I Just Sent Barack Obama 0.2 Bitcoins

The innovation continues, and this idea is pretty cool. Those of you who are members of the Bitcoin sub-reddit are likely quite familiar with the Bitcointip bot that lets you tip commenters with Bitcoins. The program monitors comments in a limited number of sub-reddits and processes specific commands from those wishing to leave a Bitcoin tip. It's become a really cool way of introducing others to Bitcoin because they do not initially need Bitcoin accounts to receive tips.

Now the idea has been taken to the next level. 'Bitcoin Tipper' performs a similar function to the Reddit bot but applies it to Twitter. A user can create a Bitcoin Tipper account simply by following @bitcointipper and tweeting "@bitcointipper signup." The user will then receive a Bitcoin address which they can load with funds. Once you have money in your account, you can send Bitcoins to anyone with a Twitter account.

With this awesome new service, Twitter has suddenly become a global banking system with 540 million accounts. The best part about this is the ability to tip famous people with Bitcoins; I bet that will make things interesting quickly. To inaugurate this service (no pun intended), my first tip will be going to Barack Obama.

@bitcointipper @barackobama pay 0.2 BTC Welcome to Bitcoin, Mr. President!

— GoWest (@GoWestBTC) March 15, 2013

@barackobama @gowestbtc just paid you 0.2 BTC .
— Bitcoin Tipper (@bitcointipper) March 15, 2013