I have realised that not enough people know what I've actually built... so lets try to point this out simply.
This is a value for value post: see the explanation in the footer.
BTC Lightning Network
I've written a lot about this, a huge amount really. For now lets just say it's the part of the BTC world which is getting lots of attention and money because you can't innovate much on BTC core.
The primary reason I think it matters for Hive, is that it is becoming an on and off ramp for crypto in small amounts just at the time when centralised exchanges are being crushed by US regulators or blowing up.
Hive / Lightning Bridge
Right now the bridge operates on amounts from 1,000 Sats to 500,000 Sats. That's about 0.25 HBD to 120 HBD. Pretty useful amounts.
Hive to Lightning - v4v.app
Lightning is denominated in sats which are 1/21,000,000,000th of a Bitcoin. Lightning is sent and received via one time invoices which are long text strings which look like this:
lnbc30u1p3lg67cpp5sax6e9an3ej76zckk2lvvzwkq4wahupah75pdgt9xjjldl6gs6tqdp2vfexjctwdanxcmmwv3hkugruyqs8cgprwc68vctswqcqzpgxqzfvrzjqd0ylaqclj9424x9m8h2vcukcgnm6s56xfgu3j78zyqzhgs4hlpzvzuaqgqq2rcqqyqqqqqqqqqqztqq9qsp5a0wuz4z53r28nf4d6rpv35d0wygvva3jdmphdljz300mhqeeu6nq9qyyssqvxmuerd0yz5p4lzw8dqcft9u78u55me30pc9r3t0m8fa69fvr89pluc080lu4qte5exe6ke6zk8yxye6lpwkf7hsdpx40xy8t5dazngpp3c09c
And because they look like that, they're more commonly shared as QR codes:
You use a Lightning Wallet to pay these. They're one time use and limitied in time. You can't send more Lightning to an invoice, once you've paid it or it has expired, you need to get a new one from the recipient. This is what makes Lightning very different to work with than a blockchain based crypto like Hive.
If you take that Lightning invoice string or photograph the QR code using v4v.app especially from inside Hive Keychain's browser on mobile, you will be asked to send Hive or HBD. If you do that, your Lightning will be paid, and you'll get back some change in Hive or HBD with a message.
You've sent Hive or HBD and got BTC on the Lightning Network.
Lightning to Hive
But what if you want to received Lightning? We have this covered. v4v.app/hive will let you build a specific invoice for a set amount of Lightning and it will go to a specific Hive account. Pay that invoice with a Lightning Wallet and you'll receive Hive.
You can also generate or use a "Lightning Address". This looks like an email address but an increasing number of Lightning Wallets can pay to these addresses. Behind the scenes, temporary invoices are still created but this is all handled for you.
Your Lightning Address looks like this, just replace my brianoflondon Hive name with your own: brianoflondon@v4v.app. You're just adding @v4v.app to your Hive account name.
Lightning to Hive as a QR code
That Lightning Address can also be represented as a QR code and that's easy to generate here: v4v.app/address.
For Hive Dapp Developers
Want to offer your users a way to pay for small items or services where you get Hive or HBD and they can pay with Lightning?
This is all you need:
https://api.v4v.app/docs#/v4vapp/new_invoice_hive_get_v1_new_invoice_hive_get
That's the documentation for a simple GET request which will give you a Lightning invoice (as a QR code image or text) for you to show to your users. If they pay it, you get Hive (with a unique message you can specify). That's it. @privex added this to their checkout process in a matter of a couple of hours.
If you need help or advice on this, please leave a comment or tag me on #leothreads.
Value 4 Value in Podcasting 2.0
This is another part of the system. For more on that see this collection of posts
Nostr
Nostr is the new hotness but its very rudimentary compared to Hive. But if you want to play around on it, you can use the same Lightning Address I mentioned above and store your Nostr Public Key on Hive. Details are in this post.
More Details
I've written so much... Take a look here for more.
Value for Value
For the last few months while building @v4vapp I was generously supported by the DHF. Going forward I have a much more modest support which covers direct server costs and a little of my time.
If you appreciate the work I do on and around Hive, you can express this directly: upvoting posts on Hive is great. Also consider a direct donation (there's a Tip button on Hive or a Lightning Address) on all my posts.
Support Proposal 244 on PeakD
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Support Proposal 244 on Ecency
Vote for Brianoflondon's Witness KeyChain or HiveSigner
