Payment Models¶

Tessera supports two distinct payment mechanisms natively within the same sidecar infrastructure. Both operate entirely off-chain until the session ends.

1. Per-Second Streaming (Time-based)¶

This is the default mode for continuous content like live streams, music, or video playback.

As long as the viewer's connection is active, the Tessera client silently generates an EIP-3009 cryptographic signature every second. The billing engine accumulates these signatures off-chain, verifying that the user has enough balance. The viewer is strictly charged for the exact time consumed.

To ensure perfect transparency, the visual paywall modal synchronizes directly with the Circle Gateway every 5 seconds. This guarantees that viewers always see the exact, verifiably deducted amount of USDC in real-time, eliminating any risk of discrepancies between the UI and the blockchain.

Streaming UI

2. Direct Tipping (Event-based)¶

Viewers can send one-off, voluntary contributions directly to the creator.

When a viewer clicks the "Tip" button, a single, larger authorization signature is generated. This can occur simultaneously alongside an active per-second streaming session. Tips are aggregated into the same off-chain balance and settled together with the streaming costs when the session concludes.

Tipping Modal