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In Kenya, the definition of "money" has long been synonymous with the phone in one's pocket. Since its launch in 2007, M-Pesa has transformed from a simple mobile money service into a national financial rail, boasting over **40 million monthly active customers** as of March 2026 [1]. This two-decade legacy of mobile-first finance has done more than just digitize the Kenyan Shilling; it has created a population that is uniquely primed for the adoption of Bitcoin. For many Kenyans, the transition from M-Pesa to a Bitcoin wallet is not a leap into the unknown, but a natural evolution of a digital habit they have practiced for nearly twenty years.

## A Shared Digital DNA

The synergy between M-Pesa and Bitcoin is structural. M-Pesa proved that a vast population could manage its financial life without a traditional bank account, building a foundation of trust in phone-based transactions. Today, this trust is the primary engine for Kenya's thriving Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Bitcoin market. On platforms like **Binance P2P** and **Noones**, M-Pesa is the dominant payment method. Traders send Shillings directly from their M-Pesa balances to a seller, while the Bitcoin is held in a secure escrow — a process that mirrors the instant settlement and mobile-centric nature of M-Pesa itself.

![A Shared Digital DNA](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/A_Shared_Digital_DNA_55612eadf9.jpg)

## The Regulatory Turning Point

For years, Kenya’s crypto market operated in a legal gray zone. However, 2025 marked a decisive shift toward formalization. The **Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Act 2025**, enacted in November, established a comprehensive framework for the industry [2]. Under this new regime, a dual-regulator model has emerged: the **Central Bank of Kenya (CBK)** oversees payment-related services and stablecoins, while the **Capital Markets Authority (CMA)** supervises investment platforms and exchanges.

As of early 2026, the National Treasury has unveiled draft **VASP Regulations** that require all service providers to be registered as Kenyan companies with robust anti-money laundering (AML) protocols [4]. While the licensing process is still in its nascent stages, this move toward regulation is expected to attract institutional capital and provide greater security for the millions of Kenyans who already use digital assets.

## Solving the Cross-Border Puzzle

While M-Pesa is unrivaled for domestic payments, it faces significant hurdles at the border. This is where Bitcoin and stablecoins have found their most pragmatic use case: **remittances and international trade**. Kenya has a massive global diaspora, and traditional remittance channels remain notoriously slow and expensive.

> *"By leveraging Bitcoin's Lightning Network or stablecoins, Kenyans can receive funds from abroad in seconds for a fraction of the cost of a traditional bank wire."*

This utility extends to Kenya’s growing population of digital freelancers and remote workers. Many who work for international clients have historically faced payment delays or account holds on platforms like PayPal. Using Bitcoin as a bridge — receiving crypto and then cashing out to M-Pesa via a P2P trade — has become a standard workaround that offers faster liquidity and lower fees.

## Beyond Domestic Boundaries

Bitcoin is not a replacement for M-Pesa; rather, it is a powerful extension. M-Pesa remains the king of everyday domestic commerce, from paying for groceries to settling utility bills. Bitcoin, however, solves the problems that M-Pesa alone cannot: protecting savings from the Shilling's inflation and enabling seamless cross-border movement.

As Kenya moves into 2026, the integration of these two systems represents a unique "leapfrog" moment. A population that skipped the traditional banking era to embrace mobile money is now skipping the limitations of national borders to embrace a global, decentralized financial system. In Kenya, the future of money is not just mobile — it is borderless.

---

## References

1. [Africa Business Communities, "M-PESA celebrates 19 years with 40 million customers in Kenya," 2026](https://africabusinesscommunities.com/tech-24/m-pesa-reaches-40-million-customers-in-kenya/)
2. [EY, "Kenya enacts Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025," 2025](https://globaltaxnews.ey.com/news/2025-2314-kenya-enacts-virtual-asset-service-providers-act-2025-a-new-regulatory-era)
3. [Chainalysis, "Sub-Saharan Africa Shows Strong Crypto Retail Activity," 2025](https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/subsaharan-africa-crypto-adoption-2025/)
4. [The National Treasury of Kenya, "Draft Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations, 2026," 2026](https://www.treasury.go.ke/)


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The Digital Shilling Revolution: How M-Pesa Paved the Way for Bitcoin in Kenya

## **Create a HodlHodl account**

- Visit the official [HodlHodl website](https://hodlhodl.com/).
>![Image00.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image00_c243d157de.png)

- Click on the "**Sign up**" button:
>![Image01.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image01_4e1c67d402.png)

- Enter an email address and username. If you wish to keep your account anonymous, make sure to use an email address & username that does not reveal your name. Then, set a strong password. 
>![Image02.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image02_9826cd76b1.png)

- We recommend using password managers, for creating and storing your passwords.

- Then, click on the “**Sign up**” button.
>![Image03.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image03_f2820fec25.png)

- Go to your mailbox
>![Image04.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image04_73e0425c5e.png)

- Then, click on the "**Confirm account**" button. 
>![Image05.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image05_a6f455d8ff.png)

- Next, log in to your account using your email and password.
>![Login_IN.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Login_IN_e4196b35ca.png)

- We're now going to configure the 2FA to secure the account. Use an authentication application on your smartphone, such as Proton Authenticator, Google Authenticator or Authy for example. 

> ⚠️ **Important:** Be sure to securely **save your backup codes** in a safe, offline location. If you lose your phone or access to your authenticator app, these codes are the only way to recover your account.

>![Image06.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image06_6ba64d34ec.png)

- After installing Proton Authenticator, we click on “**Create new code**” and scan QR Code. This will immediately generate 6-digit code (e.g 502 666) with remaining time displayed
>![output07.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/output07_68bcb2cfa8.png)

- Copy the code from the application (by clicking on it) and paste it into the field “Enter 2FA code” 

- Then click on the “**Set 2FA**” button.
>![Image08.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image08_be4fcdae9a.png)


- Welcome to HODL HODL:
>![Image012.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image012_95a2473b79.png)


## **BUYING**

### **Find a Seller**

- **Navigate to the buying page** - From the top menu, click the “**Buy BTC**” button.
>![output013.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/output013_0f445f7033.png)

- **Browse offers** – You’ll see a list of offers from sellers:

- **Filter field** – Use this to narrow offers by currency, purchase amount, payment method, and country.
>![Image014.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image014_8cdb87d6ce.png)

* **Offer details** – Each listing displays:
  - Seller’s username
  - Success rate of past trades
  - Total completed trades
  - Price (tied to an exchange rate or fixed)
  - Trade limits (minimum ↔ maximum amount)
  - Payment methods accepted by the seller
  - Offer description (terms and instructions from the creator)

- **Create your own offer** – If none of the existing listings suit you, you can publish a custom offer with your preferred terms and limits.

### **Payment Password & Bitcoin address**

- Every time you interact with an offer, a unique multisignature (multisig) escrow Bitcoin address is created for that contract.
- Both the buyer and the seller must have a payment password before the escrow address can be generated.

**What is the payment password?**
- The payment password is the password used to encrypt the keys that are required to generate and access escrow. From the trader’s perspective, the payment password is used to deposit and release Bitcoin, to and from escrow. Every trader is asked to create a payment password during the first contract, it can also be done in the Dashboard settings.

**What's the difference between an account password and a payment password?**
- The account password is the password that you use to access your account and make changes to your profile.
- The payment password is used to encrypt the key to an escrow address, and to deposit Bitcoin into escrow and release Bitcoin from escrow.

### **How to create a payment password**

**Option 1 - First‑time popup (recommended)**
- The first time you accept or create a contract, a popup window will appear asking you to set a payment password. Just follow the prompts and save the password in a secure place (e.g., a password manager).
>![Image015.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image015_c3b7c97dc1.png)

**Option 2 – From your account settings**
- Click your **username** at the top of the main page.
- Choose “**Dashboard**.”
- Open the “**Settings**” section.
- Locate the “**Payment password**” field and click the “**Create payment password**” button.
>![output016.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/output016_b36b5527f8.png)

>![Image017.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image017_8d66d7ce93.png)
- Follow the instructions to create one.
>![ttest_small.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/ttest_small_ce99a34c15.png)


💡 **Tip:** Use a strong, unique password that you store safely; you will need it for every future contract.


### **Buying BTC**

#### **Step 1: Accept the offer**

After selecting your preferred offer, review the details on the page and complete the following steps:

>![Image019.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image019_766aaaa845.png)

1. **Enter amount:** Input the exact amount of BTC (or fiat) you wish to buy.
2. **Set payout address:** Enter the Bitcoin address where you want to receive your BTC.
   > 💡 **Tip:** For maximum privacy, we recommend using a unique payout address for each contract.
3. **Select payment method:** Choose your preferred option from the seller's available payment methods.
4. **Confirm contract:** Click the **Accept offer for xx EUR** button to proceed.


#### **Step 2: Engaging in contract**

- You are now on the contract page:
>![Image020.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image020_0ce9d39991.png)

**1** - The chat window with the seller is now available.

**2** - You can see the address you set up where you will receive BTC.

- Review the contract details and message the seller that you are ready to trade.

- Click the **Accept contract** button.

- To generate the escrow address and start the contract, you will be required to confirm your payment password. Fill in the following fields and click the **Confirm payment password and start contract** button.
>![Image021.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image021_44b77a93dc.png)
>![Image022.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image022_9d0db0d3f5.png)

#### **Step 3: BTC deposit**

- At this stage, you just need to wait until the seller deposits Bitcoin to the multisig escrow address.
>![Image023.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image023_bc8c1c9cfa.png)

- The status will update to show the seller sent Bitcoin to escrow. Continue to wait for the transaction to be confirmed.
>![Image024.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image024_ec601a326e.png)

#### **Step 4: Payment transfer**

- After the deposit to the escrow address is confirmed, you will be presented with the payment method provided by the seller:
>![Image025.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image025_1cdf1fde10.png)

- Use the details to make the payment. 

- Once sent, click the **I've sent the payment** button.
>![Image026.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image026_51255b21c4.png)

#### **Step 5: Payment confirmation**

- Now wait for the seller to confirm they received the payment
>![Image027.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image027_b21ba5f12b.png)

#### **Step 6: Release escrow**

- The seller has confirmed the payment. Bitcoin has been sent to your wallet address.
>![Image028.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image028_f3a37c0355.png)

#### **Step 7: Contract completed**

- You can leave feedback for the seller at this final stage.


## **SELLING**

### **Find the Buyer**

- Find the buyer on offers page and engage with buyer:
>![Image029.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image029_0ad4281e80.png)

### **Escrow Workflow: Selling BTC**

#### **Step 1: Accept offer**
*(This step is exactly the same as step 1 in the buying BTC section)*

#### **Step 2: Engaging in contract**

- To generate the escrow address and start the contract, you will be required to confirm your payment password. 
- Fill in the following fields and click the **Confirm payment password and start contract** button.
>![Image030.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image030_6df27b694c.png)

#### **Step 3: BTC deposit**

- Next, you will be asked to deposit Bitcoin to the provided escrow address:
- Verify the exact amount and address, then make the transfer.
>![Image031.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image031_434eaff7d9.png)

- Once you send the Bitcoin to escrow, you will need to wait for the transaction confirmation.
>![Image032.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image032_d82dd11ef7.png)

#### **Step 4: Payment transfer**

- The buyer will receive your payment details you provided.
- The buyer will then send the fiat payment to you using the agreed payment method.
- Await confirmation from the buyer that the payment has been sent.

#### **Step 5: Payment confirmation**

- Verify that you have received the payment in your account.
>![Image033.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image033_bd167c6ea6.png)

#### **Step 6: Release escrow**

- Once you confirm you received the payment, click the **Release BTC** button.
>![Image034.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image034_280c873b6c.png)

- Fill in your payment password to confirm the release.
>![Image035.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image035_1d66c4ddb6.png)

#### **Step 7: Contract completed**

- The contract is completed. 
>![Image036.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image036_f55ddf9381.png)

- You can leave feedback for the buyer at this final stage.


## **How can I create my own offer?**

- To create your offer, you can click the “**Create your offer**” button located above the offer list, as well as on the “**My Offers**” page. To enable an offer, you need to check the “**Enabled**” checkbox at the bottom of the offer creation / editing page.
>![Image037.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image037_41af1764d6.png)

- You will see the offer creation screen:
>![Image038.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/Image038_0b90ad0856.png)

### **Step 1: Choose Your Offer Type & Network**
- **Direction**: At the top of the screen, select whether you want to **Buy BTC** or **Sell BTC** by clicking the corresponding tab.

- **Network**: Under the Bitcoin network options, click either  **On-chain**  or **Lightning network** button.     


### **Step 2: Set Your Price**
Choose how your trade price will be calculated:

- **Floating rate:** The price automatically adjusts based on a global exchange rate. Select your preferred exchange (e.g., Binance) and fiat currency (e.g., USD) from the dropdowns.

- **Fixed rate:** Set a specific, unchanging price for your trade.

- **Add margin:** Click this option to add a percentage premium above or discount below the market rate.

- **Applicable rate:** Displays the real-time final price based on your settings.

>![64444.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/64444_2b52838e68.gif)

### **Step 3: Set the Trade Amount**
Choose how much Bitcoin you want to trade:

- **Fixed amount:** Set an exact, static amount for the trade.

- **Amount range:** Define the minimum and maximum limits for a trade.

- Use the toggle switch to input your desired amounts in either USD or BTC.

- Click **Advanced settings** for additional options.


### **Step 4: Select Payment Methods**

- **Select payment methods** – Configure how you want to send or receive payment:

  1. Click "Select payment type" drop-down
 
  2. Choose a payment method from the available options
 
  3. Click "Add new payment method" to include additional options (up to 10)

>💡 Tip: Adding multiple payment methods increases your chances of finding a trading partner.

>![6777.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/6777_fb9042c854.gif)

### **Step 5: Configure Offer Settings (Right Panel)**

**Available hours**  – Define when your offer is active:

- Check "24 hours access" for round-the-clock availability

- Check "Workdays only" to disable the offer on Saturdays and Sundays

- Set specific time windows if needed

>⚠️ Note: An offer is automatically disabled if you have not been online for 10 days.

**Location** – Select "Global" or choose specific countries where your offer will be visible.

**Payment window** – Set the time limit for the buyer to complete payment (e.g., 90 min).

**Offer description** – Add details about your offer terms, conditions, or instructions for traders.


### **Step 6: Final Options & Review**

- **Enable offer after creation:** Toggle **ON** to make your offer immediately active and public (or check the "Enabled" box at the bottom). Toggle OFF to save it as a draft.

- **Make offer private:** Toggle **ON** if you only want this offer accessible via a direct link (hidden from the public offer list).

>![6888.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/6888_c4aab17946.gif)

**Review the Summary Box (Right Side):** Verify your Price, Amount, and Payment methods.

- Click **Create offer to buy/sell BTC** to publish.

- Click **Cancel changes** to discard.


## **Further Reading**

- [**Trading Bitcoin Security Guide**](https://hodlhodl.com/blog/en/security-guide)
- [**What Is the Bitcoin Lightning Network: how to use it and why we need it**](https://hodlhodl.com/blog/en/lightning)
- [**How to spend bitcoin in your everyday life**](https://hodlhodl.com/blog/en/spend-bitcoin)
- [**Best ways to store bitcoin**](https://hodlhodl.com/blog/en/best-way-to-store-bitcoin)

Hodl Hodl Beginner Tutorial: Buy & Sell Bitcoin

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Hodl Hodl Beginner Guide: Buy and Sell Bitcoin Step by Step 

Ask someone in Lagos or Harare what they think a "safe asset" is, and you'll get a very different answer than you'd get on Wall Street. In the US, a reserve asset means something stable, like a treasury bond or gold, but across much of Africa, many believe keeping their money in their local currency is safe. A growing number are beginning to see that the local currency itself is the ‘risky asset’, and people have been improvising alternatives for decades.

## Why Africans look for alternatives to local currencies

This isn't new behavior. Zimbabweans have held US dollars under mattresses for years because the local currency lost so much value so fast that keeping savings in it felt like setting money on fire slowly instead of quickly. Nigerians convert naira to dollars whenever they can, not out of some ideological preference for American currency, but because the naira has depreciated sharply and repeatedly against the dollar. Ghanaians have watched the cedi slide too. This is a continent full of people who already understand, from lived experience rather than theory, that a currency's value isn't guaranteed just because a government prints it.

The problem with using the dollar as your escape hatch is that it's not actually available to everyone, and it's not actually neutral. Capital controls in several countries restrict how much foreign currency you can hold or move. Getting dollars often means going through informal markets at unfavorable rates, or navigating banking restrictions that assume you're trying to do something wrong just because you want to protect your savings. And the dollar itself isn't immune to inflation, it's just been a slower, steadier decline than most African currencies.

## Bitcoin as a reserve asset 

Bitcoin offers something genuinely different: a reserve asset that isn't controlled by any single government, that has a fixed and known supply, and that you can hold and move without asking anyone's permission. You don't need a foreign bank account. You don't need to be approved for a certain transaction limit. You need a wallet.

It's also worth pointing out that holding Bitcoin as a reserve asset doesn't require abandoning local currency entirely, and nobody sensible is suggesting that. Day-to-day spending still runs through naira, cedis, shillings, or whatever currency is used locally. The idea is closer to keeping a portion of savings in something with a fundamentally different risk profile than the currency you're paid in, the same logic that's driven dollar and gold demand across the region for decades, just applied to a newer, more accessible asset.

This matters most for people who don't have easy access to strong foreign currencies in the first place. A trader in Kenya with a smartphone can hold Bitcoin just as easily as a hedge fund in New York can. That's a genuine leveling of the playing field, not a marketing line. The same asset, held under the same rules, accessible to someone with a few thousand shillings as it is to someone with millions of dollars.

It's also worth noting this shift isn't purely grassroots anymore. Companies and even some governments outside Africa have begun holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets as a reserve asset, treating it the way they might treat gold. That doesn't make Bitcoin's short-term volatility any less real, but it does suggest the "is this a legitimate reserve asset" debate is settling in Bitcoin's favor among a widening group of serious, well-resourced institutions, not just individuals protecting their savings from a weak local currency.

None of this means Bitcoin is a stable store of value in the short term. It isn't, and treating it like one is a mistake. Prices swing hard, sometimes by double digit percentages in a single week. Anyone putting rent money or school fees into Bitcoin on a short timeline is taking on real risk they should understand clearly before they do it.

The comparison that actually matters isn't Bitcoin against a stable currency. Most people across the continent don't have access to one of those anyway. The comparison is Bitcoin against a currency that's already losing value year after year, sometimes catastrophically. Judged against that baseline, and held with a longer time horizon rather than treated as a savings account substitute for next month's rent, Bitcoin starts to look less like a speculative bet and more like what a growing number of Africans already treat it as: one more hedge against a problem their currencies have never solved.

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Bitcoin: The Global Reserve Asset for Africa

When you browse offers on Hodl Hodl, you will frequently come across payment methods like **WISE, REVOLUT, NALA, REMITLY, STRIKE, SENDWAVE, WESTERN UNION, PAYSEND, or XOOM**. Normally, you would expect your counterparty to use that exact online payment system or neobank. However, that isn’t always the case.

A common practice on the platform is utilizing these compatible international payment systems to send funds directly to mobile wallets, most notably **M-Pesa**. To eliminate confusion and protect our community, Hodl Hodl has introduced dedicated payment methods and a **mandatory selection policy** for these trades.

This updated guide explains how these international transfers work, why they are safe, and the critical new rules every user must follow.

## **What’s New: Dedicated M-Pesa Methods & Mandatory Policy**

To streamline trading and close the "expectation gap" between buyers and sellers, Hodl Hodl has launched dedicated transfer options.

Moving forward, the following specific payment methods are available in your dashboard:

* **M-PESA (Revolut)**  
* **M-PESA (Wise)**  
* **M-PESA (Remitly)**

**⚠️ Mandatory Selection Policy:** If you are creating an offer that involves an M-Pesa transfer, you **must** select the specific "M-Pesa" variation instead of the standard Revolut, Wise, or Remitly options. Continuing to use the incorrect standard payment methods for M-Pesa transactions is a policy violation and **may result in your account being temporarily or permanently blocked.**

## **What is M-Pesa?**

M-Pesa is a mobile money platform launched in Kenya in 2007 that has since expanded across several African countries. It is essentially a mobile wallet that allows people to store, send, and receive money using their mobile phone — no traditional bank account required. Think of it as a digital wallet tied directly to a phone number.

In East Africa, M-Pesa is the primary way millions of people handle everyday finances. When a Hodl Hodl seller provides their M-Pesa details, they are giving you the equivalent of their bank account information. It’s just that their "bank" lives on their phone.

## **How an M-Pesa Trade Works on Hodl Hodl**

Revolut, Wise, and Remitly natively support sending money internationally to M-Pesa accounts. It isn't a workaround or a hack; it’s a standard, built-in feature sitting right inside those apps.

On Hodl Hodl, every trade is protected by a [2-of-3 multisignature Bitcoin escrow](https://hodlhodl.com/blog/en/escrow-explained#what-is-escrow). This security works exactly the same way whether payment goes through a standard fiat transfer or a mobile wallet.

Here is what a typical trade looks like using **M-PESA (Revolut)** as an example:

1. **Find the Offer:** You find an offer listed under the dedicated **M-PESA (Revolut)** method and read the Offer Description.  
2. **Lock Escrow:** You accept the offer, creating a Purchase Contract. The seller deposits Bitcoin into the [multisig escrow address](https://hodlhodl.com/blog/en/escrow-explained#how-does-multisig-escrow-work).  
3. **Share Details:** Once the Bitcoin is locked (status: **In progress**), the seller shares their M-Pesa details (name, mobile provider, and phone number) in the trade chat.  
4. **Send the Transfer:** You open your Revolut app, tap **Payments → International**, select the destination country (e.g., Kenya), choose **M-Pesa**, and input the seller's details.  
5. **Review Fees:** Revolut shows you the exchange rate and fees. Review and confirm. The money typically arrives in the seller's wallet within seconds.  
6. **Release Bitcoin:** You mark the payment as **Paid** on Hodl Hodl. The seller confirms receipt and releases the Bitcoin from escrow to complete the trade.

## **Writing Better Offer Descriptions: What Sellers Need To Know**

[Hodl Hodl's Terms of Service](https://hodlhodl.com/tos) require that all information provided in an offer - currency, instructions, and payment methods - must be **true and accurate**.

As selecting the new dedicated M-Pesa labels is now mandatory, your offer descriptions should perfectly mirror that selection to ensure seamless trades.

### **A Practical Template for Sellers**

"Payment via Revolut's international transfer to M-Pesa (Kenya). This is a standard built-in feature of the Revolut app - go to Send → International → Kenya → M-Pesa. You'll see the exact fees and exchange rate before confirming. Transfer typically arrives in seconds. This is NOT a standard Revolut-to-Revolut tag transfer. If you haven't used this feature before, message me in chat and I'll walk you through it."

### **How Disputes, Reputation, and Compliance Are Affected**

* **Disputes:** Hodl Hodl’s support staff resolves disputes by inspecting the Offer Description, chat messages, and payment evidence. If you accurately label your offer using the new M-Pesa methods and explicitly outline the steps, support can quickly resolve issues in your favor.  
* **Cancellations:** Clear offers eliminate confusion, protecting your completion rate and public reputation score.  
* **Third-Party Rule:** Remember, Hodl Hodl’s Terms of Service strictly prohibit third parties from making or receiving payments. The M-Pesa account used must belong to the account holder.  
* **Enforcement:** Offers using standard "Revolut" or "Wise" labels for M-Pesa transactions will be hidden or removed. Repeated violations will lead to **account suspension or termination** under our updated compliance policy.

## **Common Questions from Buyers**

**Will my payment app flag my account for sending to Kenya?**

Revolut, Wise, and Remitly actively support international transfers to M-Pesa. However, Hodl Hodl is an independent platform and is not affiliated with these providers. You are solely responsible for complying with your provider's terms and conditions.

**What about exchange rate costs?**

Apps like Revolut and Wise display the exact exchange rate and any conversion fees before you hit send. You can factor these transparent costs into your evaluation of the trade before committing.

**Is it complicated?**

It requires a few more taps than a simple peer-to-peer tag transfer, but the apps walk you through it seamlessly. Once you do it once, it becomes second nature.

**What if the seller claims they didn't receive the money?**

Keep your transaction receipts handy. If an issue arises, you can open a dispute. Please review Hodl Hodl's [Dispute Rules](https://hodlhodl.com/pages/dispute_rules) for guidance.

## **Key Takeaways**

* **For Buyers:** An unfamiliar payment rail isn't a dangerous one. As long as you use the built-in international transfer features of Wise or Revolut to send to the seller's M-Pesa, Hodl Hodl's multisig escrow protects your trade.  
* **For Sellers:** You **must** use the new dedicated **M-PESA (Revolut/Wise/Remitly)** payment methods. Failing to do so can get your account blocked. Pair the correct method with a stellar offer description to keep your trading volume healthy and dispute-free.

## **Important: Service Disclaimer**

**Hodl Hodl is an independent technical platform, not a payment institution.** We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Revolut, Wise, Remitly, M-Pesa, or any other third-party provider.

* **No Control:** We cannot influence third-party operations, account decisions, or service availability.  
* **Informational Only:** This guide is provided "as-is" for informational purposes as of **2026**. Features, interfaces, and terms of third-party applications may change without notice.  
* **User Responsibility:** You are solely responsible for adhering to the Terms of Service of your chosen payment provider. Hodl Hodl assumes no liability for third-party account restrictions or transaction issues.

## **References**

* **Wise** — [Send money to M-Pesa](https://wise.com/us/send-money/send-money-to-m-pesa)  
* **Wise** — [Guide to KES transfers](https://wise.com/help/articles/2932362/guide-to-kes-transfers)  
* **Revolut** — [Send money to M-Pesa](https://www.revolut.com/en-AU/money-transfer/send-money-with-mpesa/)  
* **Revolut** — [Mobile Wallets Launch Announcement](https://www.revolut.com/en-FR/news/revolut_launches_mobile_wallets_allowing_for_faster_transfers_across_the_world/)  
* **Hodl Hodl** — [Terms of Service](https://hodlhodl.com/pages/terms_of_service)



m-pesa-how-do-international-transfers-work

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M-Pesa

## Buying LN-BTC
### Step 1: Accept offer
- Browse the offers page and select your desired Lightning offer to view its details.

>![accept_Offer.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/accept_Offer_792c47b6b8.gif)

1. Enter the exact amount of BTC you want to buy
 
2. Select a payment method from the seller's available options for this contract.

- Click the **[Accept offer]** button.

### Step 2: Engaging in contract

- You are now on the contract page.

>![0013.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/0013_ad9a7ff90f.png)

- On this page:

**1** - The chat window with the seller is now available.

**2** - You can see the Price of Bitcoin, the Amount you will buy, and the Amount you pay in fiat.


- Review the contract details and message the seller via chat that you are ready to trade.

- Click the **[Accept contract]** button.

- To generate the Hodl Hodl escrow address and start the contract, enter your **Payment Password** and **2FA code**, then click **[Confirm payment password and start contract].**

>![0014.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/0014_e3fdd58ed1.gif)

### Step 3: LN-BTC deposit

At this stage, you are waiting for your counterparty to confirm their payment password.


>![0015.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/0015_50608124c7.png)


- Next, wait until the seller deposits Bitcoin into the multisig escrow address.

- ⚠️ **Critical Warning:** While the deposit is processing, you will be warned with the following message: “Bitcoin deposit is being made. Do **not** send any money!” Do not send fiat until this clears. 

>![0015.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/0015_834f916466.gif)

- The status will update automatically in real-time, confirming that the seller sent Bitcoin to escrow.

### Step 4: Payment transfer
- Once the deposit to the escrow address is confirmed, you will be presented with the payment method details provided by the seller.


>![0016.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/0016_f1ae16e7f2.png)

- Use the provided details to make the fiat payment to the seller.

- Once sent, click the **[I've sent the payment]** button.

### Step 5: Payment confirmation
- Next, you will be presented with a pop-up asking to provide the Lightning Bitcoin address where you want to receive your LN-Bitcoin.

>💡 Tip: We support Lightning addresses, LNURL, and Lightning invoices.

>![0017.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/0017_2cede5afa3.gif)

- Once you enter your Lightning Address details, click the **[I've sent the payment]** button to confirm.

- Now, wait for the seller to verify and confirm they received the fiat payment.


>![0018.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/0018_09c6e7982f.png)

> ⚠️ **Note on Invoices:** In case you enter a standard Lightning Invoice, remember they have an expiration time. If it expires, you will be asked to provide a new one or use a different Lightning address type/format.


### Step 6: Release escrow
- Once the seller confirms the payment, your LN-BTC will be automatically released and sent to the Lightning address you specified in the previous step. No further action is required on your part!

![0019.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/0019_6b1f97180c.gif)

### Step 7: Contract completed
- The contract is completed. You can leave feedback for the seller at this final stage.
## Selling LN-BTC
### Step 1: Accept offer
- As a Seller, find a buyer on the offers page and engage with your chosen Lightning Contract.

>![20001.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/20001_8497e6857e.gif)

- Once you select your desired Lightning offer, you will see the chosen offer details:

>![201.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/201_ad48a8113b.gif)

- **1** - **Enter** the exact amount of **LN-BTC you want to Sell**
- **2** - **Select a payment method** from the Buyers available options for this contract

Click the **[Accept offer]** button.


### Step 2: Engaging in contract
You will be shown a summary with all details of the contract you are about to start.

Review the contract details and message the Buyer in the chat that you are ready to trade.

>![203.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/203_ba743680e3.gif)

Click the **[Accept contract]** button.

To generate the escrow address and start the contract, enter your Payment Password and 2FA code.

Click the **[Confirm payment password and start contract]** button.

 

### Step 3: LN-BTC deposit
Next, you will be asked to deposit your Lightning Bitcoin to escrow. You will be prompted with a QR code & a Lightning Invoice address.

>![20401.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/20401_041cd2d98f.png)


- You can either scan the QR code with your mobile Lightning wallet or copy the Lightning invoice address and paste it manually into your wallet.

- Verify the exact amount and address, then execute the transfer. Hodl Hodl automatically detects incoming transactions.


>![205resized.png](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/205resized_71c7930055.png)

### Step 4: Payment transfer
- Once your deposit transaction has been confirmed, the contract enters the **“Payment Transfer”** stage. At this point, you must wait for the Buyer to make the payment.

- The buyer will be presented with the payment details you provided and will send the fiat funds to you using the agreed method.

- Await confirmation from the buyer that the payment has been sent.

>![2066.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/2066_6d19fdf10e.gif)

### Step 5: Payment confirmation
- **Crucial Step:** Check your actual bank or payment account to **manually verify** that you have successfully received the funds.

- Once you physically confirm the arrival of the payment, get ready to initiate the release.


>![207.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/207_8fe2299ea9.gif)

### Step 6: Release escrow
- Click the **[Release LN-BTC]** button.

- Fill in your payment password and click the **[Payment received, release LN-BTC]** button to officially confirm the release.

>![208.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/208_0170496fec.gif)

### Step 7: Contract completed
- The contract is successfully completed.


>![209ezgif.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/209ezgif_94aec386b7.gif)

- You can leave feedback for the buyer at this final stage.

>![210.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/210_1ad8c68438.gif)


## How to Create a Lightning Offer
To create your offer, you can **click** the “**Create offer**” button located above the offer list, as well as on the “My Offers” page. 

>![Click Create Offer Button](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/111_dc97fc1f71.gif)


### Step 1: Choose Your Offer Type & Network
- **Direction**: At the top of the screen, select whether you want to **Buy BTC** or **Sell BTC** by clicking the corresponding tab.

- **Network**: Under the Bitcoin network options, click the **Lightning network** button.     
>💡 Note: Your offer is now configured for LN-Bitcoin.

![001.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/001_5e7c93c542.gif)

### Step 2: Set Your Price
Choose how your trade price will be calculated:

- **Floating rate:** The price automatically adjusts based on a global exchange rate. Select your preferred exchange (e.g., Binance) and fiat currency (e.g., USD) from the dropdowns.

- **Fixed rate:** Set a specific, unchanging price for your trade.

- **Add margin:** Click this option to add a percentage premium above or discount below the market rate.

- **Applicable rate:** Displays the real-time final price based on your settings.

>![64444.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/64444_2b52838e68.gif)

### Step 3: Set the Trade Amount
Choose how much Bitcoin you want to trade:

- **Fixed amount:** Set an exact, static amount for the trade.

- **Amount range:** Define the minimum and maximum limits for a trade.

- Use the toggle switch to input your desired amounts in either USD or BTC.

- Click **Advanced settings** for additional options.

>![655555.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/655555_fa4d02db3a.gif)

### Step 4: Select Payment Methods

- **Select payment methods** – Configure how you want to send or receive payment:

1. Click "Select payment type" drop-down
 
2. Choose a payment method from the available options
 
3. Click "Add new payment method" to include additional options (up to 10)

>💡 Tip: Adding multiple payment methods increases your chances of finding a trading partner.

>![6777.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/6777_fb9042c854.gif)

### Step 5: Configure Offer Settings (Right Panel)

**Available hours**  – Define when your offer is active:

- Check "24 hours access" for round-the-clock availability

- Check "Workdays only" to disable the offer on Saturdays and Sundays

- Set specific time windows if needed

>⚠️ Note: An offer is automatically disabled if you have not been online for 10 days.

**Location** – Select "Global" or choose specific countries where your offer will be visible.

**Payment window** – Set the time limit for the buyer to complete payment (e.g., 90 min).

**Offer description** – Add details about your offer terms, conditions, or instructions for traders.


### Step 6: Final Options & Review

- **Enable offer after creation:** Toggle **ON** to make your offer immediately active and public (or check the "Enabled" box at the bottom). Toggle OFF to save it as a draft.

- **Make offer private:** Toggle **ON** if you only want this offer accessible via a direct link (hidden from the public offer list).

>![6888.gif](https://zrhsczo76h2c.compat.objectstorage.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloud.com/hodlhodl-blog-staging/6888_c4aab17946.gif)

**Review the Summary Box (Right Side):** Verify your Price, Amount, and Payment methods.

- Click **[Create offer to buy/sell BTC]** to publish.

- Click **[Cancel changes]** to discard.

## Further Reading

- [**Trading Bitcoin Security Guide**](https://hodlhodl.com/blog/en/security-guide)
- [**What Is the Bitcoin Lightning Network: how to use it and why we need it**](https://hodlhodl.com/blog/en/lightning)
- [**How to spend bitcoin in your everyday life**](https://hodlhodl.com/blog/en/spend-bitcoin)
- [**Best ways to store bitcoin**](https://hodlhodl.com/blog/en/best-way-to-store-bitcoin)




How to Buy & Sell Bitcoin on the Lightning Network: P2P Guide

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Step-By-Step Guide to Trade via Lightning

Between Africa loving P2P and Africa quietly leaving Bitcoin behind for stablecoins has had a simple, ugly cause: on-chain Bitcoin fees and confirmation times don't match how Africans actually trade.

Lightning fixes that. And today, Lightning is live on Hodl Hodl!

## What changed

Hodl Hodl now supports Lightning Network transactions alongside our regular on-chain multisig contracts. Faster settlement. Lower fees. And the part that matters most for this continent, **lower minimum trade sizes that are actually viable**.

If you've ever tried to sell ₦20,000 worth of Bitcoin and watched the network fee eat a meaningful slice of the trade, you already understand the problem. Lightning is the answer to it.

## Why this is an African story before it's anything else

Africa doesn't trade Bitcoin the way New York trades Bitcoin. The average ticket is small. The use cases are tactical, pay a supplier in Guangzhou, top up a freelancer in Nairobi, send rent to a sibling in Joburg, dollar-cost average a few thousand naira on payday, cash out just enough to cover school fees this week.

In that world, on-chain fees and 10–60 minute confirmation windows aren't a technical inconvenience. They're a market closure. A $3 fee on a $30 trade is a 10% tax. A 40-minute wait while the naira–dollar rate moves is a real loss. So traders did the rational thing: they stopped using Bitcoin for these flows and switched to stablecoins on cheaper chains.

Lightning rewrites that math. Trades that didn't make sense on-chain now do. The Bitcoiner in Kisumu sending a few thousand shillings to a market maker in Lagos. The university student in Abuja buying ₦5,000 of sats. The small business owner in Cape Town settling a quick invoice. These trades have always existed, they just haven't existed on Bitcoin rails.

Now they can.

## Three shifts this actually unlocks

**1. The micro-trade returns to Bitcoin**. Lower minimums mean Hodl Hodl is no longer just a platform for serious-size P2P. It's a place where someone with ₦10,000 to spare can buy sats on a Bitcoin-only, non-custodial platform, and actually have most of that money turn into Bitcoin instead of fees.

**2. Remittance corridors get a real Bitcoin option**. Remittances into Africa still average 8–10% in fees through traditional rails. Diaspora workers have been routing around that with stablecoins, but stablecoins come with a counterparty: an issuer who can control and has access etc. Lightning gives the same speed and low cost on actual Bitcoin.

**3. Market makers can run faster, tighter books**. If you make markets on Hodl Hodl, settlement speed is your bottleneck. Faster contract completion means more turns per day, smaller spreads, more competitive rates for buyers and sellers. African market makers — the people I work with daily — have been asking for this. It's here.

## What it doesn't change

Hodl Hodl is still Hodl Hodl. Non-custodial. Bitcoin-only. Multisig escrow for on-chain trades, exactly as before. The Lightning option sits alongside that — you choose your mode, on-chain or Lightning, when you create or accept an offer. If you've built your flow around our regular contracts, nothing breaks. If you want speed and lower minimums, the new lane is open.

## The bigger picture

For three years, the conversation on this continent has quietly drifted away from Bitcoin and toward stablecoins-as-default. The reasons were practical, not ideological. Speed. Cost. Trade size. Lightning closes that practicality gap Whether it closes the perception gap is up to us African Bitcoiners.

The rails are ready. The story now is what we put on them.

Try Lightning trades on Hodl Hodl today. Start small. See how it feels when Bitcoin moves at the speed your trade actually demands. Click [Here](https://youtu.be/Y3acVhn-vyc?si=mmQMzK7sUcTWC9Jw) to see how it works!

Lightning network trading on Hodl Hodl in Africa 

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Lightning Just Landed on Hodl Hodl and Africa Is Where It Hits Hardest

Arkade is a new protocol that enables programmers to build advanced financial applications on Bitcoin without any changes to the main chain. In this article we will dive into what Arkade is, its main aspects and how this technology will be leveraged on Hodl Hodl.

## Arkade vs. Ark

To avoid any confusion we will briefly touch upon a difference between [Ark](https://assets.arklabs.xyz/ark-protocol.pdf) and [Arkade](https://arkadeos.com/).

### What is Ark?

[Ark](https://assets.arklabs.xyz/ark-protocol.pdf) is a conceptual framework for scaling Bitcoin proposed in May 2023. It allows for consolidating many offchain Bitcoin transactions into a single mainnet transaction, enabling fast, cheap transactions while fully inheriting Bitcoin’s security guarantees.

Ark is not a protocol by the strictest definition, as it is neither interoperable nor standardized. It is best seen as a design pattern that anyone is free to implement as they see fit.

### What is Arkade?

[Arkade](https://arkadeos.com/) is an open-source platform created by [Ark Labs](https://arklabs.xyz/). It builds on top of the concepts introduced by Ark, with a focus on leveraging the enhanced programmability introduced by Bitcoin’s [2021 Taproot upgrade](https://river.com/learn/what-is-taproot/).

## What is a virtual output (VTXO)?

One of the fundamental building blocks of Bitcoin is the [Unspent Transaction Output](https://river.com/learn/terms/u/unspent-transaction-output-utxo/), or UTXO for short. Unspent outputs are discrete chunks of bitcoin that can be spent with a private key.

Arkade builds on top of this with the [Virtual Transaction Output (VTXO)](https://docs.arkadeos.com/learn/core-concepts/vtxos-and-ownership), which is essentially an offchain version of a UTXO. Virtual outputs can be transformed into mainnet Bitcoin outputs at any time, but they can also be spent offchain to create new virtual outputs.

### How do virtual outputs work?

A virtual output is a chain of unbroadcasted Bitcoin transactions leading up to a standard mainnet output. Virtual outputs are initially created by a special mainnet transaction called a [batch swap](https://docs.arkadeos.com/learn/core-concepts/settlement-and-finality#batch-swaps), and are then spent in offchain transactions that follow the same rules as Bitcoin.

### The benefits?

Because they are offchain, virtual outputs can be spent instantly and at a low cost. You don’t need to wait for the block confirmation or open a Lightning channel to receive them. In addition, transactions on Arkade remove pressure from the main chain and allow for a higher transaction throughput.

## What are the Arkade operators?

Arkade uses a client-server model, with a trusted operator coordinating offchain transactions.

### Is Arkade non-custodial?

Yes. Although the Arkade operators coordinate transactions and provide liquidity, it never touches your private keys. You can unilaterally exit to mainnet without involving the operator. To keep that exit path open, your outputs go through periodic renewals: a small, recurring fee debited from the liquidity backing your funds and paid to a trust-minimized [delegate](https://docs.arkadeos.com/learn/core-concepts/vtxo-lifecycle-and-liveness#delegation).

### What is Transaction Finality?

When you want to gain full Bitcoin finality, the Arkade operator collects together your outputs and those of other users and settles them into a single onchain commitment transaction. This settlement bundles everyone's outputs together, swapping UTXOs in and out to move you from expiring liquidity into fresh outputs — while splitting the cost across all participants.

### What is preconfirmation?

One of Arkade’s key innovations is [preconfirmation](https://docs.arkadeos.com/learn/core-concepts/transactions-and-execution#preconfirmation).

Normally on Bitcoin, users wait for a [block confirmation](https://river.com/learn/terms/c/confirmation/) before treating a payment as final. Arkade allows transactions to become usable immediately after the operator cosigns them, without waiting for an onchain confirmation.

From the user perspective, payments feel instant. Received [VTXOs](https://docs.arkadeos.com/learn/core-concepts/vtxos-and-ownership) can immediately be spent again inside the Arkade system, enabling fast and low-cost Bitcoin transactions. 

This creates two settlement states:

- **Preconfirmed** → instant execution with a[ trust assumption](https://docs.arkadeos.com/learn/core-concepts/security-and-trust-model#the-trust-model) around the operator
- **Settled** → full Bitcoin finality once batched onchain

Importantly, Arkade remains non-custodial. Users still retain a unilateral exit path that allows them to reclaim funds on Bitcoin mainnet if the operator disappears.

In practice, this gives users flexibility: keep funds preconfirmed for speed and convenience, or periodically settle onchain for maximum Bitcoin security and finality.

## What is a unilateral exit in Arkade?

The unilateral exit is a key feature of Arkade that makes it non-custodial by design. Arkade virtual outputs are always backed by a guaranteed, permissionless path to a Bitcoin output. If the Arkade operator disappears, you don't need their permission to leave. You have a [presigned exit path](https://docs.arkadeos.com/learn/core-concepts/security-and-trust-model#unilateral-exit) that allows you to claim the mainnet outputs backing your funds. Keep in mind that in the best case scenario there is never a need for a unilateral exit.

### What is a transaction tree?

A transaction tree is a [chain of several related Bitcoin transactions](https://docs.arkadeos.com/learn/core-concepts/vtxos-and-ownership#virtual-transaction-tree) that are prepared and signed in advance, but not yet broadcasted. It splits a larger onchain pool of funds into smaller chunks. It enables many users to share a single onchain transaction and prove which part belongs to them, while keeping their money separate.

It works by layering transactions: a single root transaction is confirmed on the main Bitcoin chain, which then branches out into multiple offchain transactions. Your specific balance sits at the very end of one of these branches. If you ever need to get your money out without the operator's help, you simply broadcast the specific transactions that lead from the root down your branch, effectively [unrolling](https://docs.arkadeos.com/learn/core-concepts/security-and-trust-model#unilateral-exit) your portion of the tree.

### How much does it cost to do a unilateral exit?

While exiting is a guarantee of coming back to the mainchain, it can be [expensive](https://docs.arkadeos.com/learn/core-concepts/security-and-trust-model#exit-costs). If you are deep in a branch, you will have to pay to broadcast every transaction leading up to your output. This is why users are encouraged to periodically [renew](https://docs.arkadeos.com/learn/core-concepts/vtxo-lifecycle-and-liveness#batch-expiry) their outputs to keep their exit costs low.

## How will Hodl Hodl leverage Arkade?

Since we are laser focused on bringing non-custodial solutions for P2P trading, it was essential for our team to find a way to integrate the Lightning Network in a non-custodial way.

The way we are working to solve the issue is by leveraging a Taproot-based escrow multisig on Arkade. From a user perspective it is a simple trade between Lightning and fiat.

What happens on the backend is a non-custodial atomic swap by Satora, from Lightning to Arkade when a seller deposits bitcoin. The BTC lands into a multisignature wallet with the keys distributed amongst 4 parties (buyer, seller, Hodl Hodl and the Arkade operator).

Similar to onchain 2/3 multisig wallets, bitcoin is held in a non-custodial way until the buyer completes their part of the trade and the seller confirms the receipt of the funds.

After the confirmation, bitcoin is released to the buyer and they can choose to receive it as BTC on Lightning. The complexity of a swap and key management will be obscured from the user making the flow seamless and non-custodial at the same time.

## TLDR

- **What is Ark?** a conceptual framework for scaling Bitcoin via consolidating many offchain transactions into a single mainnet transaction.
- **What is Arkade?** an open-source protocol that builds on top of the concepts introduced by Ark, enabling advanced financial applications and fast, non-custodial payments.
- **Virtual Outputs / VTXOs**: these are offchain bitcoin balances. They are cryptographically guaranteed promises of onchain BTC that can be spent instantly.
- **Non-Custodial**: You always hold your keys. If the operator disappears, you can reclaim your funds on Bitcoin mainnet without asking for permission.
- **Batch Swap**: To keep fees low, Arkade bundles hundreds of users into one batch swap. Users share the cost of a single onchain transaction while gaining mainnet finality.
- **Liveness**: To stay non-custodial, users must perform a renewal every other month. 
- **Hodl Hodl integration**: Hodl Hodl creates a non-custodial escrow by swapping Lightning Bitcoin into a secure 3/4 multisig wallet on Arkade by using atomic swaps from Satora.

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 Arkade

Privacy in crypto, as well in any other realm of our life, is a tricky matter: every day, we give away our personal data to use government services and financial platforms, book and buy things online, communicate, and pay our bills. All that information is stored in large databases owned by tech corporations and governmental agencies.

If you're wondering **how to send bitcoin anonymously** or whether **bitcoin transactions can be traced**, the answer is not as simple as many assume. 

The history of global cybercrime shows that any online database can be breached – [even one operated by the FBI](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/01/fbi-hack-surveillance-system-major-incident-00854237). And this means not only governments and corporations, but also criminals can compile and analyse huge databases of private data and use it for malicious purposes – and AI is making it easier than ever. 

If you’re a crypto user, the contents of your wallets and your transactions may also become a part of your detailed “digital portrait.” With the modern technology for blockchain analysis, making your coins completely untraceable is pretty hard. So how can you prevent strangers on the internet from seeing what you spend your bitcoin on? And more importantly, how to send bitcoin anonymously in practice? 

Let’s start with the hardcore way: never KYC. The only real way to keep your wallet not tied to your identity is to never touch any platforms and services that require KYC (know your customer) verification. This means only buying and selling bitcoin peer-to-peer and only spending it in places that don’t ask you to register your ID. 

But even when buying something with no KYC, you need to be mindful of what information about yourself you’re providing to a seller: if you leave your main email or order delivery to your actual address, your wallet address might still get connected to your identity. 

However, even if you can’t reach absolute anonymity, there are still ways to make tracing your bitcoin pretty hard.

## Custodial mixers

This is probably the easiest way technically to send bitcoin anonymously: custodial mixers take your coins, mix them with those of other users and release them to a new address (or several addresses), taking a service fee in the process. The service will do all the technical heavy lifting for you, however, it will also know your addresses. Normally, the mixers promise to delete your addresses from their databases some time after the transaction, but you need to trust them to do that. 

Another risk is that custodial mixers get shut down by law enforcement agencies from time to time, because they are often used by scammers, black hat hackers and other cybercriminals. For the same reasons, centralized custodial platforms are suspicious of funds coming out of mixers and may treat them as criminal money by default. 

Since 2019, a number of founders who operated crypto mixers were arrested and charged with facilitating money laundering, the services got shut down and in some cases sanctioned by the U.S. The list includes [Bestmixer.io](https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/multi-million-euro-cryptocurrency-laundering-service-bestmixerio-taken-down), [Helix](https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/ohio-resident-charged-operating-darknet-based-bitcoin-mixer-which-laundered-over-300-million), [Bitcoin Fog](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/individual-arrested-and-charged-operating-notorious-darknet-cryptocurrency-mixer), [ChipMixer](https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/one-of-darkwebs-largest-cryptocurrency-laundromats-washed-out), [Cryptomixer](https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/europol-and-partners-shut-down-cryptomixer), [Blender and Sindbad](https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/operators-cryptocurrency-mixers-charged-money-laundering#:~:text=For%20Immediate%20Release,public%20safety%20and%20national%20security.). 
U.S. law enforcement also went after some non-custodial services – see the well-known cases of Tornado Cash and Samourai Wallet founders – but non-custodial apps still don’t hold your funds and don’t know your addresses. 

## DIY CoinJoin

A harder but more self-sovereign path is to run a CoinJoin transaction, mixing your coins with other people’s funds yourself. CoinJoin is a privacy mechanism for bitcoin, allowing people to simultaneously mix their transactions together without a third-party centralized operator - one of the more advanced ways to send bitcoin anonymously (although popular mixers use CoinJoinon on their back end, too).  

To run CoinJoin yourself, you have several options. 

First, the easiest one – use a wallet with the CoinJoin function. Until fairly recently, Samourai and Wasabi wallets were the go-to options, however, the U.S. law enforcement shut down Samourai in 2024, arrested its two founders, Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, and [seized](https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/founders-and-ceo-cryptocurrency-mixing-service-arrested-and-charged-money-laundering) its servers, so Samourai’s Whirlpool CoinJoin operator is no longer functional. Wasabi’s team [stopped](https://thedefiant.io/news/regulation/wasabi-wallet-to-eliminate-coinjoin-amid-u-s-regulatory-fears#:~:text=Wasabi%20Wallet%20To%20Eliminate%20Coinjoin,transfer%20assets%20using%20the%20protocol.) supporting CoinJoin the same year. 

Sparrow Wallet allows you to run CoinJoin to either make the funds inside your wallet more private or send it to someone in a private manner. To do the first, you create a “fake CoinJoin,” turning two units of bitcoin inside your wallet into five new outputs and making it appear to an outside observer as if two people participated in CoinJoin. And the PayNym function allows you to send funds to another Sparrow user more privately as the software generates a new address for each transaction. You can read more about how it works on the wallet’s [website](https://sparrowwallet.com/docs/spending-privately.html).

If you want to go full hardcore, self-covereign mode, you’ll need to [run your own bitcoin node](https://hodlhodl.com/blog/en/bitcoin-node). After you get your node running, set up the [Jam](https://jamdocs.org/) app – this is a decentralized marketplace for CoinJoin transactions. It allows you to automatically find collaborators for joint transactions and also earn sats while helping others to CoinJoin. 

Finally, you can always do CoinJoin manually with the people you know, but that would require a certain amount of trust, as one of you would need to serve as a coordinator, gathering transaction data from others – this [Bitcoin Magazine article](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/a-comprehensive-bitcoin-coinjoin-guide) explains the process in detail.  

## Lightning strike

Another way to spend your bitcoin privately is to do it via Lightning – the bitcoin blockchain’s Layer 2. Privacy here comes from the fact that Lightning payments bounce between payment channels across the network, making it from one node to another without leaving any visible trace on the ledger. For this option, as usual, you can either use a wallet supporting Lightning and facilitating such transactions – that would be a custodial solution – or firing up your own Lightning node. Read more about [Lightning and how it works](https://hodlhodl.com/blog/en/lightning).

Bitcoin privacy is a spectrum: the amount of effort you are willing to make to achieve it is up to you, so be curious and have fun with it! 


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How to send bitcoin anonymously

When you talk to bitcoiners, sometimes you might get a sense that you are never, ever, supposed to spend your bitcoin – that’s it’s more like a forever savings account rather than an actual digital cash. That’s an understandable approach: even given the current bear market sentiment, if you’ve held your bitcoin for the past ten years, your investment has already gone up a mind-blowing 15,000%! One of the people I know, a distinguished crypto expert, told me the hat he bought for bitcoin in 2012, just for the fun of it, could now pay off his mortgage…

However, if you treat bitcoin not just as a rainy day investment but more as an everyday payment tool – say, you get paid for your work in bitcoin – you need to spend it. And today, there are plenty of ways to do it without cashing out first. Let’s go through them.

## Direct bitcoin payments

There are still few physical places in the world where you can pay someone directly with a peer-to-peer bitcoin transfer, but they exist. Some bars around the world accept bitcoin – if you’re a New York-based bitcoiner, you must know about [PubKey](https://www.pubkey.bar/) with their bitcoin-themed events, for example – they accept bitcoin via Lightning. Or if you’re in London, [BrewDog](https://brewdog.com/) pubs have been accepting crypto payments since 2019. 

Among the most well-known companies that accept bitcoin directly from your wallet are electronics seller [Newegg](https://promotions.newegg.com/nepro/16-6277/index.html), domain name registrar [Namecheap](https://www.namecheap.com/support/payment/bitcoin/), and provider of encrypted email, VPN and other privacy tools [Proton](https://proton.me/support/pay-with-bitcoin). Booking websites [Travala](https://www.travala.com/payment/bitcoin-btc) and [Alternative Airlines](https://www.alternativeairlines.com/cryptocurrencies) also allows you to pay for hotels and flights directly from your bitcoin wallet.  

The landscape of businesses accepting bitcoin changes all the time – some join the party, and some decide that crypto is not actually for them – so you’d need to do a bit of your own research and see which places in your town accept bitcoin. For that, you can check the [BTC Map](https://btcmap.org/) or look up business by categories on [Bitcoinwide](https://bitcoinwide.com/). But keep in mind that the information on these resources might be outdated – you might want to reach out to the vendor and double-check whether they actually accept bitcoin and how. 

## Gift cards 

If the store you want to buy from does not accept crypto directly, you still might be able to pay for their stuff without converting to fiat – with gift cards. Services like [Bitrefill](https://www.bitrefill.com/), [Coinsbee](https://www.coinsbee.com/en/), [BitPay](https://www.bitpay.com/gift-cards), and [eGifter](https://www.egifter.com/buy-gift-cards-with-bitcoin) offer a broad range of gift cards for all kinds of things. 

You can buy just debit cards with some cash on them or dedicated gift cards to pay for your cell phone service, online subscriptions, gaming platforms, as well as get credits for online marketplaces like Amazon, Ebay or Etsy, buy electronics, order food or buy groceries, shop for clothing, furniture and other kinds of things. There are also services like [Moon](https://paywithmoon.com/merchants), which allow you to buy virtual debit cards and pay with them for goods and services with selected merchants. 

In this scenario, you send a gift card seller your bitcoin and receive a code for your digital gift card, which you then can use. Check which services are available where you’re based and what gift cards they offer.

## Payments via intermediary services

The world of mainstream, brick and mortar businesses is gradually warming up to bitcoin, but still few household names dare to operate actual bitcoin wallets. However, there is a fair amount of well-known brands that accept bitcoin via partnerships with crypto payment services. This way, customers can spend their crypto but the store will get fiat on its bank account, as the intermediary service converts bitcoin into fiat behind the scenes. Here are some of the big names that adopted such a scheme.

American grocery chain Whole Foods, home goods retailer The Home Depot, as well as restaurant chains Chipotle, Baskin Robbins and Starbucks accept bitcoin via the payment processor Flexa, so customers can pay using the SPEDN app.

U.S. cinema theaters chain [AMC](https://www.amctheatres.com/pay-your-way) accepts bitcoin via BitPay.

Luxury brands Gucci, Ralph Lauren and Balenciaga have been accepting bitcoin payments in selected U.S. stores via BitPay, as well as watch brands Hublot and TAG Heuer. There are also a number of luxury watch and jewelry online shops where you can pay with bitcoin as well. 

Swiss insurance company AXA accepts bitcoin via a partnership with Bitcoin Swiss. 

Birkenstock, Crocs, Chanel, Under Armour and other fashion brands accept bitcoin in South Africa via a partnership with Scan To Pay and [Binance](https://www.binance.com/en/blog/payments/1046741512387358714).

In Canada, you can pay your utility bills via Lightning, using [Bitcoin Well](https://bitcoinwell.com/blog/live-on-a-bitcoin-standard-pay-your-bills-with-bitcoin-on-the-lightning-network). Services like Strike, Electrocoin, Zypto, Swain and Mt.Pelerin allow users in Europe to pay bills and invoices in crypto. 

There is also a similar option for users who are comfortable with keeping some of their bitcoin on a centralized exchange: major exchanges like Kraken, Coinbase, Gemini, Crypto.com and others issue debit or credit cards that allow users to spend crypto from their accounts, with the exchange facilitating the conversion of crypto into fiat on the backend. 

## Something bigger

Over the past years, new ways to spend bitcoin have emerged for those who accumulated a considerable stash and are ready to go big in their purchases. For example, in the U.S., you can buy real estate via services like RealOpen, which facilitate converting buyers’ crypto into fiat for sellers. Or, alternatively, help secure purely crypto deals for luxury properties, like Christie’s International Real Estate. 

In Europe, bitcoiners can use services like Brighty to buy real estate in the UK, France, Malta, Cyprus, and Andorra. Different countries allow different ways for exchanging your bitcoin for a new home: some, like Portugal, allow direct cryptocurrency transactions, while others, like Spain, require converting bitcoin into euro for such transactions.

Alternatively, instead of exchanging your bitcoin for a home, you might use it as a collateral for a loan.

Depending on where you live, there are various options to spend your bitcoin, discover and support your local crypto-friendly businesses – and have fun with it. Don’t forget to check your local crypto tax regulations and whether spending your crypto means tax liability for you. 


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How to spend bitcoin in your everyday life

Bitcoin has been created as a peer-to-peer electronic cash. However, the way the protocol was designed makes it hard to use it for everyday spending: every transaction needs significant time to finalize, compared to fiat payment networks like Visa and Mastercard. In 2016, developers Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryja suggested a solution that would make bitcoin significantly faster – the Lightning network protocol. 

Transactions are getting written into the bitcoin blockchain in blocks, which are added one by one every 10 minutes, making the overall speed of the bitcoin network around 7-10 transactions per second. And it takes six blocks, or about an hour, for the transaction to be considered irreversible, i.e., too hard for malicious actors to roll back by compromising the blockchain – in a hypothetical scenario where someone would try to do that. 

The idea of Bitcoin Lightning is that not every transaction needs to happen on-chain. Finalization time and bitcoin network fees make small transactions impractical – but you can build a virtual second layer above the bitcoin blockchain where people can exchange small amounts and settle on-chain every once in a while. 

## What is Bitcoin Lightning?
 
The concept behind the **Bitcoin Lightning Network**, proposed by Poon and Dryja, implemented by Lightning Labs in 2018, moves small peer-to-peer transactions from the main bitcoin blockchain to Layer 2. Users open payment channels between each other by locking funds in 2-of-2 multisigs. How 2-of-2 multisig works? These multisigs are smart contracts that create temporary ledgers of transactions which are not written into the blockchain but still verified and secured by the bitcoin cryptography. 

Users can transact between each other multiple times, but on-chain, only two transactions are visible: the one creating the payment channel and the one returning users their funds according to the latest state of the payment channel. The changing state of the bitcoin network works as a clock here for transactions to complete or expire. 

But there is more: users can transact not only with the people they opened mutual payment channels with – they can connect to the global network, which currently consists of ‎17,438 nodes worldwide, with over 5,000 BTC locked 41,109 channels. This network allows users to send funds to wallets that they haven’t opened channels with, as satoshis bounce through other nodes and channels until they reach the receiving user. Poon and Dryja wrote that “requiring everyone to create channels with everyone else does not solve the scalability problem” for bitcoin, but connecting channels into a network available to all participants does. 

This mechanism allows using bitcoin for small transactions without clogging the bitcoin network and making it hard to use: when too many transactions are waiting for confirmation, transaction fees get higher and users have to wait longer for their payments to go through. But keeping small transactions off-chain takes the pressure off the network. 

## How does the Bitcoin lightning network work?


Understanding how the Lightning Network works helps explain why it can process transactions faster than the Bitcoin network.

For a full description of Lightning’s technical details, check the [white paper](https://lightning.network/lightning-network-paper.pdf) by Poon and Dryja – we’ll give a high-level overview for basic understanding here.

To open a Lightning Network channel and connect to the Lightning network, you need a Lightning node – just like you need a [bitcoin node](https://hodlhodl.com/blog/en/bitcoin-node) to participate in the bitcoin network. You can host your bitcoin and Lightning nodes on the same hardware or have separate devices, depending on the hardware you use and your own preferences. 

A Lightning funding transaction locks your funds in a P2WSH (Pay-to-Witness-Script-Hash) multisign address. It starts with a funding transaction, when two participants create a 2-of-2 multisig with each of them controlling one key. This funding transaction gets broadcasted onto the bitcoin blockchain. 

After that, both participants sign an initial commitment transaction, spending from the 2-of-2 output of the funding transaction. After that, they can perform more commitment transactions, each of which updates the state of the payment channel without broadcasting it to the bitcoin blockchain.

When participants decide to close the channel, they make a final settlement transaction, which gets confirmed on the blockchain. Alternatively, one party can close the channel by broadcasting the latest commitment transaction.

## How to use Bitcoin lightning network?

You can use Lightning network payments for a number of things. First of all, you can pay people faster and more privately via Lightning network: unlike on-chain bitcoin transactions, Lightning transactions, especially the ones that go through multiple hops, do not connect the wallets of sender and recipient on the public blockchain for everyone to see. 

“I pay for my VPN via lightning. I'd just prefer that my credit card company doesn't know who my VPN supplier is. And if I want to send cash to someone, I use lightning and that person doesn't know where it came from,” says [this Reddit user](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1h1tbpv/comment/lzeg7p8/).

To simplify using Lightning for people who don’t want the pain of setting up and maintaining their own nodes, popular wallets support their own payment channels – this is more convenient, but practically amounts to using centralized custodians, so keep that in mind. 

You can buy gift cards via services like [Bitrefill](https://www.bitrefill.com/us/en/gift-cards/) or [Cryptorefills](https://www.cryptorefills.com/en/united_states/gift_cards) using Lightning, which includes subscriptions to VPNs, streaming and gaming services, gift cards for fashion brands and retail chains, electronics stores, and pre-paid digital debit cards. Usually, popular Lightning wallets offer built-in integrations allowing you to buy gift cards. You can also tip your favorite bloggers on Nostr using Lightning for the so-called [Zaps](https://nostr.how/en/zaps). Bitcoiners in Canada can even pay [utility bills](https://bitcoinwell.com/blog/live-on-a-bitcoin-standard-pay-your-bills-with-bitcoin-on-the-lightning-network) with Lightning via Bitcoin well.

If you’re a business owner, Lightning may be a good payment option for your crypto-savvy customers. Theoretically, running your own Lightning node and serving as a relay for other people’s transactions can also bring you some income in the form of fees, but in practice, it requires significant investment both in terms of money and time – if you’re curious about this aspect, take a look at this [discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/lightningnetwork/comments/1eoatwi/is_it_worth_starting_a_bitcoin_lightning_network/) on Reddit. 

## Issues with Lightning 

As a new and complex technology, the Bitcoin Lightning network has some risks, which is good to keep in mind – and use it carefully, like any nascent technology. 

There are certain scenarios in which malicious actors can attack Lightning nodes and make users lose funds – rather than bugs in the code, such attacks would be results of complex technical and social mechanics that can come into play when multiple people are exchanging money in a decentralized way. The list of such possible attacks includes:

- [mass exit attack](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.01908), in which multiple nodes collude and either go offline, locking the funds in channels for long periods of time, or steal funds by submitting closing transactions that settle channels using expired protocol states;
- [transaction-relay jamming attacks](https://gnusha.org/pi/bitcoindev/CALZpt+GdyfDotdhrrVkjTALg5DbxJyiS8ruO2S7Ggmi9Ra5B9g@mail.gmail.com/): an attacker operating a node could break the chain of hops by replacing a valid transaction with a malicious one using a higher fee – as a result, an honest node operator could lose funds;
- [time-dilation attack](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2006.01418), in which an attacker manipulates the time locks to delay transaction settlements, disrupting the whole network.

These are purely theoretical scenarios – at least until now, there have been no known cases of such attacks. 

But there have been attacks exploiting bugs in Lightning clients. For example, in November 2021, a hacker [exploited](https://protos.com/bitcoin-lightning-tipping-telegram-bot-hacked-cryptocurrency/) a bitcoin tipping bot for Telegram and stole 0.14 BTC, or about $9,480, taking advantage of a bug in the Éclair client by ACINQ. In October 2022, a [bug](https://protos.com/taproot-bug-freezes-bitcoin-inside-lightning-network-for-hours/) in Lightning Labs’ Bitcoin full node implementation, BTCD, prevented users from creating and closing channels until it was fixed. 

With all that said – have fun with Lightning but use it with caution! Bitcoin keeps evolving, new technologies constantly emerge on top of it, and that’s what makes it exciting.

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