builders Club, or CBC for short, is an invite-only Telegram group that meets daily for encouragement and support. Creators inside this club publish regularly on Coil.com and spend time reviewing others work, then providing feedback in a constructive manner.

No cost is involved to become a member other than a rite of passage article. The more time and effort put into the group and into creating content, the more members get out of it. The most active members within the CBC have witnessed a great experience getting to know and interact with fellow Coilers. For those interested in finding out more, reach out to myself on Twitter via direct message.

Xpring

Xpring is Ripple's initiative arm to help spread the adoption of XRP use-cases through investments in prominent projects. Projects and companies must align with Ripple's vision for the Internet of Value and implement technology such as Interledger into their existing framework. Not only does Xpring provide funding, but they also provides a suite of developer tools for developers to easily build applications on top of the XRP Ledger.

Flare Networks

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Xpring recently made an investment in Flare Networks, a company that works directly with smart contracts via Ethereum virtual machines integrating Interledger. What this basically means is that XRP users will have a way to interact with smart contracts thanks to the technology that Flare utilizes on a day-by-day basis.

Flare’s native token will be an algorithmic stablecoin created in part by burning XRP, and payments for a contract can be made and received in XRP via Interledger, which will be integrated with Flare.

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If you have some free time on your hands, Flare has put together a whitepaper to showcase their work in one complete document. It is quite technical, including variations of Greek and Latin language throughout and hints of English sprinkled in. Nonetheless, it will give you a better idea of the work they put in to create this ground-breaking technology.

Audigent

Speaking of investments, a Xpring-based company, Raised in Space, has made a multi-million dollar investment into Audigent, a next-generation first-party data monetization platform. One reason for the investment is because Audigent is expanding into the entertainment industry, one that is shared with Raised in Space. Another reason is because Audigent has seen a lot of growth, especially in the last year with it's list of growing clients.

Audigent is the first all-in-one solution tackling the biggest challenge in entertainment – audience ownership growth and first-party data monetization.

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Basically, what Audigent will do is take a set of data and purge the duplicates as well as ID's that are fraudulent using a proprietary verification process. The company acts essentially as a cleaning agent to filter through all the bad actors within data sets, leaving only the pure, real data for practical uses. Find out more about Audigent on their website.

Forte

Forte is one of Xpring's earlier investment platforms focused on bringing blockchain technology to the gaming industry. Forte is kind of like Xpring, except geared towards game developers instead of XRPL developers. The company gives developers tools and resources to reach new heights by integrating blockchain into their games.

The impact blockchain technology and digital assets can make within the games industry is vast and this is just the beginning of the power that can be harnessed by blockchain technology.

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One exciting aspect about Forte is that they utilize Interledger and XRP to help deliver a premium and seamless experience for their developers. The gaming industry is quite large, bringing in over $140 billion across the world. Forte serves as yet another example as to how much opportunity is available in today's digital landscape.

Closing Remarks

Herein concludes Ripple Pulse – The Age of Opportunity, which works to supply a mere snapshot of the many happenings going on throughout the Ripple and XRP ecosystems. As you can see from the examples above, progress is being made which is truly all one can ask for. Restructuring the piping of the global payments system doesn't happen overnight, but one day at a time.

Whether you are an institutional or a retail investor, keep a close eye on what is happening in this space and come to your own conclusions. Investing in digital assets involves risk just like any traditional investment. Do not invest more money than you are willing to lose.

Stay tuned for more news and updates in the near future.

See you in the next one. ✦

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Ever since 2013, I've had an insatiable desire. A desire to be free. A desire to be free to do what I want, when I want to do it. It was more than just money, and even though I appreciate getting compensated for my work, it was more about getting to experience life to the fullest without being tied down to a traditional job.

Since that year, I worked job after job, while at the same time pursuing entrepreneurship in all different forms. One form was network marketing, another was internet marketing, and another was building my own brand focused on personal growth and self-development.

Throughout this journey, I knew how much opportunity was out there, but just couldn't seem to attain the level of success I was after. I made money, I lost money, and made a lot of mistakes along the way. The avenue that brought me the most joy though and the most happiness of all was content creation.

I remember specifically how amazing the summer of 2018 was when I was creating for a blockchain-based social media platform called Steem. The 3-4 months spent creating that summer were some of the best days of my life. I felt so alive and so free. So expressive and transparent. Creating content brings out the best side of me and also allows me to impact the most people.

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Throughout the years since 2013, that burning desire to be free to do what I love never left me. In fact, it only grew stronger the more I discovered what I truly enjoy doing. I look back on the past with a smile because I'm thankful for all the ups and downs that helped direct my path closer to the life I really want to live.

Fast forward to this year, I found Coil (or Coil found me perhaps). I realized the potential that the platform had back in August of this year and started publishing regularly mid-September. From September to the end of October, I had no job since I had chosen to leave my previous position as a PC technician to pursue entrepreneurship.

Recently, I picked up an entry-level position at a company to pay the bills since certain endeavors did not work out as planned. The job was going OK at first and I even planned on moving into management. But, yet again, dissatisfaction started creeping in just like every job I've held since 2013. Nothing feels right besides creating content and existing in an environment filled with encouragement and support.

My deepest desire

I desire to create full-time. I desire for Coil to be the platform I stick with and continue creating on. I desire for this to be my home for a long time coming and make it my primary source of income. Why? Because it lights me up inside. Add in the Content Builders Club and I have all the love and community one could ask for.

Coil has been quite kind to me and I highly appreciate the compensation that I've been blessed with as a result of publishing my work. What I'm wondering now is this... can I turn this into my full-time gig? Can I finally be done with corporate America and pursue my dreams while supporting my family?

The spark that stirred within me 6 years ago is still alive and well. I will not give up hope. I will not stop pursuing what I love and what I know can impact so many worldwide.

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I can't put up with the toxicity in the workplace anymore. I thrive in environments that are positive and that uplift others instead of bring them down. Coil is that environment. That avenue where one can express themselves while also helping brighten someone's day. Web Monetization is the future and I want others to realize that as well.

The 21st century we are living in is filled with so much opportunity, and I feel I've found the best combination of creativity and compensation. A perfect fusion of pursuing what I love and the ability to build a life for my family I've always dreamed of. Not to mention, Grant for the Web is gearing up for proposals next year which will open up an additional avenue of opportunity.

I'm not cut out for a traditional job. Too stressful and unfulfilling. Instead, I'm meant to create, to imagine, to share, to give, and to contribute to something bigger than myself. The best Christmas gift I could ask for, besides God and family, is to create full-time. That is my deepest desire at this point in my life.

Time will tell what will happen next. But, I know one thing for sure, when desires are put down on paper or typed in an article, amazing things can and do happen. I want this and I'm willing to put in the work necessary. Thank you, reader, for sharing in my pursuit of happiness.✦

Great to have you back for another article on Coil. The text below is going to help you, especially if you are new to the platform. If you are an existing creator, doing a run through of the below suggestions would still be a wise decision so you can experience the best Coil has to offer.

Coil is in beta and working to make the site even better as the weeks go by. Right now is the perfect time to get started and get set up to publish your original content. Instead of going about it all willy-nilly (do people still say that?), consider paying close attention to the tips below to help guide you through the process.

Ready? Let's begin.

Create free account (skip to next step if already done)

One of the things I like best about Coil is it's simplicity. Everything from the sign-up process to publishing an article is seamless with a low learning curve. Even the custom text used by the site puts one's mind at ease.

You want to start your publishing journey by creating a free account.

To create an account, simply visit https://coil.com/signup to begin. Here is what you will see when you go there:

Filling this form out will literally take less than 30 seconds. After you submit your information, you may be asked to confirm your email address. You can now login to Coil.com using the information you provided (email and password).

Profile page completion

One thing I have noticed while spending time on this platform is how many creators start publishing their content yet skip over this important bit of detail. Before you begin posting, stop to add in a profile photo and bio which should take you less than 5 minutes.

Below is an example of a profile that has been set up correctly and is ready for published content:

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As you can see, this profile has the user's photo, as well as a clear and concise bio that explains who they are. Another note to keep in mind is the contact info at the end of the bio so other users can contact him if they want to.

To edit your profile, simply click the icon at the top right corner of the screen and choose “Profile”. Now, click the “Edit Profile” button on that page to proceed filling in each area.

Update your settings

Updating your settings is an absolute MUST. Multiple tabs exist within the settings page, but we are going to focus on the 2 that are very important to pay attention to.

The first is your Creator Settings. Inside this tab you will discover a field for your username. If you already have a username from Twitter or Facebook, then you will most likely use that one. But, if you want to create a new username, choose one that you'll be OK with keeping for years to come.

For me personally, I like to use my first and last name. Your username could be your name or it could be something different. It is usually best to keep it consistent throughout all social platforms so your audience has an easier time verifying that it's you.

The second important tab to notice is called Payout. It's important to choose a method of payout so that Coil knows where to route your payments. The 2 methods currently available are XRP via the XRP Tip Bot and USD via Stronghold.

If you choose XRP, then payments will be routed to your XRP Tip Bot account. If you choose USD, you will be paid in fiat currency via Stronghold. The decision is completely up to you but make sure you decide and get squared away before you start publishing content.

**Note: Settings can be edited down the road if you so choose. They are not set in stone.

Review Coil’s guidelines

Coil published an article back in June that contains a list of guidelines, or best practices to follow when creating on their platform. I have referenced this article multiple times to make sure I adhere to their recommendations. It's not a long list, but it is something to pay attention to before publishing and throughout your blogging journey.

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Two guidelines from their article that stand out to me are:

✩ Avoid CTA’s (call to actions) or asking directly for upvotes.

✩ Don’t write a post for the sole purpose of selling or promoting a product or service.

Please be sure to read over the full article a few times so that you stay compliant with Coil's terms.

Maintain proper image dimensions

Images are a big part of creating engaging articles that capture your reader's attention. Coil is no different in that good design leads to a pleasant experience for your audience. With that said, Coil has specific image dimensions that fit within their desired container spaces.

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For example, the header image looks best when it is a certain height and width, where the text is somewhat centered and not too large. Also, the body of a Coil article has a particular width and height of images that look more pleasing than others. To view details on proper image sizing for Coil, please visit this article.

Discover how to create an eye-catching article

Hundreds, even thousands of articles are published each day on multiple content sites throughout the web. The difference between the ones that get clicks and the ones that don't is often the headline and the header image.

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You want your headline to be concise, yet also let the reader know what they are getting themselves into. Your readers want to know if clicking through into your article will be worth their time or not. For the header image as mentioned earlier, experiment with different colors and wording to see what best resonates with your audience.

For more details on creating an eye-catching article, please visit this article for a more in-depth walk-through.

Consider subscriber-only strategy

Coil has a unique feature that allows creators to deem a portion of an article, or an entire article, as private for subscribers only. Subscribers are those who pay $5/month to support creators and also gain access to subscriber only content. Subscriber-only content is activated by hitting the lock button from inside the body of your article.

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Therefore, developing a strategy, or at least an idea in mind regarding how you will go about creating your subscriber only content, is a big deal. For example, if you happen to be a subscriber, you will get to view two additional suggestions when getting set up to publish on Coil.

Bonus content is a great way to reward your subscribers and give them a grade A experience when engaging with your content. For more information on subscriber-only content strategy, please visit this article created by Stefan Thomas, CEO of Coil.

Wow, what a month we had in November. The Content Builders Club finished the 14-Day Coil Blogging Blitz with flying colors. The Blue team took the victory, and I am proud of ALL participants that put in the effort for the challenge. It was a lot of fun to see all the articles published on Coil and videos posted on Cinnamon this month.

Even more important than the blitz, is seeing creators grow their skill sets and improve their work week after week. To see them get excited about what they are publishing is what its all about. We get to do what we love through the content creation process and share our message with the world. Without further ado, let's take a seat and celebrate the power creators award recipient.

What is the Power Creators Award?

The Power Creators Award is a recognition award for 1 specific member of the Content Builders Club. Each month a CBC member will be recognized with the Power Creators Award that they can print out, frame, and hang on their wall (not a requirement).

The PCA is given to a member who sets the example for the following attributes:

*✯* Dedication to consistent publishing on Coil.com

*✯* Skillful proficiency in writing / video creation

*✯* Valiant thought and effort placed inside each post

*✯* Utilizes the Coil “subscriber-only” feature properly

*✯* Longs to drive the Coil ecosystem forward

Power creators are those who value the content creation process and realize the importance of sharing their mind and passions with the world. A power creator enjoys what they do and allows that joy to shine through in the work that they publish.

The November 2019 Power Creators Award goes to:

*cue dramatic drum roll please...
*

... ... ... ...

... ... ... ...

... ... ... ...

... ... ... ...

Patricia C. @PatriciaC

Where do I begin talking about Patricia C.? First of all, she is a kind and genuine person. Second, she creates fun and compelling content for the Coil community to enjoy. And third, she is such a great supporter and encourager, helping to build the CBC ecosystem.

Patricia was the captain of the red team during the 14-day blitz. She did a great job leading her team and setting a great example. She sets the bar for others to follow and is a strong leader not only within the content world but also in her personal and professional life offline.

I'm really proud of Patricia for the work she has been putting in and the passion she employs on a regular basis. The effort she has given this month is deserving of the Power Creators Award. Great job Patricia, and keep on rocking those blogs!

Congratulations Patricia for earning the November 2019 Power Creators Award. For those CBC members who wish to obtain the award for a future month, keep on rocking and doing what you do best. Thank you for joining us in celebrating Patricia and have a great rest of your day.

What a happy way to begin the day, right? I mean, really... Cell phones? Killing us? That's preposterous, Ken. Well sure, of course you think that, because you're addicted to your cell phone. Yes, you, reading this article right now.

Let's back up a bit to give you some context as to how I came to this wacky conclusion. Last week, I was reading through posts on Coil as I normally do, when I came across an article called A bad day? by Sandra Scala @theminduntangled.

Sandra's articles are always so heartfelt and pure, so I was looking forward to reading it. To my pleasant surprise, she had embedded a YouTube video into her subscriber-only section. In the video, a gentleman named Simon Sinek was on, talking about millenials and how they were dealt a bad hand growing up.

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Without explaining the entire article, I will focus on one portion of it where Simon speaks about cell phones and the crazy dopamine rush it creates when we receive a text or a notification on social media. He says it's like an addiction such as drinking or smoking, except it's accessible 24/7.

When you get a text, it feels good. -Simon

Simon mentioned that the problem is we are checking our phones before we start interacting with the people who are sitting next to us. We will turn to our phones before we open up a dialogue with someone as we wait for class at school or wait to board an airplane.

“We have age restrictions on smoking, gambling, and alcohol, but we have no restrictions on social media and cell phones.” -Simon

So the problem therein revolves around kids and young adults not learning how to form deep, meaningful relationships because they've never needed to. They would simply turn to their cell phones for that hit of dopamine over and over again, without turning to the people standing right next to them for help or support.

The other issue, as Simon points out, is that kids, or even adults, are not developing the coping mechanisms neccessary to deal with stress. So naturally, when stress comes along, they turn yet again to their cell phones and social media. Can I ask you this... Is that you as well? Do you turn to social media to deal with stress?

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Getting back to the original question... Are cell phones slowly killing us? Well, as Simon puts it, cell phones have addictive qualities, especially when used in massive doses. Just like drugs, gambling, or alcohol, it's the imbalance that causes harm to arise in our lives. Too much of it can cause destruction slowly over time as depression and even suicides take over due to low self-esteem and self-confidence.

Addictions destroy not right away, but over time, slowly but surely. The other thing also, is that we don't even realize it's an addiction because, well, it's not drugs or alcohol after all, right? Reality check... it is like a drug because we keep coming back to it for that hit of dopamine that feels so good every time it's released.

To conclude... Are cell phones inherently bad or evil? No, I don't believe that. But, we must be careful when and how often we use them. As Simon states, if you are checking your phone in the morning before you say hi to your significant other, you have an addiction.

Become a Coil subscriber to not only view the solution Simon provides to the addiction, and also to hear about how watching the video drastically changed my perspective and daily actions.

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Thank you for joining in on this discussion regarding payment pointers. What is a payment pointer anyways? Let's take a step back to understand why this is even important in the first place. If you have been a creator on Coil for any length of time, then you were provided a payment pointer that connects your Coil account to your XRP Tip Bot account.

Payment pointers are relatively new so unless you have a Coil account, you most likely don't have one. The only other reason you might have one is because you are a developer working on Web Monetization or Interledger. Adoption will take time as more and more use-cases are created.

Payment pointers are important for payment services such as Coil to know where to route payments.

So what is a payment pointer?

You are familiar with email, yes? I'm sure that most would attest yes, they have either sent or received an email at some point over the last 20 years. So what does email have to do with payment pointers? A lot, actually, and here's how.

Email, using Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or even AOL if you're old school, allows one to send or receive data messages to their respective inbox(s). Think of a payment pointer as a way to send or receive an email, except you are moving value, aka money instead.

If I wanted to send you $100, I couldn't add it as an attachment to an email and send it off to you. Instead, I would send a payment directly to your payment pointer which would then place it in the account attached to that pointer.

Who came up with payment pointers?

If you want to thank specific people for their work on payment pointers, you can thank the ladies and gents over at the Interledger Community Group of the WC3, or the World Wide Web Consortium. The Interledger Community Group works to help build out the Interledger ecosystem. A couple names you may recognize from that community are Stefan Thomas, CEO of Coil, and Evan Schwartz, Co-inventor of Interledger.

It's time for an example

We've discussed why a payment pointer is important and also the purpose that it serves. Now it's time to show you what a payment pointer looks like.

$coil.xrptipbot.com/tJBD0R0GF1uvUAF7_oyrwq (example only)

As you can see, the address above is a unique identifier of a payments account, just like an email address highlights a specific email account. The “$” sign in front of the address serves as an obvious way to identify the address as strictly a payment address.

The address is clearly pointing to the XRP Tip Bot service, and notice that it also has a sub-domain of Coil in the front. The reason for this is because when a payment is sent from a payment initiation service to this type of address, the recipient account (XRP Tip Bot) knows that it's coming from Coil and only Coil.

Sending to a payment pointer (a bit techy)

In order for a payment client (think email client such as Exchange or Yahoo) to send funds to a payment pointer, it must first resolve the payment initiation service URL from the pointer.

For example, let's use the payment pointer referenced earlier.

$coil.xrptipbot.com/tJBD0R0GF1uvUAF7_oyrwq

When a client goes to send a payment to the pointer, it will resolve the address into an HTTP address. The result will look like this...

https://coil.xrptipbot.com/tJBD0R0GF1uvUAF7_oyrwq

Now, the client will use HTTP protocol to ask that URL which payment methods it supports at that location. Once the payment methods are discovered, the payment is sent using one of the payment pointer's verified methods.

Alrighty then...

Hopefully this article helped you discover more about payment pointers and how they work. Plenty more activity is happening behind the scenes, but I would rather not get too technical in this single article. Please stay tuned for more information on this topic in the near future.

Quite a few by now have heard about Grant for the Web (GftW) and what they are out to accomplish. If you haven’t, definitely check out the article I published that highlights their mission and what the future holds for content creators.

In a nutshell (help, I'm in a nutshell. – Austin Powers), the grant of $100 million is dedicated to empowering companies and individuals to get involved in using Web Monetization to help propel their ideas and projects forward, putting an end to intrusive advertisements and annoying paywalls.

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Stefan Thomas, Founder and CEO of Coil, is the brains behind the operation. Mozilla and CreativeCommons are two companies in collaboration with the fund for the purpose of advising and strategizing. The team running the day-to-day operations is none other than Loup Design and Innovation, or Loup for short.

Loup is focused on feedback from the community to grow projects beyond their normal scope. The team acts from a “boots on the ground” model, spending time in the trenches acquiring customer / community responses to actions being taken within a certain niche or project.

Loup is designing and managing this new grant program and network. We’re delighted to collaborate with Mozilla, Creative Commons, and Coil on this journey, along with a fantastic group of advisers from the global open web community.

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The Loup team is comprised of 3 key leaders who are doing an excellent job seeing GftW through its maturation process.

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On the left is Christine Prefontaine serving as the executive director. The gentleman in the middle is Chris Lawrence serving as the director of strategy. And on the right is Erika Drushka serving as the program director.

The above 3 leaders on the Loup team play an integral role in GftW's success due to their top-level organization skills and community outreach abilities. I personally have had the pleasure of interacting with Chris Lawrence inside the GftW Forum, an innovating space to collaborate with fellow creators and people interested in implementing Web Monetization.

Last month, the team was in attendance at MozFest (Mozilla Festival). Find out about their incredible experience inside their latest blog. The Loup team is working tirelessly to make sure GftW gets off to a great start as they begin accepting proposals around Q1 of 2020.

Anyone else getting in the holiday spirit besides me? I sure hope so, because that season is upon us. Northeast Ohio, where we live, was hit with a snowstorm over a week ago but haven't seen any since. Watch, now that I said that, I'll be scraping my car off and shoveling tomorrow morning (please no). Anyways, let's move on to the highlights.

In this edition of CBC Member Highlights, 2 members will be highlighted who have demonstrated regular participation in the club while also providing honest and genuine support to the rest of the group. The club's foundation is built upon members who truly care for others and have a heart to serve one another.

Not only have these highlighted members participated in the club, but they also produce blog content on a regular basis which is an important aspect of CBC involvement. We encourage publishing works to Coil.com to help grow the platform, and also to allow each blogger to unleash their creative genius.

Let's find out who is being recognized in today's edition. Drum roll please...

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MacroPolo @macropolo

MacroPolo is just a cool guy. What else can be said? I mean look at him, he's just chillin' drinking some coffee... or tea... or whatever is in that cup. Anyways, Macro has been coming out with some really neat content lately. The club has been enjoying his posts on gaming and also his digital asset-related articles.

In addition, Macro has been putting a lot of great input and feedback into the group, and for that we are very appreciative of his efforts. Thank you Macro for continually adding value to other members and taking the time to thoroughly view articles when you get the chance to.

NEXT UP...

NickelNDime (aka St. Nick) @NickelnDime

As you can tell, we like to have fun inside the CBC. Nickel is probably laughing hysterically right now, spitting out his coffee as we speak. He received the nickname of St. Nick this past week and people such as Patricia C. have caught on and started calling him that as well.

St. Nick has been a rock star lately, producing some really neat content for us all to enjoy. He did a live stream with Adam last week which was a neat event. It was the first live stream that members of the CBC put on for others to be part of. Keep up the great work, St. Nick, we appreciate having you in the club as always.

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Thank you for joining us here in edition 9 of the CBC member highlights. If you would like to be considered for one of the next editions, please continue blogging regularly and participating in the CBC. Active members always benefit the most from the club as they give and receive proper support.

It is nearing the end of November, and the Content Builders Club is over 2 months old already. Time flies when members are creating awesome blog content and sharing it with a friendly, supportive community.

In an earlier post regarding CBC enrollment updates, it was stated there would be a fee for new members who desire to join the club. After that message was published, it didn't sit well with me to be honest. Not only did the entry fee tend to bother me, but I was also thinking over the open enrollment period policy.

As a result of deeper and further reflection, the following changes will go into effect immediately:

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The above edits to the enrollment process may change again at a later date, but for now they stand.

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What is required to join the CBC?

As a rite of passage, please publish a new Coil article talking about:

❇ Your background and interests

❇ How you heard about the CBC and why you'd like to join

❇ Details on how you intend to add value to the group

If you like making videos, feel free to add one as a screen-share or camera-facing (not required)

The above information can be included at the end of one of your regular articles, or it can be it's own dedicated article. Once you have published it on Coil.com, please reach out to myself, Ken, on Twitter via direct message.