From d7aef9ba9d9d7305930cb7d18175be645ccdb2e13893657f43131cc27723a5f1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: marc Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2025 17:26:50 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Second Draft second draft --- ...ntoABitcoinPoint-Of-SaleTerminalWithLNBits | 59 +++++++++++++++++++ SettingUpABitcoinPaymentPointOfSaleSystem | 18 ------ 2 files changed, 59 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-) create mode 100644 How I Turned AStickerIntoABitcoinPoint-Of-SaleTerminalWithLNBits delete mode 100644 SettingUpABitcoinPaymentPointOfSaleSystem diff --git a/How I Turned AStickerIntoABitcoinPoint-Of-SaleTerminalWithLNBits b/How I Turned AStickerIntoABitcoinPoint-Of-SaleTerminalWithLNBits new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5bb692f --- /dev/null +++ b/How I Turned AStickerIntoABitcoinPoint-Of-SaleTerminalWithLNBits @@ -0,0 +1,59 @@ +# How I Turned A Sticker Into A Bitcoin Point-Of-Sale Terminal With LNBits + +![sticjer](https://github.com/Marc26z/zapthisblog/blob/main/pictures/bitcoinAcceptedHere.png?raw=true) + +177,316 blocks ago, I began writing about using bitcoin as a medium of exchange. One of my first articles was about my experience orange pilling everyone at the local farmers markets near me. I must have asked 200 people, "Do you accept bitcoin?" One person sold me a package of Pokemon cards for on-chain bitcoin. He had no idea what the F the lightning netowork was. Most bitcoiners I met at Pacific Bitcoin that year did not use the ligntning network aside from a few podcasters. At Bitcoin 2025, I we were able to set a [world record for the most bitcoin payments in an eight hour period](https://zap-blog-nostr-1qpu.shakespeare.to/naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzph68s45y080zdd9g8sdacnd6kcd4ejpwrgcju2eghjq45y4f28n8qqdxy6t5vdhkjm3dd9ej6amfdehxjmn894nxzum594skvxjar3e). + +I bought a hamburger and fries meal from Steak N Shake using bitcoin. A baby boomer asked me about it. He wanted me and another bitcoiner to get David Bailey's Contact Information. I mean. I have a subscription to Bitcoin Magazine, but David and I don't really hang out in the same circles. My jaw dropped. It finally felt like we've made it. I could spend my sats at a fast food place in a casino in downtown Las Vegas. That's wild. Someone who saw it was *suddenly* very interested in talking to me. I had a hard time giving bitcoin away in 2022, but three years later, I could buy a hamburger and pay for stuff using [Square](https://squareup.com/us/en/press/block-to-roll-out-bitcoin-payments-on-square). + +## Making My Own Bitcoin Payment Terminal With LNBits And The Scrub Extention + +![Extentions](https://github.com/Marc26z/zapthisblog/blob/main/pictures/LNBitsExtentions.png?raw=true) + +While writing that blog, I experimented with LNBits quite a bit. It was buggy, and I would get frustrated, but it got better. They made the sign ups much easier than they were back in the day. We no longer need to use poetry and pythyon either. They have an AppImage. They have many backends including Nostr Wallet Connect. I used Nostr Wallet Connect to successfully connect my lightning wallet to MiniBits. The payments worked, but the accounting did not. I think this has to do with the privacy of Cashu, but I'm not sure. I also tried it with AlbyHub and it worked like a charm. + +In Vegas, I also ran into a bitcoin author I once met at a local meetup. He mentioined he had a new Jiu-Jitsu gym. I told him I would make him a point of sale terminal. I thought about it for aproximately 8,000 blocks. I concluded that Shake N Steak can accept bitcoin because the bitcoin nerds know how to use QR codes. The employees don't need to be trained how to use the QR codes. That's been the most frustrating place about shopping with bitoin in the past. A business owner wold install a POS and train everyone how to use it. It works...Until it stops working. High turnover rates of fast food workers means new employees constantly need to be trained or re-trained. Eventually, nobody knows how to use the bitcoin payment machine. That gave me the idea that we can eliminate the screen. We only need to print the QR code to the payment terminal on a flyer or sticker. So I created an account for this writer near me. I used [srub](https://github.com/lnbits/scrub) extention to forward payments from my instance of LNBits. As soon as he get's paid, the payment is forwarded to his lightning address. + +Try it out yourself. + +https://btcpaystickers.com/tpos/b2VdkbWnSq85EaJsSFAsKh + +### Orange Pill Local Businesses With Stickers + +[orange pill](https://github.com/Marc26z/zapthisblog/blob/main/pictures/orangePill.png?raw=true) + +What if I started finding businesses that do want to accept bitcoin? I know some guys that are into bitcoin. I've met many meetup organizers who want to spend sats on tacos, beer, and rib eye steak. I heartily accept the motto, "That bitcoin is for everybody," not just businesses that can afford fancy cahsier computers. I don't have anything against fancy cashier computers, but if you're selling micro-greens at a farmer's market, you can't afford Rosie the cashier robot. Micro-green growing experts are not IT technicans who could easily set up tools like BTCpayServer, get Alby, and LNBits. Nostr is too small to zap most businesses. Let's be honest about running a lightning node...As much as it hurts my heart to admit this... IS A PAIN IN THE ASS. + +My last node died. I decided to throw in the towel. Don't get me wrong. I'll spin up another bitcoin full node in a couple weeks or so, but I'm not running a lightning node on my own hardware anymore. I'm using [cloud computing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing)] with [AlbyHub](https://albyhub.com/). +- I opened a channel for about 20,000 sats. +- I installed [LNBits](https://lnbits.com/) on a mini computer with the [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com/download) operating system. +- I downloaded the [App Image from this github repository.](https://github.com/lnbits/lnbits/releases) +- I right-clicked on it with my spazzy fingers and made the App Image executable as a program. +- Then I double-clicked the icon. In the settings. + +I clicked on the local host thing and it opened my browser to http://localhost:5000 put it on the clear using [cloudflared](https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared). Then I went to a local business owned by a guy I know is into bitcoin. He said he has a friend who owns a coffee shop that also wants to accept bitcoin without a Rosie the cashier robot. I made an account for this business owner. He already had his prefered ligntning wallet. Good, because I didn't need to teach him how to use the lightning address. I used the scrub extention to forwarsd payments sent to the POS on his account to his prefered lightning address. + +#### Offer Local Businesses To Ability To Accept Bitcoin + +![POS](https://github.com/Marc26z/zapthisblog/blob/main/pictures/POSLNBITS.png?raw=true) + +I don't expect to onboard McDonald,s with this little computer in my closet. I might be able to onboard a brewery, gym, and coffee shop. I met a business owner who writes about bitcoin at a local meetup so I decided to make him a sticker. It is also possible to auto-convert the sats into fiat if the business owner insists. I hope this helps me onboard a local libertarian bookstore, but I'm not sure the owner owns a cell phone. His favorite author is Rothbard and the [arguments Rothbard made in 1970](https://www.cmi-gold-silver.com/pdf/100percent.pdf) convinced him there is no alternative to gold. Be that as it may, he still takes Visa and Mastercard. I suspect the yonger Rothbard readers would make the pilgramage to his shop to pay with bitcoin. He can get that bitcoin into his fiat bank account within minutes, withdraw it from the ATM and buy gold at the pawn shop or however gold bugs buy gold. + +You know [what Satosnhi says about "convincing." + + "If you don’t believe it or don’t get it, I don’t have the time to try to convince you, sorry." + + +Convincing others to accept bitcoin is a waste of the one thing that is more scarce than bitcoin: Your time. It's a fool's errand. My plan is to give them a sticker with a QR code that looks something like this. + + + +Here is the POS I made for a local business. + +https://btcpayticker.zapthisblog.com/tpos/b2VdkbWnSq85EaJsSFAsKh + +If you send like 100 sats or more to the POS, the scrub extention will forward the payment to his favorite [lightning address](https://lightningaddress.com/#providers) or [cashu wallet](https://github.com/cashubtc/awesome-cashu?tab=readme-ov-file) with a lighting wallet. I used Noster Wallet Connect with AlbyHub, but I also tried it with [minibits](https://www.minibits.cash/). The payments went thorough, but were no compatible with the LNBits accounting system. + +Instead of adking people if they accept bitcoin, I will just hand them my card that contains a section that shows how people to accept bitcoin like this and let them know I can help. It's not a business. I plan on giving stickers away than can easily be set up to help someone accept bitcoin. My printer is on the fritz. This sticker was supposed to be black and white, but it is a minimally viable piece of grafitti art. This is just artistic expression, sticker art like Jackson Pollack splasing paint on a canvas. I am an artist, no a shadowy super coder. I write prose. I tinker with IT stuff and incorporate it into my artistic vision. + +![Grafitti Art](https://github.com/Marc26z/zapthisblog/blob/main/pictures/BtcPayStickers_1.jpg?raw=true) \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/SettingUpABitcoinPaymentPointOfSaleSystem b/SettingUpABitcoinPaymentPointOfSaleSystem deleted file mode 100644 index 7181fa5..0000000 --- a/SettingUpABitcoinPaymentPointOfSaleSystem +++ /dev/null @@ -1,18 +0,0 @@ -# Setting Up A Bitcoin Payment System For A Local Business - -177,316 blocks ago, I began writing about using bitcoin as a medium of exchange. One of my first articles was about my experience orange pilling everyone at the local farmers markets near me. I must have asked 200 people, "Do you accept bitcoin?" One person sold me a package of Pokemon cards for on-chain bitcoin. He had no idea what the F the lightning netowork was. Most bitcoiners I met at Pacific Bitcoin that year did not use the ligntning network aside from a few podcasters. At Bitcoin 2025, I we were able to set a [world record for the most bitcoin payments in an eight hour period](https://zap-blog-nostr-1qpu.shakespeare.to/naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzph68s45y080zdd9g8sdacnd6kcd4ejpwrgcju2eghjq45y4f28n8qqdxy6t5vdhkjm3dd9ej6amfdehxjmn894nxzum594skvxjar3e). - -I bought a hamburger and fries meal from Steak N Shake using bitcoin. A baby boomer asked me about it. He wanted me and another bitcoiner to get David Bailey's Contact Information. I mean. I have a subscription to Bitcoin Magazine, but David and I don't really hang out in the same circles. My jaw dropped. It finally felt like we've made it. I could spend my sats at a fast food place in a casino in downtown Las Vegas. That's wild. Someone who saw it was *suddenly* very interested in talking to me. I had a hard time giving bitcoin away in 2022, but three years later, I could buy a hamburger and pay for stuff using [Square](https://squareup.com/us/en/press/block-to-roll-out-bitcoin-payments-on-square). - -## Making My Own Bitcoin Payment Terminal - -While writing that blog, I experimented with LNBits quite a bit. It was buggy, and I would get frustrated, but it got better. They made the sign ups much easier than they were back in the day. We no longer need to use poetry and pythyon either. They have an AppImage. They have many backends including Nostr Wallet Connect. I used Nostr Wallet Connect to successfully connect my lightning wallet to MiniBits. The payments worked, but the accounting did not. I think this has to do with the privacy of Cashu, but I'm not sure. I also tried it with AlbyHub and it worked like a charm. - -In Vegas, I also ran into a bitcoin author I once met at a local meetup. He mentioined he had a new Jiu-Jitsu gym. I told him I would make him a point of sale terminal. I thought about it for aproximately 8,000 blocks. I concluded that Shake N Steak can accept bitcoin because the bitcoin nerds know how to use QR codes. The employees don't need to be trained how to use the QR codes. That's been the most frustrating place about shopping with bitoin in the past. A business owner wold install a POS and train everyone how to use it. It works...Until it stops working. High turnover rates of fast food workers means new employees constantly need to be trained or re-trained. Eventually, nobody knows how to use the bitcoin payment machine. That gave me the idea that we can eliminate the screen. We only need to print the QR code to the payment terminal on a flyer or sticker. So I created an account for this writer near me. I used [srub](https://github.com/lnbits/scrub) extention to forward payments from my instance of LNBits. As soon as he get's paid, the payment is forwarded to his lightning address. - -Try it out yourself. - -https://btcpaystickers.com/tpos/b2VdkbWnSq85EaJsSFAsKh - -### Orange Pill Local Businesses With Stickers -