Microstream

MicroStream - Pay-per-second content streaming with zero fees

Built this during the Qubic hackathon: actual working micropayments. Pay 0.001 QUBIC per second of content, watch a live counter tick, get instant refunds for unused balance.

Why this exists:

Micropayments have been "coming soon" for 15 years but gas fees always made them impossible. Sending $0.001 on Ethereum costs $5 in fees. Qubic has zero transaction fees, so I wanted to see if micropayments could actually work in practice.

What it does:

• Deposit QUBIC, watch content, pay exactly for what you consume (down to the second)

• Live counter shows seconds watched, amount paid, remaining balance

• Creators get paid instantly with zero platform fees

• Works in demo mode so you can test without touching blockchain

The use cases I'm thinking about:

• Educational content: pay $0.30 for 10 min instead of $50/month subscriptions

• API access: pay per call, no monthly commitments

• Live streaming: watch 5 min, pay for 5 min

• Premium features: only pay when you actually use them

What I'm curious about:

Is this solving a real problem or just a neat tech demo? What would you actually use this for?

Full stack: claude-code, Qubic smart contract (C++), Node.js backend, vanilla JS frontend. Open source, working demo