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Basic shopping – basic terminal

Basic shopping – basic terminal

Basic shopping – basic terminal

In a previous post, we showed how easy it is to connect to the options provided by Bitcoin and LightningNetwork. Now we will show how we will pay for purchases in a stone shop or cafe. At the same time, this episode is a demonstration of the minimum equipment needed on the merchant side.

The basic point of all this is that the shop provides the possibility of payment with Bitcoin. You can find this out by looking at the door sticker, for example, or simply by asking.

If the merchant offers this option, he will have a simple “Payment Terminal”, which is absolutely the easiest payment method, available immediately after registering on Management of Hydranode accounts.

Once the merchant has calculated your spending in local currency, he will enter this amount into the Terminal, which will convert it according to the current exchange rate to BTC and display the corresponding payment request, e.g. in the form of a QR code.

You scan the QR code into your wallet and confirm the payment. Within a second, the merchant will see the payment confirmation. That’s all done and you can happily visit the next shop.

It’s simple, It’s clear. Next time, we’ll talk about some more options a merchant can use in their sales process that will definitely make shopping easier for you as a customer.

That’s all. If you like this how-to press the Pay button and send some SATs to autor.

Pay with Hydranode

Selling tickets for a small event or donation

Selling tickets for a small event or donation

Selling tickets for a small event or donation

Are you organising a small concert, exhibition or other social event? Do you want to offer tickets online in the simplest possible way, but current ticketing systems are too “sophisticated” and therefore expensive?

Try Hydra.
After registering at https://management.hydranode.net you create a “Store” for your event and set its parameters according to your preferences. At the moment, the important thing for us is the so-called BTCPAY ID (storeID).

I have a BTCPAY ID what next?
With the help of the simple pieces of code below, which is easy to customize to your parameters, and you can insert it into your online invitation or trailer, you will allow any person interested in your event to quickly purchase a ticket with two clicks in their electronic wallet.

You only need to change the storeID of your store and, of course, set the correct price and currency of your ticket.

Another simple way to give your clients an easy method of payment is to use a URL link such as this one, “You can pay for your ticket here” or encode it in a QR code. This can of course be embedded in your website, or for example in an email or messenger message. There are many uses. Just choose.

Basic example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<a href="https://hydranode.org/btcpay/api/v1/invoices?storeId=Bg5F7rnowYbnfGBv3UqicxPmX86n3yxCKxquPzX2fAw4&checkoutDesc=Platba+za+vstupenku&price=1&currency=CZK">
  <img src="https://management.hydranode.net/logos/pay-button.png" style="width:209px" alt="Pay with Hydranode">
</a>

</body>
</html>

Sample Pay button code

<style> .btcpay-form { display: inline-flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; } .btcpay-form--inline { flex-direction: row; } .btcpay-form--block { flex-direction: column; } .btcpay-form--inline .submit { margin-left: 15px; } .btcpay-form--block select { margin-bottom: 10px; } .btcpay-form .btcpay-custom-container{ text-align: center; }.btcpay-custom { display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; } .btcpay-form .plus-minus { cursor:pointer; font-size:25px; line-height: 25px; background: #DFE0E1; height: 30px; width: 45px; border:none; border-radius: 60px; margin: auto 5px; display: inline-flex; justify-content: center; } .btcpay-form select { -moz-appearance: none; -webkit-appearance: none; appearance: none; color: currentColor; background: transparent; border:1px solid transparent; display: block; padding: 1px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; font-size: 11px; cursor: pointer; } .btcpay-form select:hover { border-color: #ccc; } .btcpay-form option { color: #000; background: rgba(0,0,0,.1); } .btcpay-input-price { -moz-appearance: textfield; border: none; box-shadow: none; text-align: center; font-size: 25px; margin: auto; border-radius: 5px; line-height: 35px; background: #fff; }.btcpay-input-price::-webkit-outer-spin-button, .btcpay-input-price::-webkit-inner-spin-button { -webkit-appearance: none; margin: 0; } </style>
<form method="POST" action="https://hydranode.org/btcpay/api/v1/invoices" class="btcpay-form btcpay-form--block">
  <input type="hidden" name="storeId" value="Bg5F7rnowYbnfGBv3UqicxPmX86n3yxCKxquPzX2fAw4" />
  <input type="hidden" name="checkoutDesc" value="Pay for ticket" />
  <input type="hidden" name="browserRedirect" value="https://hydranode.net" />
  <input type="hidden" name="price" value="1" />
  <input type="hidden" name="currency" value="CZK" />
  <input type="image" class="submit" name="submit" src="https://management.hydranode.net/logos/pay-button.png" style="width:209px" alt="Pay with BTCPay Server, a Self-Hosted Bitcoin Payment Processor">
</form>

That’s all. If you like this how-to press the Pay button and send some SATs to autor.

Do you want to make instant payments in BTC? It’s easy.

Do you want to make instant payments in BTC? It’s easy.

Do you want to make instant payments in BTC? It’s easy.

Bitcoin payments on the Lightning NetWork are really very simple today. Many merchants already offer their services and goods for Bitcoins. So there is no need to complexly use the classic FIAT currencies.

What do you need?

As with any payment, in any currency, you need a wallet. Since Bitcoins are electronic money and Hydranode supports Lightning network, you need an electronic wallet that supports the Lightning Network. There are actually a large number of usable apps available today for both IOS and Android. From this wide range, we would like to recommend the following:

So you see, there are many options.

Choose one and install it on the device you will have with you when you pay, probably a smart phone. Initial installation for all the wallets tested is simple and straightforward. Of course, it’s good to follow all the known security rules, but just like a traditional wallet, you won’t have all your funds, just your regular petty cash. So there is no need to worry unnecessarily.

Now that everything is ready, the following procedure will describe how to put the appropriate small “cash” in the wallet, corresponding to your normal purchases:

    • You issue a request on your device to replenish “cash” according to your needs. In Lightning Network language, we call this make an Invoice.
    • you pass the information from the Invoice about the amount to the counterparty from where you draw the “cash” (another wallet, friend, customer, vault, exchange). For example, you can generate a QR code and show it to the payer (or send it to them if you are not in their location).
    • The payer reads the required information, for example by scanning the QR code you transmit (or adding it from the file you sent) and confirms the payment.
    • Usually within a second (depending on the Payer’s system), the “cash” appears in your wallet.

You are now ready for shopping and off you go. In the next episode, we’ll take a virtual tour of your favorite store.

P.S. – If you’re impatient and in a hurry, try management.hydranode.net :-).

How to “fix” the value of bitcoin in the short term without registration

How to “fix” the value of bitcoin in the short term without registration

How to “fix” the value of bitcoin in the short term without registration

If, as a business, you decide to accept bitcoin (BTC), the question comes to mind: “What if the bitcoin exchange rate crashes in a month, and we need these funds for urgent operations in a company?”

In most cases, your business is not affected because only a tiny percentage of customers still pay with bitcoin. So you can consider the percentage of bitcoin income as long-term savings and not worry about short-term volatility.

However, if you receive more of the BTC revenue and know that you will need this income at the end of the month, for example, it is possible to “lock in” the value on the lnmarkets.com platform.

You can log in anonymously without registering using the Lightning login via the Phoenix wallet (recommended).

You deposit your satoshi here. 

Click on Swap to exchange them for “synthetic” USD. This will not buy any dollars or tether, but you will open a simple short position (no fee). In practice, this means that if bitcoin drops in price, you are left with exactly the same value.

You can reverse this process at any time, change your “synthetic” dollars to satoshi at the current exchange rate, and then withdraw at no charge. 

Admittedly, if the price of bitcoin makes a classic upward move – you lose the ability to capitalize on it. Therefore, we recommend using this feature only for short-term changes in the range of months.

Disclaimer: LNmarkets is custodial exchange and your sats are at counterparty risk. If they disapear, you will lose your money.

Ako si krátkodobo “zafixovat” hodnotu bitcoinu bez nutnosti registrácie

Ako si krátkodobo “zafixovat” hodnotu bitcoinu bez nutnosti registrácie

Ako si krátkodobo “zafixovať” hodnotu bitcoinu bez nutnosti registrácie

Ak sa ako podnikateľ rozhodnete prijímať bitcoin (BTC), naskytne sa vám otázka: “Čo ak kurz bitcoinu o mesiac padne a budem potrebovať tieto prostriedky na niečo naliehavé?”

Vo väčšine prípadov to váš obchod nemá ako ovplyvniť, pretože bitcoinom stále platí iba malé percento zákazníkov. Takže percento príjmu, ktoré vám príde od zákazníkov v bitcoine, môžete považovať za dlhodobé úspory a neriešiť krátkodobú volatilitu. 

Ak vám však príde viac tržieb v BTC a viete, že napríklad na konci mesiaca budete potrebovať tento príjem, je možné si jednoducho “zafixovať” hodnotu na platforme lnmarkets.com.

Môžete sa anonymne prihlásiť bez registrácie pomocou Lightning loginu cez peňaženku Phoenix (odporúčame).

Tu si depozitnete svoje satoshi. 

A po kliknutí na Swap ich zmenite za “syntetické” USD. Týmto sa nekúpia žiadne doláre ani tether, ale otvoríte jednoduchú short pozíciu (bez poplatku). V praxi to znamená, že ak bitcoin zníži svoju cenu, vám zostáva presne rovnaká hodnota.

Tento proces môžete kedykoľvek obrátiť a “syntetické” doláre si zmeniť na satoshi podľa aktuálneho kurzu a následne vybrať bez poplatku.

Pravdaže, ak cena bitcoinu spraví klasický pohyb hore – prichádzate o možnosť kapitalizovať na tom. Odporúčame preto, využívať túto funkciu iba na krátkodobé zmeny v rozsahu mesiacov.

Notes on implementing Hydranode in Shopify

Notes on implementing Hydranode in Shopify

About Degoogled and Bitcoin

(@November 2022) – www.de-googled.com

We at degoogled.com have accepted bitcoin starting day zero essentially. Well, in fact at the very beginning the idea was that the store would accept only Bitcoin and Monero. We were bitcoiners before being degooglers (does this term even exist?)

We since started accepting standard payment rails because, to be frank, the critical mass is not there yet. But it will come, since BTC is just a better method of payment, and in the long run it will show.

This is especially true in international settlements, where the traditional payment rails are antiquated and inadequate for even medium size transactions. Read: they might be OK for established multinationals but start ups pay the price of inefficient money transfers.

When Degoogled.com accepts fiat payments, it does still pay fees that are inherent to the way the fiat system works: transfer fees, inefficient exchange rates, sometimes multiple exchange losses on a single transaction, multiple delays in accessing the liquidity… the list goes on and on.

But we’re here to talk about bitcoin, the currency of the future.

Bitcoin, used in the way that Hydranode proposes, that is on the lightning network, eliminates the transaction fees. Well, the fees are not exactly zero, however they are fair, expressed already in the same currency being accepted, and somewhat adaptable.

Transactions are super-fast, and in this specific implementation by Hydranode they run over TOR 100% of the time making it for us that e value privacy a very valuable proposition.

 

About the Hydranode Installation

To install the BTCPay server terminal to our Shopify website we had to go through a bunch of steps.

In the past Shopify was great because all the payment gateways were added via an easy and intuitive API integration. Nowadays instead, Shopify operates some sort of whitelisting. If you want to add something like Coinbase, well, they’re whitelisted, so you just need to go to Settings > Payments > Add payment methods and ta-daa, you choose from the list and you’re done.

For BTCPay it’s a bit more complicated as the process will require you to “develop” a custom app. Shopify tries to “hide” this feature in a way, but it’s still there and this feature can be “unlocked” by going to Settings > Apps and sales channels > Develop apps.

There is an excellent article by BTCpayserver themselves that does all the explaining in details, so I don’t have to bore you here with the technicalities; if you too want to link your Hydranode to your Shopify see this: https://docs.btcpayserver.org/Shopify/

The guys at Hydranode are following step by step and helping with the integration; there’s literally a dedicated technicians that guides with the integration via Signal messanger.

Time it took to do the linking once everything (that is Shopify and the BTCpayserver instance) is ready to go? Half hour, tops!

Thank you to the guys at Hydranode for the product, I wish them a bright future ahead of them.