Onboarding to Bitcoin with LNbits TPoS

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Originaly posted on Substack on Nov 29, 2023. Updated here on Dec 28, 2024.

How a Bitcoin merchant with a TPoS ATM and LNbits can onboard new users

Yes, you hear it well: you are a merchant and you want your customers to start using Bitcoin! The onboarding process works on both ways.

This guide is about HOW to onboard new users, not to became a LN bank. So please don't come up with comments that "is custodial... bla bla bla". Yes, you can be the custodian, the LN bank for your customers, nothing wrong with that if the user are warned about the risks. If there's a trust between the parties, it is nothing wrong.

This is how we start slowly onboarding people. We MUST start using Bitcoin BEFORE the CBDCs are in place!

Recently Ben Arc announced a new feature for the LNbits TPoS: Nostr announcement and Twitter announcement

Youtube video demo here:

Apart from new improvements for the LNbits extension, was added the possibility to sell BTC vouchers. Same as Azteco is doing. But this time ANYBODY with a LNbits instance can do it.

Conditions

You are a small merchant, already accepting BTC
You have a LNbits instance, for accepting BTC and many other cool stuff (see my many guides about it)
You have also a printer for tickets or even this wonderful Android PoS with LNbits integrated
You have setup the LNbits TPoS extension (from many others)
You have a good LN node with good liquidity ready for funding your LNbits instance (see below my guides about LNbits and liquidity)
You want your regular customers to start paying you in BTC, but they didn't started yet.

SCENARIO

You are just a regular small shop, grocery or whatever shop, bar, restaurant, that already accept BTC. Some customers are still paying you in fiat cash. Fine, but also they would like to start using BTC, and they don't know how to do it, how to start. Are your regular customers, you know them, they know you.

So they do their regular shopping and pay with cash, you gave them some change, in coins or bills. Then you ask them: "would you like to convert this small change into bitcoin?" Answer is yes.

Then go to your LNbits TPoS, put the amount in fiat and print the voucher code for LNURL-withdraw with the sats.

As a first time using Bitcoin it is recommended to help them with more instructions like: what wallet should install and redeem that LNURL voucher, how to do it, safety measures, how to stack, how to take self custody etc.

I would recommend to onboard first with simple solutions, even custodial if they prefer (but warn them). The first steps are always very hard for a noob. Depending on their knowledge level, suggest the app accordingly. See below in the links resources the guide about LN wallets comparison.

Custodial solutions can be used:

Your own LNbits instance, with various lndhub accounts. See this guide about LKNbits Bank.
Offer them temporary custody using your own LNBits! Read below a guide about how to use LNbits as a LN bank for your family and friends. And they don't even have to download any app, they could just use a LNBits account from your own LNbits instance. Of course, warn them that the funds are still in your custody and they should move them out into a self custody wallet. But for practicing and helping them with first steps, it is a nice and easy method.
Blink wallet - works very easy and fast, fully supporting LNURL, open-source, no KYC (only the phone number)
Walletano - web / PWA wallet, no app to install, no-KYC, very simple. See a guide here.
CoinOS - web / PWA wallet, no app to install, no-KYC, very simple
SatsMobi Telegram - fast and simple, just open user Telegram, create the account and done, scan the LNURL voucher and withdraw the sats. Later user could link this account into Zeus or Bluewallet apps as LNDhub account and use it as a regular LN wallet.
Bluewallet - same as Zeus and Bitbanana, using the LNbits LNDhub account. Read here a guide how to connect to various sources.
LifPay - a simple semi-custodial wallet, full LNURL support
SatoshiPay - a simple app (Italian) that can be used to withdraw the sats from the voucher and later forward them into a self custody wallet. Based on Breez SDK.
Wallet of Satoshi - yes, we can’t ignore them, we all know that they are in some trouble right now, but still could be a quick onboard solution. Proceed with caution!
Many other wallets and apps here.

Self-custodial wallets can be used:

Phoenix - very good and simple wallet for onboarding, self-custodial. See a guide here.
Zeus - you can use it with your own LNbits LNDhub accounts or using any other custodial service like Alby, LNtipBot, that support LNDhub. Zeus is more complex for a noob, but is very powerful LN node (can manage a remote LN node and also comes with embedded LN mode). You can start also with Olympus by Zeus LSP opening a channel with the amount of sats from the voucher, but it require more steps, not a very fast onboarding with a LNURL-w voucher. Read a full Zeus guide here.
Breez - very good LN node, that fully support LNURL, self-custodial
Blixt - same as Zeus, self-custodial LN node, but the process of onboarding is not easy straight from the LNURL-voucher, this is more for advanced users. Read a full Blixt guide here.
Green Wallet LN - Blockstream new LN wallet with integrated LN node, based on Greenlight LSP. Very easy to onboard, supporting splicing (extended channels). Read Green full guide here.

And done! From now on, your recurring customers could exchange their fiat change from shopping into sats, each time they came to your shop.

I would not be worried about any "legal" repercussions. Bitcoin is digital P2P cash, another form of money that NONE of gov have power over it. Nobody can prohibit you to trade in whatever form of money or value.

Please don't confuse this aspect with "legal tender", that is totally another story !

What is a "legal tender"?

Bitcoin CANNOT be legal tender! To be legal tender it means to be endless DEBT.

Bitcoin is to empower the sovereign individual and not the states!

Let's stop this crap bullshit with "make Bitcoin legal tender" ! Is a total fallacy! Instead, focus on empowering individuals using Bitcoin every fucking day without any gov permission.

A “tender” is the name given to a small boat that “tends” to the needs of a larger ship, usually by transporting people or supplies from shore or another ship.With the word legal referring to a contract, the term “legal tender” means to “tend” to a debt sometime in the future, by way of contract.Meaning, by using legal tender the debt is never paid, as the “small boat” never left the “shore” to deliver the “money”.These are contracts:

Any retailer or individual could refuse to use a legal tender. Nobody can force you to use it. Why? What is the point of a legal tender then?

The point is that you cannot force a retailer to accept legal tender or indeed any other form of tender. If, however, you buy something from them and there is no contractual barrier to the use of any form of tender, and you offer legal tender in payment, and they refuse it, then they cannot enforce the debt in court.

That's what legal tender means: it's about discharging debts. If you incur a debt you can discharge it with legal tender, but you cannot be forced to incur the debt in the first place, if you see what I mean...

Resources for BTC merchants:

Please bookmark all of them to study them before you start building your own scenario. Are full of details.

Resources to be shared with the new Bitcoin users:

Note:

BTCpay also announced recently that will release a plugin for the same feature of TPoS ATM. Here is a demo by Rockstar developer. Same scenario but using BTCpay server solution.

DISCLAIMER

I am not paid by LNbits or any other team/company. I just support their open-source solutions with guides. We MUST help each others if we want to go forward with Bitcoin adoption. They write code, I write guides.

I am writing guides and documentations, translations for many other Bitcoin solutions, for free. My life is dedicated to Bitcoin as a whole, as a way forward for a better world.

Don’t ask what Bitcoin did for you, ask what YOU did for Bitcoin!