This device is a cheap offline proof-of-concept for a point-of-sale terminal for the Bitcoin Lightning Network by Ben Arc,. It is based on Arduino open-source hardware.
The merchant needs a LNbits wallet acting as a server, and the LNURLPoS terminal which is fully offline. It uses LNbits’ LNURLPoS extension to share a secret key between the two.
Here is the workflow detailed on Github and in the video below:
- Merchant enters the L-BTC amount into LNURLPoS terminal
- A “LNURL” is generated and displayed as a QR code for scanning by the customer
- Customer scans and pays with Lnbits wallet or with a LN wallet compatible with LNURL
- Payment clears and the customer is sent the decrypted unique pin (only needed if the merchant is offline)
- Merchant compares customer PIN and terminal PIN (only needed if the merchant is offline)
- The transaction appears in the merchant’s LNbits wallet (not needed by the employee making the transaction for example)
This is equivalent to an employee using a credit card terminal but not having access to the company’s bank acount.
Note that the customers need an internet connection, this is mandatory for Lightning transactions.
Watch the demo:
References:
- Tweet: https://twitter.com/arcbtc/status/1442511015669809152
- Lnbits Lightning Network wallet: https://github.com/lnbits/lnbits/
- Lnurlpos extension: https://github.com/lnbits/lnbits/tree/master/lnbits/extensions/lnurlpos
- Arduino: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino
- Lightning Network: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_Network
