Get paid by the second as token streaming looks to disrupt global liquidity Get paid by the second as token streaming looks to disrupt global liquidity
Operations Lead for Sablier talked "token streaming" at EthCC opening the door to real-time, by-the-second payments
2 min read
Updated: Jul. 18, 2023 at 2:54 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Payments could soon be streamed in real-time rather than paid out on a monthly or weekly basis, according to Maxime Desalle, Operations Lead at Sablier, in a recent talk at EthCC.
Desalle discussed the concept of “token streaming” from the perspective of Sablier, a company aiming to provide more time-efficient and immediate access to funds.
As Desalle explained, token streaming involves sending small payments continuously, like streaming a movie or song. Instead of receiving a paycheck monthly, someone could get paid every second using Sablier’s platform. This reduces delays and latency in the economy, Desalle argues.
Desalle said,
“There is a lot of latency in our economy… Entities spending in our economy always wait for their income to arrive before they can start spending it. If there were streams for their income, they could spend it in real-time.”
He suggests Sablier’s streaming, along with competitors like Superfluid and LlamaPay, could solve freelancer issues, aligning incentives between clients and freelancers using “trustless payment mechanisms.” Currently, the ecosystem remains small currently, with significant room for growth in Sablier’s view.
According to Desalle, token streaming has potential use cases like payroll, investing, and airdrops. He highlighted Sablier’s new version, which enables custom streaming curves beyond just linear streaming and could allow exponential streams or traditional vesting schedules without manually configuring smart contracts. By representing streams as NFTs, Desalle proposed uses like borrowing against future income or selling the stream for instant access.
He envisioned a future of fully liquid economies, with balances changing every second from various streams facilitated by platforms like Sablier. Rent, subscriptions, and more could become real-time streaming payments between nodes.
While an intriguing concept, token streaming adoption likely faces hurdles such as volatility, taxation, and integration with legacy systems. However, the potential upside of instant liquidity for workers who currently live ‘paycheck-to-paycheck’ is evident. Furthermore, workers could make their money work for them in real-time by allowing wages to be instantly sent to savings even before the end of their shift.
Decentralized finance shows, once more, that it is disrupting traditional methodologies and systems with novel and innovative approaches that challenge the status quo bringing innovation and driving toward a fairer, more equitable world.
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Posted In: Ethereum, Adoption, Culture, DAOs, DeFi, Featured, Lending, NFTs, Payments, Taxes, Tokens, Trading
Author 
Liam 'Akiba' Wright
Also known as "Akiba," Liam Wright is a reporter, podcast producer, and Editor-in-Chief at CryptoSlate. He believes that decentralized technology has the potential to make widespread positive change.
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In this article
Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform that enables the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps).
Sablier Labs
Sablier Labs is the company that developed the Sablier Protocol, a collection of persistent, non-upgradeable smart contracts that together create a protocol which facilitates streaming of ERC-20 assets on Ethereum and other EVM blockchains.
Superfluid
Superfluid Finance is on a mission to transform the way assets move in decentralized finance.
LlamaPay
LlamaPay is a multi-chain protocol that enables transaction automation and second-by-second streaming.