‘Blurt’ Developer Thinks Crypto Makes for Better Donations to Twitch Streamers

T.J. Littlejohn, who has been frequenting this infamous hacker residence for quite some time now, shares that he is constructing a personal project for himself.

T.J. hastily assembled his new product, collaborating on code for a few weeks and consuming numerous ZYN packets, both significant aspects of the project. Dubbed “Blurt,” this innovation from the mtnDAO community is a crypto-based alternative for live streamers to receive donations directly from their audience, using cryptocurrency. The development of Blurt demonstrates the advancement of a Solana innovation launched earlier in 2022 – called ‘blinks’ – which simplifies the process of interacting with cryptocurrencies, making it as easy as clicking on a tweet.

Prior to the launch of mtnDAO’s August edition, Blurts was still in its conceptual stage. However, with just a few days remaining before numerous Solana blockchain developers vacate their WeWork space in downtown Salt Lake City until February, Blurts is now operational and fully functional.

Casually, Blurts functions as a persistent hub for hackers, lacking any specific purpose beyond ‘arrive and construct’. Hosts Barrett and Edgar Pavlovsky appear unfazed by the activities of mtnDAO attendees during their free meals, desk usage, and accumulation of free merchandise over a month. However, they occasionally inject seed capital into the most promising projects birthed within this environment.

As a researcher delving into the world of Blurts, I find it almost irrelevant if T.J., in our recent conversation, seemed hesitant about fully dedicating to Blurts. Instead, he appears more like a solo “product innovator,” rapidly launching projects and frequently adapting them. In fact, six months ago during the mtnDAO gathering, he was busy creating animation programs specifically for Apple’s VR headsets that everyone was sporting at the time.

What are Blurts

Blurts are constructed using a technology called blinks, which is a relatively recent standard for interacting with and running blockchain applications directly from X (previously known as Twitter). When a program for blinks is correctly coded, it creates a mini-application, such as one for cryptocurrency trading, right within the social media platform. This eliminates the need for the user to switch to another website to make their trade.

As an analyst, I’d rephrase that as follows: In the context of Blurts, it allows me, as a potential benefactor, to effortlessly transfer cryptocurrency directly to my preferred Fortnite-streaming teenage gamer, right from the window where I’m viewing their stream.

T.J., who is also a streamer, commented, “The big thing with blinking helps keep viewers engaged within the live stream as they donate.” (He admitted that while he usually outperforms five-year-olds in Fortnite, he finds it challenging against 12-year-olds.)

Currently, Blurts are functional only on X platform, however, the inventor of the Blinks, T.J., mentioned that the company behind Blinks, Dialect, intends to broaden Blinks’ reach to Twitch. This popular streaming service hosts millions of live video game streamers who earn money.

Building at mtnDAO

T.J. mentioned that he might not have sent it if he were at home instead, given the dynamic and often busy atmosphere of WeWork, where as many as 70 developers could be seen diligently working on their computers.

There’s practical upside for building in a collaborative workspace, too. Representatives of Dialect were on hand to help T.J. through some of the intricacies of deploying on blinks. So, too, were employees of TipLink, another crypto payments startup that streamlines the wallet onboarding process with users’ Google accounts.

According to T.J., being open to casual conversations, exchanging thoughts with others, and sharing work progress along the way significantly sped up the process.