Dennis from the BTCPay Server team here, AMA!
12.9k sats \ 50 comments \ @d11n 6 Oct 2022 bitcoin freebie
Hey Heeey Heeeeey! Dennis from the BTCPay Server team here, AMA — LFG!
BTCPay Server is an oftentimes referenced project in the space and we are proud of what we've achieved with your help so far: Our mission is to enable everyone to accept Bitcoin payments with zero fees and without any third-party involved.
I got involved with BTCPay Server about three years ago and started by helping with the documentation and work on the UI/UX side. Nowadays I am working on the project full-time, funded by the BTCPay Server Foundation.
We have a team of about a dozen regular contributors and also receive frequent feedback and contributions from the community. We love to hear from you and with this AMA we invite more questions and discussion, to push things even further.
Topics to talk to me about:
  • Bitcoin for merchants and the circular economy
  • Use cases for BTCPay Server
  • Earning sats
  • Working on BTCPay Server
  • Getting started with Open Source development
  • Podcasting 2.0
… but yeah, feel free to AMA! LFG! 🚀
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374 sats \ 1 reply \ @davidw 6 Oct 2022
What are some of the best example implementations you’ve seen?
(Name and provide fame with URLs if you wish😀)
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58 sats \ 0 replies \ @d11n OP 6 Oct 2022
Some popular ones are CoinCards, CryptoCloaks and the Human Rights Foundation.
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31 sats \ 4 replies \ @k00b 6 Oct 2022
What's something you believe about Bitcoin that hardly no other bitcoiner agrees with you on?
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537 sats \ 1 reply \ @d11n OP 6 Oct 2022 freebie
Hmm, that's a touch one. I don't buy into the "we need mass adaption" narrative as I think Bitcoin is ready to help those who need it. In the end everyone might end up using Bitcoin as nowadays everyone is using the internet, but Bitcoin is helping people around the world already and you can live a hyperbitcoinized life already if you want to.
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304 sats \ 0 replies \ @ca 6 Oct 2022
Mmh... the UX barriers to managing a LN wallet are massive.
Get a friend of yours new to Bitcoin and observe him through the onboarding of any self-custodial LN wallet.
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110 sats \ 1 reply \ @0322ee777777 6 Oct 2022
The hot take question. I like it. Lets stir the pot up in here.
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41 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b 6 Oct 2022
It's a common question I ask guests. Occasionally it yields a really surprising answer. Odell's answer was that we'd have anonymous, bitcoin-paid drone assassin armies.
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341 sats \ 1 reply \ @0322ee777777 6 Oct 2022
What other open source projects besides BTCpayserver have caught your eye?
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515 sats \ 0 replies \ @d11n OP 6 Oct 2022 freebie
I think SeedSigner, RaspiBlitz, JAM (JoinMarket Web UI), Specter Desktop and Sparrow Wallet are pretty lit too.
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304 sats \ 2 replies \ @kr 6 Oct 2022
if you had to start your own e-commerce store using btcpayserver, what product/service would you sell?
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133 sats \ 1 reply \ @d11n OP 6 Oct 2022
Not so long ago I had my own e-commerce shop and I sold merchandise (shirts, caps, coffee mugs) for our podcast. I was using a drop shipping service for that and it worked quite well, though they didn't accept bitcoin as apayment method ;)
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kr 6 Oct 2022
nice, which product sold best?
i wonder if there is anyone making a full-time income from selling products over Lightning today?
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304 sats \ 2 replies \ @sime 6 Oct 2022
What's the preferred lightning implementation by the team?
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10 sats \ 1 reply \ @d11n OP 6 Oct 2022
I think we are split Core Lightning and LND. We also support Eclair, but CL and LND are by far the most popular choices. I personally run LND, but I think by now the plugin architecture of Core Lightning is very interesting and holds a lot of potential.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @sime 6 Oct 2022
Cheers!
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304 sats \ 2 replies \ @davidw 6 Oct 2022
What do you think stands in the way of the BTCPayServer software from being more heavily used & adopted across the web?
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110 sats \ 0 replies \ @d11n OP 6 Oct 2022
The setup/deployment story is still something we can improve: Oftentimes people want to use their own node at home to run BTCPay Server and exposing those instances on the public internet is still tricky.
However, services like LunaNode or Voltage allow for an easy web deployment, so I'd recommend those options for the not so tech savvy people who want to run their own BTCPay Server.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @davidw 6 Oct 2022
Somewhat related…
Are you aware of any users that were previously new to Bitcoin before installing BTCPayServer?
Curious to know if those that land already know vast amounts about Bitcoin and BTCPayServer. Could be worthwhile bridging that gap if not. Particularly via testimonials, case studies and social proofing on the landing page.
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304 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr 6 Oct 2022
when you think about interesting new ways people might earn sats in the future, what kind of ideas come to mind?
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30 sats \ 0 replies \ @d11n OP 6 Oct 2022
I'm bullish on the Podcasting 2.0 and Value 4 Value movement in general. We are just getting started with finding out various ways in which especially Lightning enables seamless ways to earn sats.
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158 sats \ 1 reply \ @Kudzai 7 Oct 2022
Hi! Your project is a great one and it’s essential part of establishing a bitcoin circular economy. My question is this, which may seem obvious but it wasn’t clear to me on your website, can it run on wix websites? Secondly do I need to be running a full node to use this service? Thank you and keep up the good work! 👏👏
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @d11n OP 7 Oct 2022
BTCPay Server runs separately and takes care of the checkout. So you can do the shopping part in another system like Wix, WooCommerce, Shopify, etc. (see our integrations) and for the payment you redirect the customer to your BTCPay Server if they choose to pay with Bitcoin.
BTCPay Server runs a full node, that‘s part of the software stack.
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110 sats \ 4 replies \ @shyfire 6 Oct 2022
For an existing merchant that wants to start accepting in addition to fiat, how do you deal with the accounting headache? Do you guys have any recommendations around that? It seems like a fairly large hurdle for most merchants.
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34 sats \ 3 replies \ @d11n OP 7 Oct 2022
We offer exports in CSV and JSON format. Those contain all the details one needs for the accounting and bookkeeping.
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @shyfire 8 Oct 2022
OK, cool! So does that CSV also contain the fiat equivalent amount of each BTC transaction using a fiat exchange rate at the time of sale? I assume that's how you would need to manage your books (everything in fiat equivalent). Feel free to also point me to relevant docs.
For context: I want to help get merchants to start accepting BTC in my community. I heard about CoinCorner Checkout, but not sure if it's an option for meatspace merchants in the US
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241 sats \ 1 reply \ @Louferlou 9 Oct 2022 freebie
The answer is yes for I've heard of a friend who accepts BTC in his restaurant. It's really conveniant for the accountants.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @shyfire 10 Oct 2022
Cheers!
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110 sats \ 3 replies \ @Zordon 6 Oct 2022
What is your favorite podcast on 2.0? Long the same lines: Favorite Bitcoin podcast and less known/popular podcast?
Also why GitHub and not GitLab?
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68 sats \ 1 reply \ @d11n OP 7 Oct 2022
GitHub vs. GitLab: We‘ve hosted our projects on GH from the beginning and moving just for the sake of moving would be a big distraction I assume. However, we are monitoring alternatives and would be willing to move, if the situation requires it, e.g. with censorship.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @rijndael 7 Oct 2022
Good on you. Use what works for the project.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @d11n OP 7 Oct 2022
Favorite 2.0: The Podcasting 2.0 Podcast – oh, how meta is that? Hehe, it‘s because they talk a lot about the development, how to approach Podcasting 2.0 and they explore this new space. That‘s what I like about it. And listening to Adam Curry is entertaining.
Favorite in general: Stephan Livera does a very good job on economic and technical topics, I really like what he does!
Lesser known: Bitcoin OP_UXUI, very good in-depth discussions about user experience and related things in Bitcoin.
The german scene has some very good shows as well, they obviously are for a german-speaking audience, but tbh I have weeks in which my backlog is so full, that I can listen to very good content from my home country only.
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110 sats \ 1 reply \ @jp 6 Oct 2022
What are your thoughts on Taro and, in the future, do you see BTCPay playing any role in Taro's adoption?
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @d11n OP 7 Oct 2022
tbh I haven‘t looked into Taro enough to give an educated answer about this. Sorry.
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110 sats \ 1 reply \ @BeardedSaintRef 6 Oct 2022
What do you see as the greatest challenge today implanting and spreading adoption?
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553 sats \ 0 replies \ @d11n OP 6 Oct 2022
Bitcoiners not wanting to spend their sats ;)
From the merchant side it might also be regulatory unclarity, depending on where they are located.
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110 sats \ 2 replies \ @Tony 6 Oct 2022 freebie
Hi, Dennis, Struggling to create a fundraiser with BYCPay Server + MyNode. The link to. The fundraiser page address appears to be local one (as in mynode.local…) and only my network users can open it. Are there any extensive docs on setting up the fundraiser?
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120 sats \ 1 reply \ @d11n OP 6 Oct 2022 freebie
Yes, exposing a local instance to the public internet is a bit tricky. There are multiple ways to do so and we've documented quite a few: Using Cloudflare or the Reverse SSH tunnel are the most popular ones.
Come to our Mattermost chat if you need help setting those up.
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304 sats \ 0 replies \ @Tony 6 Oct 2022 freebie
Thank you! Will give it another try.
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100 sats \ 0 replies \ @TheBTCManual 6 Oct 2022
How do you think Taro, Omni and L-USDT will helo or hinder terms of having merchant adoption? While they can accept payments on bitcoin rails, how will we solve interoperablity, having a merchant manage all these assets
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100 sats \ 1 reply \ @bitcoingraffiti 6 Oct 2022
Favorite Sci-Fi novel?
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1 sat \ 0 replies \ @d11n OP 7 Oct 2022
Daemon, by Daniel Suarez. It's not that SciFi anymore as it used to be, but still a very entertaining read.
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100 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin 6 Oct 2022
For me BTCPay is like a "rockstar Bitcoin band".
Would be nice to see a BTCPay World Tour, a bus filled with nodes, coders, promoters etc a lot of people going around the world and teaching and helping merchants to start accepting Bitcoin with BTCPay server, all around the world.
Would you go in such tour if would be organized?
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @d11n OP 6 Oct 2022
We'd certainly love to :D
Most of the team recently met in Riga at the Baltic Honeybadger conference and I can assure you we'd have no trouble setting up good aftershow parties.
There are some very good educators I'd certainly invite, so that we can sing some BTCPay love songs all around the world.
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12 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 6 Oct 2022
What's the most surprising thing you've learned working on BTCPay server?
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110 sats \ 0 replies \ @d11n OP 6 Oct 2022 freebie
Technically I learned to enjoy Object Oriented Programming again. Before I got into BTCPay I was doing mostly Functional Programming and thought I wouldn't go back to OOP, but C# is a nice language once you get used to it.
Other than that the best thing about BTCPay is the people I got to know and became friends with. It's surprising what a team can achieve, when everyone is so passionate and motivated — something you don't see that much in the corporate world.
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31 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 6 Oct 2022
What motivated you to begin contributing to open source?
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314 sats \ 0 replies \ @d11n OP 6 Oct 2022 freebie
I contributed to open source projects before Bitcoin, but once I got into Bitcoin there was an even stronger urge to help projects with my UI/UX skills. When I started about four years ago, that area was really lacking in most projects and people were thankful for those kinds of contributions. It's really motivating to work on something you believe in, so I had to make it a full-time thing :)
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10 sats \ 1 reply \ @lpop4254 6 Oct 2022
Hi Dennis do btc pay server , service all countries
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @d11n OP 6 Oct 2022
BTCPay Server is an open source project that's free to use for everyone, all around the world. I've received feedback from users across the world, my favorite one was from Eritrea :)
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @mrbrownstone 8 Oct 2022
Is there anything left to do on BTCPayServer? Isn't it time to call it done and close shop?
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