Former Ripple CTO's Blockchain Project Coil Enters Closed Beta

Coil, a new company founded by Ripple's former chief technology officer Stefan Thomas, has launched a closed beta.

The project - which aims to allow web content creators to better monetize their work - was announced in May, when Thomas departed Ripple.

In an interview, Thomas detailed the closed beta, describing the initiative as a way to level the playing field for content creators.

Coil has not announced the beta publicly, Thomas said, though it has begun inviting certain select parties.

While at Ripple, Thomas co-created Interledger, an interoperability protocol that facilitates payments across different networks.

This technology, which is open source, is now being used as the basis of Coil.

Thomas also helped to create Codius, a smart contract platform that Ripple developed- in-house but ultimately shelved in 2015 due to technological challenges and a lack of compelling use cases.

In June Thomas revealed that Codius would be incorporated into Coil.

Coil allows readers, watchers and listeners to compensate content creators through micropayments.

Thomas also cited Patreon and Flattr, but highlighted an important aspect that distinguishes Coil.