Hey Stackerz!
We're a team of Bitcoin, Lightning, Nostr and open-source passionates, with a mission of making Lightning sovereign and accessible to everyone.
Our most popular product is the Alby Browser Extension, that lets users do various lightning magic in your browser, use Nostr securely etc., but we are also behind development of various developer tools, like WebLN, Nostr Wallet Connect or Bitcoin-Connect.
Recently we've launched Alby Hub - self-custodial wallet with a lightning node, quite intuitive and easy to connect with various apps, which is quite a thing for us.
Please meet @bumi, @MoritzK, @reneaaron, @rolznz, @saunter @itsTomekK, JPL, Adithya and PavanJ, who will answer every question.
Pleasure to be here! 🙂
Thank you in advance for your service. I think it's a service that, although not ideal (custodial), is simple to use and helps a lot of newcomers.
The question everyone wants answered: when will there be an app? And why has it never been a priority?
Did you already hear about our upcoming Alby Hub? Our upcoming, fully self-sovereign wallet. The lightning wallet build for the web that makes it easy to use all the bitcoin lightning apps anywhere anytime.
With that we'll also have a mobile wallet soon!
ohhh, this is cool!!!!
So cool! Psyched!
Thanks for the news! I've been waiting for long and now Mutiny will be RIP, it's more important for me to find a good one.
Very good news.
We're constantly thinking about the app - what features should it have, how should it be built...
Over time, we've released getalby.com as PWA and our extension on Firefox Mobile, however building such nostr signer as it is on desktop is not trivial on mobile devices.
We are cooking something however! If you are Alby Hub user and join our Discord we can share some .apk to try out ;) When it will be released? "Soon" ;)
Why has it never been a priority? We are a small team with a dozen of different priorities - sometimes you need to focus on what you want to build reliably and ensure its maintenance for the future. If we'd dedicate our time and resources on building mobile app, who would release Alby Hub or Bitcoin-Connect? ;) One also can't be an app for everything...
If there will be more signaled demand, like from you, and we will feel that we're ready - mobile devices will not be forgotten.
Yes, your product is solid. Thanks for not over expanding and taking your time to build quality.
There's a good dozen of lightning mobile wallets, so we didn't feel there was a pressing need for another one If it's just a normal wallet. That's mostly it
Hey, you could always use Alby Extension self-custiodially by connecting various nodes like LND or CLN.
We also do not open new Alby hosted wallets and are trying to move our users to Alby Hub, our new swlf-custiodial wallet.
As for the app, two weeks ;)
Hey all! I do appreciate your work!
Two things on my mind...
Thanks so much!
Why is CLN not planned?
Regrading Point 1...
What?!?! That would be awesome!! Thanks!
Can you help me with the Nix package? I looked into it but don't have the experience and the setup right now.
Yes, sure thing. I use Matrix, XMPP, SIMPLEX, or NOSTR for communication. Let me know which one can work for you.
I tried running the provided Linux binary of Alby Hub on NixOS and it didn't work. I get the error described here (
cannot execute: required file not found).Apparently, there are some solutions but I am also not that experienced with nix yet. Just wanted to let y'all in this thread know that I would also be interested in running Alby Hub on NixOS.
When I have time, I will look deeper into this.
Oh interesting. It will be great if we can get it going in NixOS.
Yes, we call all discuss this in my own Matrix group if you wish.
https://matrix.to/#/#sovran-systems:anarchyislove.xyz
that sounds like you have a build for the wrong environment. On what kind of machine do you run it?
continuing discussion on slack
Can Sovran Pro run docker? If yes, then you can already run it https://guides.getalby.com/user-guide/v/alby-account-and-browser-extension/alby-hub/alby-hub-flavors/docker
As for second question I'll leave that to @bumi or @rolznz
Yes, as it is NixOS and it can run docker well. However, we like to keep things docker free. As keeping everything in NixOS is a better build experience and maintenance.
So, I guess it was more of specific thing for us and not really a concern of you all. :)
And we appreciate your good words!
Oh but 1. and 2. is above my paygrade 😂 @rolznz and @bumi will for sure answer these
:), great thanks!
let's chat and collaborate in Discord one of the next days, ok?
sure thing. I will download discord.
you can use it in the browser as well!
well shit.... discord wants to kyc me (needs phone number)...
Is there a way that you all have matrix?
I do have telegram reluctantly, as well. I see that you have a telegram channel.
Great! That will be better!
Hi there,
How you will compare the Hub to other LN wallets as Phoenix or Zeus? What are the advantages of the ALby Hub? Thanks!
Alby Hub is build with a focus on connecting with other apps. Use it with any Nostr apps, use with the podcasting 2.0 apps, etc. it's the wallet for programmable open source money!
There's a few differentiators!
Oh and the most important - we're focusing on allowing users to connect Alby Hub to apps through Nostr Wallet Connect. You can connect it to mobile, web, desktop apps, games, plugins, extensions, etc
That is big for me. I'm zapping right now on SN mobile with the easy to set up Alby NWC connect app on an umbrel node.
Definitely that Alby Hub focuses on being the one wallet you need, connected to all your apps. We're totally re-thinking what a wallet is. Like Zeus, Alby Hub is completely open and doesn't restrict what channels you can open (unlike Phoenix which is a closed system). Unlike Zeus, Alby Hub can run 24/7.
You can connect Alby Hub to Zeus and Olympus LSP from Zeus is one of the LSPs that you can choose to buy receiving capacity from! We are good friends with Zeus and totally recommend their wallet :-)
What's your story behind naming it Alby?
A Lightning Browser Extension...
ALBE... Alby!
Is the name of the bee Alby?
What‘s your opinion on ecash?
Can you see this sentence including ecash at some point?
Or is ecash outside of your scope since you’re focused on self-custody?
You can run Cashu with Alby Hub :)
We're watching closely the development of ecash and welcome open-source contributions that in the future might enable... ecash in Alby Extension? Hub being a mint? It kind of works now... ;)
but indeed, we simply can't focus at the same time on mentioned above and ecash and liquid and DLCs and... there are other teams out there, our friends, that do great job in the development of these. Fingers crossed, we're fighting in the same battle.
With Hub coming down the pike, are you planning to move away from the extension (or app if that ever comes), or maintain both custodial and self-custodial solutions?
We will continue working on extension, but will not continue to support Alby hosted wallets.
However current users of Alby hosted wallets don't worry for now - you can continue using it, there's no any date set for sunsetting them. We will communicate with our users about this well in advance.
But I encourage all users with Alby hosted wallets to try Alby Hub!
The extension is self-custodial :) And you can link it to almost any type of node. We don't plan on abandoning it, we also hope that it can live its open-source life for a long time even if we are not there.
We are opening only self-custodial solutions for new users from now on.
The extension is essential to enable lightning for web apps! it’s teaching the browser to talk bitcoin.
and as so far users can use any wallet they want ideally. With NWC and also Alby Hub this will become even easier going forward. For example it never has been so easy now to use the Alby Extension with you node ok Umbrel.
Please tell me about the payment methods for subscriptions (monthly billing). In the case of non-custodial wallets, I think it's necessary to access the user's private key. Is the wallet approving the payment for the invoice?
Good question. You are basically giving Alby the right to access a certain budget of your node. Alby can only access this specific budget and only you decide about the size of the budget. Technically we use NWC (Nostr Wallet Connect) to interact with your wallet/node. In that way you are in control as compared to fiat-based subscription models and still you have the convenience of automated payments.
Mutiny was mutiny themselves (shutdown). I think Alby Hub is the Mutiny replacement.
Is Alby the mutiny of Mutiny wallet?
It is super sad to see that Mutiny is shutting down. But I expect a cool new product from the team soon again. Maybe with the same name :-)
Hey guys. When will you open up signups for the @getalby.com LN address again?
For now there is a waitlist and we regularly send out invites: https://getalby.com/waitlist
It's not just LN address, but also access to Alby Cloud (Hub hosting), NIP-05, LNDhub connector, wallet interface to NWC nodes, tipping page...
Currently new users can sign up on waitlist, like @MoritzK mentioned, but you can skip waiting by receiving invite from our most active users (search #getalby on social media), or by signing up to one of our onboarding sessions or a community call: https://cal.com/getalby
Is alby profitable?
as all project things need to become sustainable and profitable! The bitcoin/lightning ecosystem and usage has to grow for that to become possible. We are sure this will happen, but we’re not there, yet.
Rooting for yall
No(t yet).
Where we can buy a GetAlby t-shirt?
😱 you are right! We still need a shop to sell shirts. Shirt designs would also be welcome.
Here you can find some @Gian: https://www.satsmobi.com/product-category/clothing/men-clothing/t-shirts-man/
We also have our custom designs that we give away to our powerusers at conferences! Bullish Bitcoiner shop also should add something to their shop soon
Thanks a lot!
The “Bullish X Alby” collection (t-shirt dropping soon): https://shop.thebullishbitcoiner.com/collections/bullish-x-alby
Don't worry, it's not important, but a lot of people like merchandising !
What’s the biggest risk your company is facing?
As for many young software companies there are tech and market risks. Lightning tech is still young but improving quickly. On the other side we need more apps and sites accepting bitcoin to increase the market and use cases for bitcoin payments. One way how we tackle it is building in the open giving developers and users the chance to contribute and we contribute back. That helps with building communities and form collaborations to grow together.
We have an amazing team that I am super proud of and trust to overcome these challenges.
Would you be willing to endorse stress wallet as the official place to check and see if one has enough money in their Alby extension to pay off the US national debt? If not, would you be willing to give it your blessing as the least pleasant experience in WebLN? :)
Yeah, WebLN is amazing. We need more apps supporting https://www.webln.guide/. The UX is so much better. We could add stress app to https://getalby.com/discover
Oh wow! I was kind of joking. It's meant to be miserable, but I'd be honored if you included it and would be all about trying to make some more actually helpful ones if you want.
For a while, I've been trying to masks or fronts for wallets so people can stylize their lightning experience.
Here's another extension one that's meant to look like an 80s arcade machine. https://arcadewallet.vercel.app/
This is a peak design, kudos 😂
Wen native app for Android and desktop? PWAs are ok, but they feel like "app but lite".
for Android & iOS Two Weeks™
Alby Hub is already on Windows, Linux and MacOS!
https://github.com/getAlby/hub/releases/
Can you make it a Flatpak?
About the Linux release I have 2 questions:
Honestly, I'm baffled as to why executable files are still a thing in 2024 Linux... Flatpak or goodbye. 🙃 @Alby
It takes work to bundle it. For now we did the simplest and see if people use it. We would be happy for a contribution, Alby Hub is open source.
Android... depends what app do you need - Nostr signer? Alby Extension? A wallet? A Hub?
Some of these features are in the works.... you need to be patient, sir. Hopefully this year!
native app: 2 weeks desktop: already possible with Alby Hub :-)
Please provide more technical info about system requirements for Alby hub and how are different components linked together.
Kudos for all the tools providing to community!
We offer quite some different flavors of the Alby Hub already: (Desktop, Cloud-Hosting, Raspberry Pi Zero - although experimental!)
https://github.com/getAlby/hub/releases/
As for the system requirements we recommend 2 CPU cores, 512 MB RAM and 5 GB of space on your harddrive.
What is the future of Alby custodial wallet? or is more focus on Hub?
We stood at a crossroads — we either KYC our users or we make a leap toward self-custodial setup.
We chose the latter path.
For now users can use wallets hosted by us, but that will come to an end in the future. Don't need to rush to withdraw sats, there's no date yet when that happens and we will communicate it well in advance
Yo I filmed a feedback video of Alby Hub beta. pls play it on the stream hehe https://streamyard.com/ch5nkg96uns3
That's awesome! Don't think there will be time to play it on our community call, but I will definately watch your feedback and take it into account, thank you for this
Hello, thanks for the AMA.
Alby is an amazing product, now with the self-hosted Alby hub it got even better.
What are the next steps for you guys?
A lot of things on our list, those are probably the ones happening in the very near future:
We're also exploring some things with nostr and think about integrating nostr more deeply into our products and combining payments & identity. (e.g. nostr remote signer)
We would like to see more people using bitcoin. That's essential for its success and adoption. So getting Alby Hub in as many hands as possible is very high on our agenda.
Focusing on Alby Hub for the next months for sure. We have big plans to make it even better and smoother
I wish we could see even greater community contributions to these tools. We have plenty of ideas, but staying focused on the tools we've delivered so far might be smarter decision at the moment.
And we should prepare ourselves for growth in terms of users, that will eventually happen ;)
How do you intend ti teach about use cases of LN while projecting your wallet to masses in South East Asia who normally do not understand English and technology very well?
We actually have quite some users from this region, I think they understand technology no worse than people on average.
There certainly is some effort+knowledge threshold to start playing around with LN, and we're trying to lower that. And it's not only the case for Alby, but whole ecosystem.
The larger problem I can see is certain cost of self-custody, ie. hardware maintenance, channel fees, etc., that are often not avoidable and become out of reach for low income communities. That's also why we introduced "Isolated balance" type of NWC connection in the Hub, that effectively lets users share their node with others, becoming some kind of "Uncle Jim" - distributing liquidity and knowledge with peers :) Try it!
Thanks for the reply! I would try my best to bring some people to Alby. Your wallet is amazing!
I live in a place where Bitcoin and LN hasn't reached a lot. But, for my love to the technology and sound money. I'll do it.
I 🧡 🐝
We 🧡 🇳🇿 (cc @rolznz)
What do you plan to create next? Will you create anymore self-hosting options?
You can self-host Alby Hub almost anywhere now already :)
See: https://guides.getalby.com/user-guide/v/alby-account-and-browser-extension/alby-hub/alby-hub-flavors
We will be focusing on Alby Hub for the coming months, we have some big plans and there's also still a lot to improve there.
Thank you for this information and services! I didn't know your services, I'm going to see if it's useful for me.
We're aware that our toolset is quite wide, but we cater to both experienced developers as beginners. Let us know your thoughts or come over for support. Happy to see you trying, hope it will be useful!
Just wanted to say "thanks" for your hard work. I'm not a hardcore user but I do cheer for you.
Thank you for supportive words!
Question: What games do you love playing, or which ones bring back great memories?
Question: Could Nostr Wallet Connect be the game-changer we're searching for to bring Bitcoin to our Rust server? We're envisioning a server-side plugin built with the .NET Framework and written in C#. We've got a budget of 1 million sats to fund the development and support of this plugin (read more here). We'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas on how we should structure and distribute this bounty!
I think so. Your bounty looks great and well thought out! I think using NWC will create a much more seamless integration.
There is some NWC support in https://github.com/Kukks/NNostr which is written in C# - maybe this helps a developer to implement it.
Also, you could use Alby Hub's new isolated apps feature to actually give all players an embedded wallet (basically subaccounts).
I'd be happy to chat with you about this, feel free to email me at roland@getalby.com
The cool thing with NWC is that it's quite easy to implement, no matter which language / tech stack you are using. It's basically sending some (signed & encrypted) JSON messages over a websocket connection.
Very recently a bounty was claimed to bring NWC to the Arduino platform: https://github.com/riccardobl/nostrduino
I love playing FIFA or Mario Kart with my friends...
Never been a gamer, the biggest one I completed are Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood and Bioshock Trilogy. I took the latter because of it's huge reference to works of Ayn Rand. Both bring great memories, I am waiting for Bioshock 4 now.
Also, playing Chess and Go quite often.
Now I love playing go (baduk), and from before I loved Counter Strike, Diablo II, Hearts of Iron, Mafia 1 and some others :)
Thx guys !!
Apolgogies for asking here, not sure where else I could ask, but if anyone has an invite they could send me that would be amazing
What is the current state of Alby Hub?
v1.4.1, working well on many devices, constantly online on our Cloud!
https://m.stacker.news/44511
Every Alby user has option to upgrade to the Hub, and we're welcoming new users every day, from waitlist and invites. When we decide it's ready - we'll open Alby Accounts for everyone :)
So basically with the hub alby becomes a web equivalent of Zeus? If I understand correctly looking forward to messing with it and also the app yall mentioned. Loved the realness in all the replies...Based on reading I think yall are heading in the right direction with facilitating bitcoin being the money of the internet. Thanks for the links down low also I had wanted to check out site but codes in the thread are invalid now any chance i could get one?
It's hard to find equivalents... It works on many devices, but not mobile.... you can run it in the cloud (like Voltage)... we connect to LSPs like Zeus Olympus...
Code? Try this one: 36f4a05d
gotcha gotcha very cool checking it out right now got alot of cool stuff on there keep it up! appreciate the code sir
let me know how you like it or if you need help!
How 'safe' is Alby for privacy-conscious individuals? Does your service log all activities? Do you keep logs? Have law enforcement agencies ever demanded user data from you? Would you give such data? If yes, what kinda of data?
The Alby Hub is designed to be a self-sovereign wallet, putting you in control of your bitcoin. While it currently connects to your Alby Account, data collected is defined in the terms of service and privacy policy, and is only used to provide you with the services. For instance, an email address is necessary for sending notifications, and an IP address may be visible when a request is made to our servers.
How do you view the adoption of LN in 10 years from now?
10 years is a long time. What we certainly see in the next months is that people are going to be onboarded directly onto lightning because more and more exchanges or big fintech apps support lightning. In the long run Lightning is the future protocol of money. It is software and therefore will be improved constantly and apps around will evolve that lower the barriers to use it. I wouldn't be surprised if lightning is the major payment rail in the digital world in 10 years.
I also saw Alby synchronized to several applications, Alby is amazing, can serve well.
We try our best! Thanks <3
I didn't know @itsTomekK was on the Alby team.
I also wasn't sure at the beginning 😅
Does it make sense for me to run an Alby hub if I run my own node and use LND linked up to Zeus?
Of course it makes sense. If you install Alby Hub on your node, you'll get
What happens to my existing alby account?
But is set up easy? I use a node in a box like Start9
You can connect Alby Hub to your existing LND node. Alby Hub works on Start9 and Umbrel
on start9 and umbrel it’s a one click install. have a look here: https://demos.getalby.com/demo/clyrptmva0jkkz9kdzkavmkhx
Think link is a demo for umbel. I didn’t see anything for Start9
Try here!
https://guides.getalby.com/user-guide/v/alby-account-and-browser-extension/alby-hub/alby-hub-flavors/umbrel-start9-etc
Thanks🥳
What are your plans for growing Alby as a business over the next few years? How do you intend to motivate other Bitcoiners (and current nocoiners) to adopt Alby?
At Alby we have a great set of products allowing users to spend and receive bitcoin everywhere they go: Mobile, Web, Apps. We strive to make this spending and receiving more and more convenient to satisfy the requirements of nocoiners. As a wallet we have a lot of potential for innovation (e.g. onboard family and friends on your own Hub) partnerships (e.g. gift cards, debit cards, exchange services)
But there are also tools for developers enabling to integrate bitcoin without interacting with. By enabling developers we expect a lot more apps in the future and people can connect and use their Hub.
Every time I try to use the product it says I need invite is there anybody that can send me an invitation to be able to use Alby.
This one is for you: 0d008890 💛
How do I get an invite every time I try to go to the homepage it says that the user entries are full and I need a special invite from somebody. ????????
I shared one with you. Let us know if you have questions.
https://getalby.com/auth/users/new?invite_code=edbed2d8
you will be able to setup the Alby Hub
Feel free to join our Community Call (happening right now) to get one:
https://communitycall.getalby.com/
How do I get started? Do you have any YouTube links or any Rumble links?
We have amazing guides written by Jean Paul: https://guides.getalby.com/ If something is missing, DM us: support@getalby.com
I think our guides might be a good starting point to get started with Alby Hub:
https://guides.getalby.com/user-guide/v/alby-account-and-browser-extension/alby-hub/introduction
You'll find a lot of interactive demos and videos on there.
Who do you view as the biggest competition for Alby?
We have only friends in this space. The 'dangerous' competition might come from some well funded crypto startup industry or a big corp deciding to follow path beaten by all of us.
Got it!! Thanks man!
Already answered that a few times :)
SOON!
I've edited my question as I just read the answer in the comments. Could you please answer it?
Hard to answer, I guess for Alby Hub any cloud nodes like Voltage, although they are more focused on business that retail as us, (however we think Hub is also great for business, TrueFans are already using it and one bar in USA ;)).
As for connecting to apps which we are focusing on, there's no real good solution other than NWC that we're betting on.
What's your crypto wallet
who is the richest person in the world, thank you
deleted by author
We want to accelerate using bitcoin as the currency of the internet — in any environment, in any app. We're building all that on open source protocols.
That will never change!
^this!
Exactly that. This is manifested in Alby Hub as your central place for payments and the ability to connect it to apps, the browser extension and mobile wallet apps.
Woot!