I was fortunate present my thoughts at #FOSDEM 2026. I think it went pretty well... though a little rushed.

It's at least a good survey of where I think we as a community need to head, and how my work on #Emissary meets each of these needs

Key Points:
* Bring creators to the Fediverse ( #OnlinePayments)
* Work together to operate like a single unit ( #FEP3b86)
* Killer Features they can't copy ( #DataPortability)
* Whatever YOU do, go make the Fediverse better

https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/CP7KWX-emissary-and-the-fediverse/

🤘🏻

#RIP Flattr, as of 2023;

https://flattr.com/

These folks were way ahead of their time. Hopefully some of the people involved go on to work with some of the more recent online payments projects, like GNU Taler and the Interledger Foundation's Web Monetization protocol.

#MicroPlayments #MicroPatronage #OnlinePayments

For years I've been meaning to do a deep dive on digital payments (what people call "FinTech"). I intended to achieve 2 main things;

1) Map out the fundamentals structure of payments stacks

2) Look at different payment services (eg OpenCollective, Stripe, Visa) and locate them in the right layer(s) of the stack

@trysdyn has done a fantastic job of the first part here, and in doing so, some of the second part;

https://voidfox.com/blog/payment_processor_fun_2025_making_your_own_msp/

#OnlinePayments

@alcinnz @echo_pbreyer @Coffee

Almost all of the online payment providers you interact with is backed by one of a handful of giant payment processors (eg PayPal and Stripe, or in China, AliPay and WeChatPay). That are essentially an API between you and the credit card company your card belongs to. That are, in turn. basically APIs between you and the company that hosts your bank accounts.

In other words, companies are squeezing on chokepoints between you and your bank.

(2/?)

#payments#OnlinePayments#ChokePointCapitalism