For years we have been dependent on fiat currencies to settle checkouts, online donations, and invoices. These are powered by Credit and Debit cards, and Paypal being and advancement.

In recent years, governments have censored funds and donations from various organizations creating a “censorship problem”. While this could be prevented, many organizations still lack the know-how to get around this problem. 

Founded in a hilarious way, BTC Pay Server was created by Nicolas Dorier, it’s started as a funny tweet. Nicolas replied to Bitpay -a Bitcoin payment service provider. “This is lies, my trust in you is broken, and I will make you obsolete”. He threatened to come up with a solution and make Bitpay useless. BTC Pay Server is Open Source in nature (you can fork it, contribute and customize it to fit your needs)

This is a lie, my trust in you is broken, and I will make you obsolete. 

Nicolas Dorier — BTCPay Server Sr.Contributor.

What does BTC Pay do?

As earlier mentioned, BTCPay is like a payment gateway to allow content creators and storefronts to create points of sale and invoices in Bitcoin and other coins -when fully customized by experts. You can easily set up a donate or support button but we’ll get there soon. Since BTCServer is also self-hosted in nature, you will have to either deploy a docker file to Azure or Google Cloud or run a server at home could be a Rasberry Pi or an X64 laptop. Remember, you’d need a UPS, reliable internet, and Umbrel to prevent downtime.

Umbrel:

Umbrel is an OS for running a personal server in your home. Self-host open source apps like Nextcloud, Bitcoin Node, and more.

The easiest way to get around this would be to use Voltage and Sparrow. To use Voltage you’ll need to add credit to your account or use the 7-day trial if you’re just a Joe that wants to learn this.

I’ll assume you just added credits and dived back, you will now need to click on “Nodes” and next click “Create Node” You now have three options:

Lightning Node: Facilitates fast, cheap, and off-chain BTC transactions.

BTC Node: A server that validates and relays Bitcoin transactions.

Bitcoin Core: Full node software that validates Bitcoin transactions and blocks.

What you choose depends on how you want your customers to send payment to you. Select any of the first two! Note that not selecting the first option will limit how you can receive cash.

Proceed with option one to allow both lightning and normal transactions. Follow instructions keenly and read everything -Voltage will not be able to reset your lightning node password if you lose it this is why Voltage is unable to access your funds. This is what you should see after successfully enabling the node — I have blurred what I thought you didn’t want to see. Here is a cookie for coming this far 🍪.

With that done, click the four squares on the top RHS, and you’ll see that the node you created is Running click “create new” to create a BTC PayServer, done? I recommend you copy and save that password. This blog will not help you recover it. Hitting log in will redirect you to a page where you can log in to your BTCServer dashboard, remember that password I told you to save and you ignored it? You now need it.

If you successfully logged in, which I am sure you did. Click “setup wallet”, » “connect an existing wallet” » select the third option. “Enter extended public key”. You will need to Download and Install Sparrow — A bitcoin with focus, security, and usability. Follow the tutorial below.** If you are on **IOS or Android,** your journey ends here. Select “Create new wallet”, and see you on the other side captain. 

SPARROW WALLET: Manage Your Bitcoin (Hot, Cold, and Multisig)

You should be done by the 11th minute of the video. Good luck!

Now copy the Xpub key below, navigate to the BTCPay server, and in the import wallet options, select » “Extended Public Key”. Paste the Xpub key on the next page, and confirm your address. 

What is an Xpub key?

The xpub key is used to generate a sequence of Bitcoin addresses, which are the alphanumeric codes used to receive Bitcoin payments. By sharing your xpub key with others, you are allowing them to view the history of transactions associated with the addresses generated by your wallet, but you are not giving them the ability to spend your Bitcoin. This way, you are multiple addresses will be generated making transactions harder to track. Confirm the addresses shown by cross-checking in your Sparrow wallet by navigating to addresses on the LHS. Click to confirm.

For greater privacy, it’s best to use a Bitcoin address only once. 

Satoshi Nakamoto

To receive payments using Lightning Node, you’ll need additional configurations that we won’t cover here. Voltage has a service called flow.

To be able to receive payments you can now create a storefront, crowdfunding, or an invoice.

The easiest way is to set up a donation/tips button by enabling the LHS, setting the amount and customizing it, and finally copying and pasting the code to your site to allow people to donate Bitcoin to your organization. Here is a preview of an example checkout. When the order is fulfilled you could redirect the donor to another page and a green checkmark will be displayed to your donor.

What is a lighting network and how does it differ from the main net?

What is a good blockchain? One of the factors that affect a good blockchain scalability amongst others is Decentralization and Immutability. A lighting network solves the scalability factor, like a great app, good blockchains are designed to handle large transaction volumes to solve this a lighting network can be used as a layer 2 scaling solution. Lighting nodes participate in a lightning network built on top of the main net.

  • Let’s say I want to send funds to Siri, but Siri doesn’t have a direct payment channel with Me.
  • However, Siri has a payment channel with you.
  • Using the Lightning Network, you can route the funds through the network by leveraging the existing payment channels.
  • The funds travel from me to you and then from you to Siri, without requiring on-chain transactions.

The final balances are calculated and recorded in the main blockchain. This is an example of an off-chain transaction. These types of transactions are fast. The three of us form a lighting network while each one of us is a lighting node.