• The Power of Bounties in Innovation

• Thoughts on Saylor

• Thoughts on L402

• L-Apps & Building

Cross-posted from stacker.news

Will Sutton - August 27, 2024

LN economics are anti-exciting

Yeah, lightning has by far the lowest "yield" of any project out there. Estimates as low as 2% for running a routing node. Pretty much every other crypto project promises at least double digit yield. On top of that, crypto promises huge number-go-up events on the horizon. Further, all lightning companies combined have less than 1% of the on-chain capital deployed to them. While most other projects take huge pre-mines for insiders. So lightning has low yield, capped upside, and almost no starting capital of its own to disburse. In other words: all the financing tricks and marketing tricks which make starting a speculative venture in every other sphere of crypto so easy are not available to us.

LApp economics ain't pretty either

Building tech on lightning has an similar feeling and it's easy to turn envious seeing lots of other fluff startups in both crypto and non-crypto get easy investments, get connections made for them, and even if it fails they get acqui-hired .But 99% of venture capital is not going to consider backing a lightning company. So those easy short term wins - money, status, validation - aren't walking through the door tomorrow. But a hacker just might, and zero your funds. This is no country for old men.

Why do we do this?

From a man who chose to do something really hard without a clear reason: "It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves." That might be the right mindset for people who are battling the really bad odds in this industry. We ourselves cannot conquer the crony capitalists, the fed, the world financial system. It's our own selves that we can battle: our laziness, close-mindedness, fear, greed, and envy of others. You climb that mountain one painstaking breath at a time. Look to the left and to the right, death falls into a crevasse. It's strangely beautiful up here, but keep looking forward because if you stop you will die. But if that's not you, yeah turn back now. Like I said before, the yield sucks.

Cross-posted from stacker.news

Will Sutton, September 13, 2022

A lot of Saylor's Bitcoin concepts, I see originating in a set of ideas that were prominent around MIT in the mid 1980's at the intersection of tech/engineering/operations industry and was adjacent to the failed "cybernetics" project. In this intellectual framework, a key opportunity for the future firm was by collecting and analyzing data at the individual level, corporate outlays and decision would be more efficient. The computing power necessary for this was just beginning to be feasible. I think Saylor was influenced by this view given he is the ceo of a business intelligence vendor doing just this.

As his own firm's product offering hit a ceiling to the value it would deliver from micro-economic measurements (e.g. trying to track inventory level changes) I think he became influenced by the idea of Bitcoin doing something similar, but in the invisible hand manner of pricing in changes and shocks to energy cost, risk preference etc across time and space into one number. In Saylor's view, no firm, of business intelligence software could outcompete the Bitcoin protocol for discovering information and properly factoring it a fair market value.

It's a good sign when people take the idea of Bitcoin, and see in it another idea that they admire and trust. I think the problem you mention is that Saylor's school of thought and lingo are not exactly a well known or admired idea by the vast majority of people considering buying bitcoin.

In my opinion, Saylor is onto something insightful with his "wall of energy" hypothesis, but he hasn't been able to quantify it. The analogy I would make is just as the finance profession prices firms by a discounted set of projected cashflows, a blockchain token could be valued by its projected future hashrate. Stated another way: A bitcoin has value 1.) if and only if producers continue to mine it in the future, 2.) the growth in value is proportional to the growth in the hashrate in the long run.

August 10, 2024

In the early 18th century, the British government faced a formidable challenge: how to accurately determine a ship's longitude at sea. The inability to do so led to numerous shipwrecks and lost lives, posing a significant threat to the empire's naval dominance and maritime trade. To solve this critical problem, the British Parliament, in 1714, offered a substantial reward known as the "Longitude Prize." This bounty was open to anyone who could devise a reliable method for calculating longitude at sea. While many prominent scientists and astronomers attempted to solve the problem, it was a relatively unknown clockmaker, John Harrison, who ultimately succeeded. Harrison's marine chronometer revolutionized navigation and underscored the potential of using innovation prizes, or bounties, to solve complex challenges.

The concept of bounties as a catalyst for innovation has a long and storied history. These prizes have been used by governments, organizations, and private entities to encourage individuals and small teams to tackle specific problems. Unlike large-scale efforts such as the X-Prize, which often require significant resources and are typically pursued by well-funded organizations, bounties are accessible to a broader audience. They offer a unique opportunity for independent inventors, small teams, and even hobbyists to compete on a level playing field, where creativity and ingenuity are the primary currencies.

One of the most compelling aspects of bounties is that they democratize innovation. By opening competitions to anyone with the skills and determination to solve a problem, bounties tap into a diverse pool of talent that might otherwise go unnoticed. This inclusivity fosters a wide range of solutions, often leading to breakthroughs that traditional research and development methods might not achieve. Furthermore, because bounties typically focus on specific, well-defined problems, they encourage participants to think creatively and pragmatically, leading to solutions that are both innovative and practical.

Modern Day Bounties

In the modern era, the concept of bounties has been revitalized and expanded through platforms like Kaggle. Kaggle is a popular online community that hosts machine learning competitions, where individuals and small teams can compete to develop the best models for various data science challenges. These competitions offer cash prizes, but more importantly, they provide participants with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, gain recognition, and contribute to solving real-world problems. Kaggle competitions have led to significant advancements in fields such as healthcare, finance, and environmental science, illustrating the power of bounties to drive innovation in diverse areas.

The success of platforms like Kaggle highlights another key advantage of bounties: they encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing. While participants compete against each other, many also share their approaches and insights with the community. This open exchange of ideas accelerates the pace of innovation, as participants build on each other's work and refine their solutions. Moreover, the competitive nature of bounties incentivizes participants to push the boundaries of what is possible, often leading to breakthroughs that extend beyond the scope of the original challenge.

Bounties: Powering Innovation Ecosystems

Bounties also serve as a powerful motivator by offering a clear and tangible reward for innovation. Unlike traditional research grants or funding, which may require extensive applications and approval processes, bounties are straightforward: solve the problem, and you win the prize. This simplicity appeals to many innovators who prefer to focus on the challenge itself rather than navigating bureaucratic hurdles. Additionally, the competitive aspect of bounties adds an element of excitement and urgency, driving participants to work harder and faster to achieve their goals.

The impact of bounties extends beyond the immediate winners. Often, the solutions developed in response to a bounty have broader applications, leading to new products, services, or technologies that benefit society as a whole. For example, John Harrison's marine chronometer not only solved the problem of determining longitude at sea but also laid the groundwork for the development of precise timekeeping, which is crucial for various fields, including telecommunications and GPS technology.

Furthermore, bounties can stimulate entire industries by drawing attention to specific challenges and encouraging a focus on innovation. For instance, in the field of machine learning, Kaggle competitions have inspired thousands of data scientists to hone their skills, leading to a surge in expertise and interest in this critical area. As a result, bounties can play a crucial role in shaping the direction of technological progress and ensuring that key challenges receive the attention they deserve.

Another important aspect of bounties is their ability to uncover hidden talent. By opening competitions to a wide audience, bounties often attract participants who may not have traditional credentials or experience but possess the creativity and problem-solving skills needed to succeed. This inclusivity allows for a more diverse range of perspectives and approaches, which can lead to more innovative and effective solutions. It also provides an entry point for individuals who may not have had the opportunity to contribute to a particular field, fostering a more inclusive and dynamic innovation ecosystem.

Lightning Bounties: The Next Step in Micro Bounties

As discussed, most innovation bounty prizes took months or years to complete in the past. While some of these bounties are still remembered today due to their difficult and impactful nature, the problem bounty solvers is the significant risk of spending so much time.

This is why Lightning Bounties is a significant advance in bounties. We break them down into very small pieces and reward the prize immediately. It's not unheard of to earn multiple bounties in a single day. With this rate of feedback, bounty hunters can focus their efforts on the languages, projects that are best suited to their skills and earning goals.

Earn Your First Bounty Now - By adding to this article

So much for theory, time to take action...and get paid!

Respond to this article by adding an example of a historical or modern day bounty system and add to the article. To do this simply

• Sign up by "Log In with GitHub" at app.lightningbounties.com

• Review the metrics for evaluating submissions here

• Fork the repo, make a commit and submit a PR as described here. Notice this works because this website (powered by Gitbook) is sync'd with an underlying git repository.

• Wait for a team member to review your changes and merge them into the git repo

After these steps are complete: you should now have sats deposited into your profile. Now you can use those sats to withdraw them into your wallet or to post a bounty of your own.

Community Contributions

What are some examples of bounties you've seen that have been effective?

from @sutt:

Vitalik Buterin earned his first bitcoins in 2011 by writing articles for Bitcoin Weekly (1). Vitalik also offered bounties to Gavin Wood for his Ethereum C++ client on their first communications (2).

Looks like in both cases, bounties were a key part of bringing in talent that did not have any official credentials in the space.

(1)

(2)

Excerpts from Laura Chin's Cryptopians (2022). I was gited this book several months ago and it's been a great read. I highly recommend it.

End.

The State of Open Source Development

In the $1.5 trillion software industry, open-source software has become the foundation of innovation, with 90% of companies relying on it. However, a striking disparity exists: while 76% of modern codebases are built on open-source foundations, only 21% of maintainers receive compensation for their invaluable contributions. This misalignment is particularly glaring, considering GitHub's massive ecosystem of over 100 million developers contributing more than 5.2 billion commits annually.

The challenge lies not in a lack of talent but in infrastructure and incentives. Millions of skilled developers, especially in the Global South, remain disconnected from high-impact opportunities due to traditional banking restrictions, complex payment systems, and geographical barriers. This untapped potential hinders innovation and stifles the growth of critical projects.

Introducing Lightning Bounties: A Solution for Global Collaboration

Lightning Bounties emerges as a transformative platform to bridge this gap, leveraging Bitcoin's Lightning Network to create a truly borderless bounty aggregator for open-source development. By leveraging the speed and efficiency of the Lightning Network, Lightning Bounties enables immediate Bitcoin payouts for approved pull requests, eliminating delays and fees associated with traditional payment methods.

Key Features and Benefits:

1. Instant Compensation: Utilizes the Lightning Network for immediate Bitcoin payouts.

2. Global Accessibility: Opens doors for talent worldwide, including those in underserved regions.

3. Lowered Barriers to Entry: Seamless integration with GitHub streamlines the contribution process.

4. Diverse Contributions: Welcomes various forms of input, from coding to documentation and design.

5. Community-Driven Crowdfunding: Enables collective funding of critical issues and features.

6. Lightning-Fast Payments: Processes transactions at unprecedented speeds, regardless of amount or destination.

Driving Lightning Network Development

Lightning Bounties plays a crucial role in accelerating the growth and security of the Lightning Network itself. By incentivizing contributions to Lightning Network projects, the platform ensures that this vital infrastructure receives the attention and resources it deserves. This collaborative effort not only accelerates the network's development, it also ensures its resilience, paving the way for a more efficient and scalable Bitcoin ecosystem.

Democratizing Participation

Our platform emphasizes inclusivity by welcoming diverse contributions beyond complex coding tasks. This approach nurtures the growth of individual developers and cultivates a diverse community that taps into the collective genius of developers worldwide.

Aligning with Open-Source and Bitcoin Principles

Lightning Bounties embodies the ethos of both the open-source community and Bitcoin itself. It aligns with principles of transparency, collaboration, permissionless contribution, decentralization, and censorship resistance. By enabling anyone to contribute to open-source projects and be instantly rewarded, it creates a new paradigm where online collaboration mirrors these core values.

Promoting a Global, Decentralized Workforce

Lightning Bounties transcends the limitations of traditional freelance models, empowering developers worldwide to collaborate seamlessly. It challenges the notion of a centralized workforce, fostering a paradigm of decentralized collaboration where talent is recognized based on merit, not location. This shift democratizes access to opportunities, enabling developers to forge their own paths as global freelancers.

A New Paradigm for Innovation

Lightning Bounties symbolizes a paradigm shift in open-source collaboration and the future of work. By aligning with principles of decentralization, permissionless participation, and financial inclusivity, it paves the way for a more equitable and innovative digital economy. The platform's commitment to financial inclusivity empowers individuals to take control of their financial futures and participate in the global marketplace on their own terms.

Conclusion

Lightning Bounties represents a transformative vision that aligns the ethos of open-source development with the principles of decentralization and global accessibility. By leveraging the Lightning Network and Bitcoin's borderless nature, it empowers a global workforce of developers to contribute to the future of the decentralized web. As we move forward in this interconnected world, platforms like Lightning Bounties serve as beacons of what's possible when technology, creativity, and inclusivity converge, paving the way for a more equitable and innovative digital future.

Welcome to the Lightning Bounties Blog

Our blog serves as a hub for the latest updates, insights, and success stories from our community of bounty hunters and organizations.

Here, bugs become Bitcoin, and code turns into collaboration. As a Bitcoin-powered bug bounty platform, we connect developers and organizations through open-source bounties, rewarding fixes instantly via GitHub and the Lightning Network.

This blog is your backstage pass to:

1. Recaps of Industry Events

2. Blog Posts Written by the Lightning Bounties Team

3. Lightning Bounties in the Media

4. In-depth tutorials for Using Lightning Bounties

5. Platform updates and new features

6. Lightning Network Startup Spotlight

7. and so much more!

Whether you're hunting bounties or securing your codebase, dive into stories of bugs turned into Bitcoin, platform updates, and the future of decentralized development.

Lightning Bounties Event Recaps

Follow our journey through the heart of Bitcoin and Lightning Network events—from global conferences to grassroots meetups. These recaps unpack key debates, live demos of our platform in action, and collaborations forged with builders pushing Bitcoin development forward. Whether we’re onstage discussing protocol upgrades or workshopping ideas at hackathons, you’ll get a front-row seat to how we’re shaping the future of open-source innovation.

Blog Posts Written by the Lightning Bounties Team

Our posts range from historical deep dives into the origins of bug bounties and opinion pieces on Bitcoin’s most influential thinkers, to technical breakdowns of Lightning Network upgrades and candid reflections on building a Bitcoin-native startup. Stay tuned as we share insights, debates, and behind-the-scenes stories.

Lightning Bounties In the Media

Lightning Bounties has been featured in Bitcoin-focused outlets like Bitcoin News and the EarlyDays Podcast, spotlighting our unique model of rewarding developers with instant Bitcoin payouts via the Lightning Network. PlebLab Startup Day highlighted our role in advancing open-source collaboration through real-time bug bounties. Stay tuned for more updates on our growing media presence!

[Coming Soon] Mastering Lightning Bounties: Detailed Tutorials & New Feature Updates:

Welcome to the Lightning Bounties blog section, where you can find in-depth tutorials and the latest platform updates. Our tutorials will help you navigate the Lightning Bounties platform, covering everything from initial setup to advanced features, ensuring you can make the most of your experience.

Stay informed about new features and enhancements to the Lightning Bounties platform, so you can leverage the latest tools and improvements.

Whether you're a newcomer or an experienced user, this section is your go-to resource for mastering Lightning Bounties.

Cross-Posted from

Enrique Gamboa, May 5 2024

Introduction 🌟

Greetings! As staunch advocates for open-source and cryptocurrency, participating in the was an excellent match for our team’s aspirations. Driven by a commitment to innovation, we embarked on a challenge to enhance how open-source contributions are rewarded 🪙. We focused on integrating Bitcoin, GitHub actions and the Lightning Network into our solution.

The Hackathon Challenge ⚙️

The atmosphere at the was charged with excitement, featuring a blend of intense coding and collaborative innovation. Over the weekend of April 19th to 21st (the Same as the Bitcoin halving 2024), we developed our project, “Lightning Bounties,”, which integrates GitHub Actions with Bitcoin rewards 🪙, providing a compelling incentive for open-source contributions.

(continued...)

Read the full article here:

Imagine a world where online commerce is truly free - no middlemen taking 15% cuts, no data harvesting, and no restrictions on what you can buy or sell. That's exactly what Shopstr has built. Born from a simple question ("What can you actually buy with Bitcoin?"), Shopstr has emerged as one of the most promising projects in the Top Builder competition.

After meeting Calvadev at the , we've been following Shopstr's journey closely. Their recent appearance offers an inspiring look into building a decentralized marketplace that's revolutionizing e-commerce. Built on Nostr and Bitcoin, Shopstr's vision extends far beyond just another shopping platform - it's about creating true peer-to-peer commerce without intermediaries. We recently experienced this firsthand by purchasing a Shopstr-branded t-shirt, and the process was remarkably smooth - from browsing to Lightning payment, demonstrating exactly what they discussed about making Bitcoin commerce accessible.

What is Shopstr?

Shopstr is a decentralized marketplace enabling users to buy and sell goods using Bitcoin anonymously. Unlike traditional platforms like eBay that extract up to 15% from sellers, or Facebook Marketplace's restrictive policies and data collection practices, Shopstr provides a free, open, and globally accessible platform for online commerce. The key differentiator is its commitment to privacy and user sovereignty - there's no KYC, no data harvesting, and most importantly, no middlemen taking hefty fees from transactions.

Technical Innovation:

Built on Nostr and utilizing Cashu for private Bitcoin payments, Shopstr's technical architecture demonstrates how modern protocols can create superior user experiences. The platform gained significant traction after being integrated into Amethyst, a popular Nostr client, showcasing the power of open protocols and community collaboration. This interoperability means listings can appear across multiple platforms while maintaining the privacy-preserving features that make Shopstr unique.

Why It Matters:

Shopstr represents what online marketplaces should be: open, private, and accessible to everyone. By combining Bitcoin payments with Nostr's decentralized communication, they're creating a platform where anyone can participate in global commerce without restrictions or excessive fees. Their focus on privacy and user sovereignty aligns perfectly with Bitcoin's core values, while their commitment to simplicity makes it accessible to newcomers.

Looking beyond traditional e-commerce models, Shopstr's approach to merchant empowerment is revolutionary. While platforms like eBay and Amazon focus on maximizing their own profits through fees and data collection, Shopstr prioritizes creating direct connections between buyers and sellers. This approach not only reduces costs but also builds stronger community relationships and trust within the marketplace.

The Inspiration behind Shopstr:

The idea for Shopstr came from a simple question - what can you actually buy with Bitcoin? When founder Calvadev's father asked this, it highlighted a crucial gap in the Bitcoin ecosystem. While inspired by early pioneers like Silk Road's vision of free market exchange, Shopstr takes a different approach - focusing on empowering individual creators and artisans through Bitcoin and Nostr. This vision of enabling permissionless commerce while maintaining privacy and security has resonated strongly with the community.

Advice for Aspiring Builders:

Calvadev's journey offers valuable insights about the importance of just starting and finding your community. "The most important thing is throwing something out there," he shares, emphasizing how surrounding yourself with motivated builders can spark innovation. From attending hackathons to joining builder communities, Shopstr's growth demonstrates how community connections can transform an idea into reality.

Getting Started:

Ready to experience the future of Bitcoin commerce? Visit to start buying and selling with Bitcoin. Want to contribute to the project? Find or check out their open-source repository on . Join the revolution in decentralized commerce and be part of building a more open, private, and accessible marketplace for everyone!

Welcome to the LB x Top Builder Weekly Recap, where we document our journey through the Top Builder competition. Each week, we provide insights into our progress, highlight key milestones, and share challenges faced by our team. This blog serves as a comprehensive overview of our development efforts, showcasing feature updates, collaborative strategies, and lessons learned along the way. Join us as we reflect on our achievements and outline our next steps in this exciting competition!

This past weekend, the Lightning Bounties team returned to the MIT Bitcoin Hackathon—not as participants, but as mentors. Just one year after winning Track 1 with our GitHub-Bitcoin payment integration, we found ourselves guiding 510 hackers through the challenges we had faced ourselves. This full-circle journey from competitors to coaches at the "Freedom Tech" hackathon highlighted not only Bitcoin's growing ecosystem but also the powerful community knowledge transfer that drives innovation forward. Here's our story of mentorship, technical challenges, and the incredible projects that emerged over those intensive 30 hours.

The Birth of Lightning Bounties

Last spring, we huddled around a table at MIT, frantically debugging Lightning Network connections as the final minutes of the 2024 hackathon ticked down. Our project—a system to automatically reward open-source contributors on GitHub with Bitcoin—was held together with equal parts code, grit, and Red Bull.

When Lightning Bounties was announced as the Track 1 winner, we experienced that rare moment of validation every builder craves. The enthusiastic response from judges and fellow participants confirmed we'd identified a genuine problem worth solving in open-source development.

That single weekend transformed our trajectory entirely. Within a year, we evolved from a hackathon project to a vibrant startup featured in Bitcoin News and selected as a finalist in PlebLab's Top Builder competition.

Why We Returned as Mentors

We chose to mentor at this year's hackathon because Lightning Bounties is living proof that a weekend project built on grit can evolve into something meaningful. The doors that opened for us—media exposure, accelerator programs, industry connections—are waiting for the next wave of builders too.

There's something uniquely satisfying about watching someone solve a problem that once had you banging your head against the wall. Every time we helped a team navigate channel balancing issues or debug a payment flow, we weren't just solving their immediate problem—we were shortening their learning curve by months.

Coming Full Circle: Mentors at MIT 2025

This year's hackathon theme—"Freedom Tech"—embodied everything Lightning Bounties was built to support. For 30 straight hours, 510 hackers from around the globe transformed concepts into code, building tools for privacy, financial sovereignty, and censorship resistance. With 42 project submissions, this marked a massive turnout compared to the 300+ participants last year—a testament to Bitcoin's growing developer interest and MIT's pull in the space.

Walking through the hacking spaces transported us back to last year. The determined expressions, the excitement of first Lightning transactions, the shared frustration of debugging—it all felt familiar yet different from our new perspective. We saw teams experiencing the same roadblocks we had encountered, but now we could offer guidance instead of just commiseration.

The most rewarding moments came when teams would hit what seemed like a dead end, only to break through with a gentle nudge in the right direction. This is what Bitcoin development is truly about—shared knowledge collaborative innovation.

Lightning Bounties Workshop: Building L-Apps on MutinyNet

Our workshop at the MIT Bitcoin Hackathon 2025 was a cornerstone of our mentorship efforts, designed to empower participants to build Lightning Network applications without risking real funds. Titled "Setup LNBits on MutinyNet", the session introduced hackers to testnet nodes from Voltage Cloud and LNBits' API, providing a safe sandbox for experimentation. Participants learned how to:

• Deploy Lightning nodes in minutes

• Build functional applications like tipping bots or donation platforms

• Transition projects from testnet to mainnet seamlessly

The turnout was incredible, with over 50 participants, 19 Replit forks of our tutorial and an active Discord discussion buzzing with questions and ideas. Hackers left the workshop equipped with practical skills and ready to integrate Lightning payments into their hackathon projects. Several teams leveraged this knowledge, creating projects that embodied the hackathon's "Freedom Tech" theme. From streaming payment automations to scalable developer tools, the workshop proved that hands-on mentorship can really help foster excitement and accelerate project creation.

The Judge's Perspective: Lightning Bounties' Enrique and Pavel

This year, we had the unique privilege of seeing the hackathon from yet another angle—as judges. Our team members Enrique and Pavel joined the judging panel, evaluating projects based on technical merit, impact, and originality.

"The level of technical creativity I saw was humbling," Enrique reflected. "The energy and inspiration from this year's participants were a beautiful reminder of what can be accomplished with hard work."

Pavel noted,

"What impressed me most was how teams avoided the easy route, instead aiming high and truly excelling. These aren't just forks with minor tweaks to existing projects—many hold real potential to enhance Bitcoin's usability and adoption right now."

Having been in the competitors' shoes just a year ago, Enrique and Pavel brought a uniquely empathetic perspective to the judging process, asking the questions they wished they'd been asked, and looking for the passion behind the presentations.

The Winners

If there's one thing that keeps Bitcoin builders humble, it's watching the next wave of innovators take your ideas and catapult them into dimensions you hadn't even considered. The innovation showcased at the MIT Bitcoin Hackathon 2025 left us genuinely impressed. Here are the projects that stood out for their creativity, technical excellence,

TANOS (Taproot Adaptor for Nostr-Orchestrated Swaps) took home the Track 3 prize, enabling trustless atomic swaps between Nostr events and Bitcoin Taproot UTXOs through adaptor signatures. Built in Go, it ensures either a Nostr event is revealed and Bitcoin is paid, or nothing happens—eliminating counterparty risk without escrows.

Payjoin Integrations claimed the Track 1 prize (our old stomping grounds!) With the power of vibe coding they launched a web app that educates the user on how payjoin works via a step by step walkthrough, while coordinating a real payjoin live. It is not merely an educational tool. It is the first use of PDK in JavaScript and the most complete implementation available in JavaScript.

The demo presents a sender and receiver wallet. They sync to Mutinynet using Bitcoin Dev Kit. The team shows examples of what sending and receiving could look like. They also give an "under the hood" look at the Payjoin process.

The Next Wave: Projects That Inspired Us

BitBet created a decentralized sportsbook using Discreet Log Contracts (DLCs) for resolving real-world events without trusted third parties. Their demo featured a live NBA game with odds updating in real-time—all without a bookmaker in sight.

Lightning Time reimagined payroll with a Lightning-powered streaming platform that makes payday an obsolete concept. Why wait two weeks when your earnings can flow to your wallet second by second? Their time-tracking integration was particularly clever, automatically streaming payments when you're clocked in.

ZipZap allows for social media tipping over Lightning, using BOLT 12 offers and taking advantage of the latest protocol upgrades to Lightning. Zip Zap enable nostr users to tip each other's posts while maintaining self-custody and privacy.

Bitlook centralizes Bitcoin data in one dashboard, combining real-time blockchain and Lightning Network analytics with curated news. The project features Lightning wallet integration for transactions and an AI chatbot for Bitcoin education.

Reviu tackled academic gate-keeping with a peer-review platform where researchers stake sats to validate work pseudonymously. Quality rises to the top based on merit, not institutional affiliation—a refreshing approach to knowledge sharing.

Each project reflected not just technical skill but a deep understanding of how Bitcoin and Lightning can solve real problems in ways that traditional systems simply cannot.

Lightning Bounties: The Road Ahead

The energy at the 2025 MIT Bitcoin Hackathon reminded us why we built Lightning Bounties in the first place: to nurture innovation in the Bitcoin ecosystem through collaboration and incentives. The energy at MIT confirmed what we've suspected all along—Bitcoin's future isn't just bright, it's blinding when viewed through the creative lens of builders who care deeply about financial freedom.

We're expanding our commitment to nurturing Bitcoin's builder ecosystem in two concrete ways:

The next generation of Bitcoin innovation is already being built—we'd love to help you be part of it.

PlebLab's Week 1 Recap: Lightning Bounties

Let's Dive into Week 1 of Top Builder

In this section, we'll explore the events and highlights of the first week.

Welcome to the inaugural edition of PlebLab's Week 1 Recap, presenting insights from the perspective of Lightning Bounties! In this edition, we’ll share the valuable lessons we've learned, highlight the progress we've made with developing our bounty platform, and offer an overview of the engaging Top Builder workshops.

Meeting the Teams

We had an exciting opportunity to preview and meet the participants in the Top Builder contest. This competition is filled with innovative projects designed to onboard new users to start stacking sats and use Bitcoin in unprecedented ways.

Watch the recording below to learn about the teams and their projects. ⬇️

Seeing all of these amazing projects and meeting the teams behind them got us over at the Lightning Bounties team excited to roll up our sleeves and get involved. Here is a brief breakdown of what we have accomplished in Week 1

Putting Together Our Roadmaps: Dev and Biz Dev Bored

Roadmap and Task Breakdown

Before diving into development, we prepared a milestone roadmap and task list. Our roadmap is divided into two main sections:

• Developer Tasks: Handled by Will and Pavel.

• Business Development: Managed by Enrique and Mike.

Developer Roadmap /Issue Tracker for Top Builder

Will outdid himself by creating an exceptional issue tracker for our Top Builder roadmap. It neatly organizes our milestones, defines clear deliverables, and sets a strong foundation for how we’ll tackle upcoming tasks. By using as our blueprint, we can easily pinpoint priorities, assign responsibilities, and track progress in real-time. This level of transparency and structure ensures the entire team stays aligned on what needs to be done when it needs to be done, and who is responsible for each piece of the puzzle.

Biz Dev Roadmap /Tasks Tracker for Top Builder

Using Will's issue tracker as a guide, the Biz dev team created a Notion-flavored business development tracker. It’s tailored to help us prioritize key business goals like refining our pitch, getting our LLC converted into a C-Corp, improving our documentation, and adding content for our Blog while serving as sort of a PoW while in Top Builder. This reminds me that I need to find bounties to post on our app. Interested? Ping me

Together, these tools ensure we’re not just moving forward but doing so with clarity and purpose.

New Feature: Lock Time and Expiration for Bounties

The Dev Team introduced a lock time feature that holds each bounty’s reward in escrow for a set period—typically recommended at two weeks. This locked window confirms for bounty hunters that if they submit a valid solution before the time is up, the reward is guaranteed. However, once the lock time ends, the reward doesn’t automatically disappear—bounty hunters can still claim it. What does change is that the bounty poster now has the option to expire the bounty if their priorities shift or if they solve the issue independently. Through this approach, bounty hunting becomes less risky for contributors (they know funds are firmly allocated) and more flexible for project teams (they can quickly adapt and reclaim funds for other pressing needs).

Overall, lock times protect hunters by assuring them the reward is available, while expiration safeguards bounty posters by letting them recover any unclaimed rewards for future bounties or other development tasks. This balance of certainty and flexibility makes bounty-driven collaboration smoother and more efficient.

This feature is currently in our test app but willl be implemented in our main app in the coming weeks.

Workshop: 'Beyond the Hype Validating Your Bitcoin Idea' By Teresa Martin

See the complete workshop below ⬇️

One of the key takeaways was the importance of concept viability. It's not enough to have a cool idea; we need to ensure our solution addresses a real problem and is unique enough to stand out in the market. This immediately resonated with me due to my past experiences with doing tokenomics analysis for early-stage projects looking to launch a token. Most of my work involved competitor analysis researching how our clients' projects would bring in demand for their tokens. To make a long story short, most of the projects I researched were forks of existing successful projects that claimed to be different or innovative. The truth is, these projects were all the same, just different front-end code.

Another valuable lesson was about gathering feedback and testing early. Teresa suggested building prototypes and testing concepts before investing too much time and resources into full product development. We have begun interviewing our bounty hunters and the feedback has been incredible. However, we are always looking for feedback and implementing features, so feel free to contact us with any suggestions and we can set up a time to discuss each other’s projects. For your time, we are happy to pay you some sats for your feedback.

Teresa’s presentation has reinforced the importance of thorough in-depth research, resilience, and tapping into the experience of those who have navigated these waters before can be incredibly beneficial in building a successful Bitcoin-focused business.

With this in mind, we are lucky to be part of Top Builder where we can connect with founders who've secured investments in the Bitcoin space which will be a priority for us. Their insights and advice will be crucial as we navigate the unique challenges of building a Bitcoin-native business.

Wrapping it Up:

The Lightning Bounties team is dedicated to sustaining our current momentum and is excited to see continued growth from the ideas and projects generated this week. These will significantly contribute to the wider Lightning Network community. For those interested in joining our mission, we welcome your involvement to help make an impact.

After an energizing Week 1, we are focused on advancing our roadmap, launching new features, and applying insights from Pleblab mentors and fellow builders. This week has laid a solid foundation for future initiatives.

The Top Builder competition has already emerged as an excellent avenue for growth, learning, and networking with other passionate Bitcoin builders. We eagerly anticipate the developments of Week 2 as we continue advancing Lightning Bounties!

This past weekend, the Lightning Bounties team returned to the MIT Bitcoin Hackathon—not as participants, but as mentors. Just one year after winning Track 1 with our GitHub-Bitcoin payment integration, we found ourselves guiding 510 hackers through the challenges we had faced ourselves. This full-circle journey from competitors to coaches at the "Freedom Tech" hackathon highlighted not only Bitcoin's growing ecosystem but also the powerful community knowledge transfer that drives innovation forward. Here's our story of mentorship, technical challenges, and the incredible projects that emerged over those intensive 30 hours.

The Birth of Lightning Bounties

Last spring, we huddled around a table at MIT, frantically debugging Lightning Network connections as the final minutes of the 2024 hackathon ticked down. Our project—a system to automatically reward open-source contributors on GitHub with Bitcoin—was held together with equal parts code, grit, and Red Bull.

When Lightning Bounties was announced as the we experienced that rare moment of validation every builder craves. The enthusiastic response from judges and fellow participants confirmed we'd identified a genuine problem worth solving in open-source development.

That single weekend transformed our trajectory entirely. Within a year, we evolved from a hackathon project to a featured in and selected as a finalist in .

Why We Returned as Mentors

We chose to mentor at this year's hackathon because Lightning Bounties is living proof that a weekend project built on grit can evolve into something meaningful. The doors that opened for us—media exposure, accelerator programs, industry connections—are waiting for the next wave of builders too.

There's something uniquely satisfying about watching someone solve a problem that once had you banging your head against the wall. Every time we helped a team navigate channel balancing issues or debug a payment flow, we weren't just solving their immediate problem—we were shortening their learning curve by months.

Coming Full Circle: Mentors at MIT 2025

This year's hackathon theme—"Freedom Tech"—embodied everything Lightning Bounties was built to support. For 30 straight hours, 510 hackers from around the globe transformed concepts into code, building tools for privacy, financial sovereignty, and censorship resistance. With 42 project submissions, this marked a massive turnout compared to the 300+ participants last year—a testament to Bitcoin's growing developer interest and MIT's pull in the space.

Walking through the hacking spaces transported us back to last year. The determined expressions, the excitement of first Lightning transactions, the shared frustration of debugging—it all felt familiar yet different from our new perspective. We saw teams experiencing the same roadblocks we had encountered, but now we could offer guidance instead of just commiseration.

The most rewarding moments came when teams would hit what seemed like a dead end, only to break through with a gentle nudge in the right direction. This is what Bitcoin development is truly about—shared knowledge collaborative innovation.

Our workshop at the MIT Bitcoin Hackathon 2025 was a cornerstone of our mentorship efforts, designed to empower participants to build Lightning Network applications without risking real funds. Titled "Setup LNBits on MutinyNet", the session introduced hackers to testnet nodes from Voltage Cloud and LNBits' API, providing a safe sandbox for experimentation. Participants learned how to:

• Deploy Lightning nodes in minutes

• Build functional applications like tipping bots or donation platforms

• Transition projects from testnet to mainnet seamlessly

The turnout was incredible, with over 50 participants, of our tutorial and an active Discord discussion buzzing with questions and ideas. Hackers left the workshop equipped with practical skills and ready to integrate Lightning payments into their hackathon projects. Several teams leveraged this knowledge, creating projects that embodied the hackathon's "Freedom Tech" theme. From streaming payment automations to scalable developer tools, the workshop proved that hands-on mentorship can really help foster excitement and accelerate project creation.

The Judge's Perspective: Lightning Bounties' Enrique and Pavel

This year, we had the unique privilege of seeing the hackathon from yet another angle—as judges. Our team members Enrique and Pavel joined the judging panel, evaluating projects based on technical merit, impact, and originality.

"The level of technical creativity I saw was humbling," Enrique reflected. "The energy and inspiration from this year's participants were a beautiful reminder of what can be accomplished with hard work."

Pavel noted,

"What impressed me most was how teams avoided the easy route, instead aiming high and truly excelling. These aren't just forks with minor tweaks to existing projects—many hold real potential to enhance Bitcoin's usability and adoption right now."

Having been in the competitors' shoes just a year ago, Enrique and Pavel brought a uniquely empathetic perspective to the judging process, asking the questions they wished they'd been asked, and looking for the passion behind the presentations.

The Winners

If there's one thing that keeps Bitcoin builders humble, it's watching the next wave of innovators take your ideas and catapult them into dimensions you hadn't even considered. The innovation showcased at the MIT Bitcoin Hackathon 2025 left us genuinely impressed. Here are the projects that stood out for their creativity, technical excellence,

took home the Track 3 prize, enabling trustless atomic swaps between Nostr events and Bitcoin Taproot UTXOs through adaptor signatures. Built in Go, it ensures either a Nostr event is revealed and Bitcoin is paid, or nothing happens—eliminating counterparty risk without escrows.

claimed the Track 1 prize (our old stomping grounds!) With the power of vibe coding they launched a web app that educates the user on how payjoin works via a step by step walkthrough, while coordinating a real payjoin live. It is not merely an educational tool. It is the first use of PDK in JavaScript and the most complete implementation available in JavaScript.

The demo presents a sender and receiver wallet. They sync to Mutinynet using Bitcoin Dev Kit. The team shows examples of what sending and receiving could look like. They also give an "under the hood" look at the Payjoin process.

The Next Wave: Projects That Inspired Us

created a decentralized sportsbook using Discreet Log Contracts (DLCs) for resolving real-world events without trusted third parties. Their demo featured a live NBA game with odds updating in real-time—all without a bookmaker in sight.

reimagined payroll with a Lightning-powered streaming platform that makes payday an obsolete concept. Why wait two weeks when your earnings can flow to your wallet second by second? Their time-tracking integration was particularly clever, automatically streaming payments when you're clocked in.

allows for social media tipping over Lightning, using BOLT 12 offers and taking advantage of the latest protocol upgrades to Lightning. Zip Zap enable nostr users to tip each other's posts while maintaining self-custody and privacy.

centralizes Bitcoin data in one dashboard, combining real-time blockchain and Lightning Network analytics with curated news. The project features Lightning wallet integration for transactions and an AI chatbot for Bitcoin education.

tackled academic gate-keeping with a peer-review platform where researchers stake sats to validate work pseudonymously. Quality rises to the top based on merit, not institutional affiliation—a refreshing approach to knowledge sharing.

Each project reflected not just technical skill but a deep understanding of how Bitcoin and Lightning can solve real problems in ways that traditional systems simply cannot.

Lightning Bounties: The Road Ahead

The energy at the 2025 MIT Bitcoin Hackathon reminded us why we built Lightning Bounties in the first place: to nurture innovation in the Bitcoin ecosystem through collaboration and incentives. The energy at MIT confirmed what we've suspected all along—Bitcoin's future isn't just bright, it's blinding when viewed through the creative lens of builders who care deeply about financial freedom.

We're expanding our commitment to nurturing Bitcoin's builder ecosystem in two concrete ways:

The next generation of Bitcoin innovation is already being built—we'd love to help you be part of it.

Remember that feeling when you're building something in your basement and suddenly realize it might just be something that someone will use? That's basically us right now, looking back at Lightning Bounties' first year. When we huddled together at the MIT Bitcoin Hackathon last April, we were just a bunch of indie hackers with a crazy idea: what if we could use the Lightning Network to fix open-source funding? Fast forward one year, and we've gone from scribbling ideas on dusty notebooks to processing over a million sats across our platform. Grab some coffee (or whiskey) and let me walk you through the rollercoaster that's the first year of Lightning Bounties.

Winning the 2024 MIT Bitcoin Hackathon

Our journey began during a historic weekend—April 19-21, 2024—coinciding with Bitcoin's fourth halving. While the crypto world watched the halving countdown, our team huddled at MIT with a mission: solve a critical problem plaguing open-source development.

The statistics told a troubling story: 76% of modern codebases rely on open-source foundations, yet only 21% of maintainers receive compensation for their contributions. This disconnect wasn't just a statistic—it represented countless hours of unrecognized work powering our digital world. Over 30 caffeine-fueled hours, we built "Lightning Bounties," integrating GitHub Actions with Bitcoin rewards through the Lightning Network. Our pitch was simple but powerful: create a easy way for open-source contributors to receive instant compensation through borderless Bitcoin payments.

When we were announced as first-place winners in the Bitcoin, Lightning & Taproot track, it wasn't just a victory for our team—it validated that we'd identified a real problem with a viable solution. The bragging rights was nice, but the enthusiastic feedback from judges and fellow hackers convinced us we were onto something bigger than a weekend project.

From Hackathon Project to Forming an LLC

The post-hackathon high quickly gave way to the realities of building a sustainable platform. Transforming our prototype into a legitimate business meant tackling unfamiliar territory: legal structures, business models, and strategic planning.

Forming our LLC wasn't just paperwork—it represented our commitment to building something lasting. Each team meeting became more structured, shifting from "wouldn't it be cool if..." conversations to discussions about user acquisition, development roadmaps, and sustainability. The transition taught us valuable lessons about building in both the Bitcoin and open-source spaces. We learned to balance innovation with practicality, idealism with sustainability. Most importantly, we discovered that our passion for connecting value to contribution resonated deeply with both communities.

Embracing Self-Sovereignty: From GitHub Plugin to Independent Platform

Our most pivotal decision came when we transitioned from a GitHub plugin to our own self-hosted platform. Building as a GitHub Action initially made sense for rapid deployment, but we quickly realized we'd be building on quicksand—one policy change could wipe us out overnight.

Late-night team discussions always circled back to the same Bitcoin principle: "Why sacrifice self-sovereignty when it's the very foundation of what we believe in?" The answer was clear.

Our pivot to app.lightningbounties.com became our declaration of independence. We built a platform that leverages GitHub's API while maintaining complete control of our destiny—essentially becoming a Layer 2 solution atop GitHub's infrastructure. Contributors still interact with familiar GitHub workflows while we handle the Lightning payments independently.

By year's end, with over 1 million sats flowing through our platform, we'd proven that in true Bitcoin fashion, choosing sovereignty over convenience pays dividends.

Lightning Bounties Launch / PlebLab Startup Day CMDX

September 20, 2024, marked a pivotal moment for Lightning Bounties—our official debut to the Bitcoin world at PlebLab's Startup Day in Mexico City. This wasn't just another presentation; it was our "getting out of our basement and introducing the world to Lightning Bounties" moment. Behind the scenes, our development team was working tirelessly to ensure everything ran smoothly. and were coding around the clock, squashing bugs and optimizing performance to transform what once took 30 seconds in our Alpha stage into an almost instantaneous experience.

Meanwhile, and were on the ground in Mexico City, refining our presentation while simultaneously trying to ward off Montezuma's revenge—a challenge that only added to the pre-presentation jitters. As we took the stage, hearts racing despite countless rehearsals, Enrique executed each click and transition flawlessly, demonstrating the platform we'd poured our hearts into building.

Finding Our Home in the Bitcoin Ecosystem

By the event's conclusion, any doubts about where Lightning Bounties belonged had completely dissolved. As the formal presentations gave way to the Yopaki Block Party, featuring gourmet food, bottomless drinks, and even a surprise mariachi band, we found ourselves forming meaningful connections that would shape our future. Particular highlights included meeting, the founder and CEO of who became our impromptu mentor, offering invaluable insights and ongoing guidance. An interview with a Bitcoin Journalist and legend, not only garnered thousands of views but doubled our Twitter following overnight.

We came away from Startup Day with absolute certainty that we had found our home in the Bitcoin ecosystem—the most inspiring and dynamic community in all of crypto. The connections made, knowledge gained, and support received energized us like never before, leaving us more motivated than ever to continue building Lightning Bounties into the best platform it could possibly be.

Security First: Partnering with Branta

As our platform handled increasing transaction volumes, security became our top priority. Our partnership with Branta to secure BOLT-11 deposits represented not just a technical integration but our commitment to building trust with users.

The collaboration introduced critical security features:

• Deposit Verification: Implemented a system allowing users to verify payments before processing.

• Tamper Detection: Enabled identification of client-side tampering that was previously impossible to detect.

• Security Flagging: Created mechanisms to flag non-matching BOLT-11 deposits as suspect.

These enhancements addressed vulnerabilities that are often overlooked in Lightning implementations. By verifying deposits and detecting tampering, we created a more secure environment for both project owners and contributors—building the trust necessary for our platform's continued growth.

Lightning Bounties Enters PlebLab’s Top Builder Season II

When we submitted our application to PlebLab's Top Builder Season ||, we essentially threw our fledgling project into a pressure cooker alongside Bitcoin's most ambitious builders. From day one, we embraced the "ship or sink" mentality that permeates the Bitcoin space. By Week 2, we'd deployed our Time Lock and Expiry feature to production, striking that crucial balance between security and user experience. Behind the scenes, our internal analytics dashboard gave us the cold, hard metrics that became our north star: percentage of solved bounties, average sats per bounty, and developer engagement rates.

The competition's accelerated timeline pushed us to eliminate friction at every opportunity. became our feature blitz with the launch of Anonymous Rewards and "Add Without Login" capabilities—strategically removing barriers to entry. All while maintaining our dual focus of building features and documenting everything we learned.

Lightning Bounties: Top Builder Season II Finalists

The announcement invalidated our efforts: Lightning Bounties had secured a spot as one of just five finalists heading to Austin. Preparing for PlebLab's Startup Day on March 13th consumed every moment as we refined our demonstration to showcase our platform's simplicity and direct access to GitHub's massive developer community.

Standing on that Austin stage alongside innovators like , , , and was both humbling and energizing. Though we didn't take home the top prize, we gained something more valuable: battle-tested experience and crystal-clear direction. The compressed timeline of Top Builder forced us to make hard choices about prioritization and to refine our messaging relentlessly. This pressure-cooker environment provided exactly the exposure, validation, and focus we needed to propel Lightning Bounties into its next chapter—one where we could apply these hard-won lessons to serve our growing community of bounty hunters and open-source maintainers.

Alby Community Call (Gaining Traction)

When reached out via Twitter asking if we'd join their community call, I nearly spilled RedBull all over my keyboard. For context, this is like being an indie band and suddenly getting a text from Spotify asking if you want to be on their featured playlist. is THE browser extension for Lightning payments—a platform we assumed would never notice us in an ocean of impressive Bitcoin projects. The call itself was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating.

We shared our vision, demonstrated our platform, and waited for the inevitable "thanks but no thanks." Instead, something magical happened—people got it. They understood what we were building and why it mattered. The cherry on top? Within 2 hours of that call, someone posted our first . Six figures of sats might not sound like much to the VCs of the world, but for us, it was validation in the most Bitcoin-native way possible: someone valued our platform enough to put their sats where their mouth was.

Even more surprisingly, the call opened our eyes to an entire market we'd overlooked—Nostr. The positive reception from the Nostr community made one thing clear: Lightning Bounties needed to expand beyond Twitter. You can bet your sats you'll see us engaging more with the Nostr ecosystem in the coming weeks. Sometimes the best opportunities come from the places you least expect to find them.

Full Circle: Mentoring at the 2025 MIT Bitcoin Hackathon

In a full-circle moment that perfectly captured our journey, we returned to the in April 2025 – not as participants this time, but as mentors. Just one year after winning the competition ourselves, we had the privilege of helping the next generation of Bitcoin builders bring their ideas to life.

from our team conducted a workshop titled "Setup LNBits on MutinyNet," teaching participants to build Lightning Network applications without risking real funds. Our team members and also served as judges, evaluating the impressive projects created during the hackathon. This experience was one of the most rewarding so far, seeing the next wave of Bitcoin builders solve complicated bugs, share knowledge with one another and push themselves through 30 hours of intense hacking was something that we all found inspiring.

As a result, the projects submitted in this years hackathon were arguably the best and most creative in the Expo’s rich history.

What's Next For Lightning Bounties? Our Vision for Year Two

As we celebrate our first trip around the sun, we're setting ambitious goals for Year Two. Building on our foundation of connecting value to contribution, we're focusing on platform enhancements, community growth, and strategic positioning in both the Bitcoin and open-source ecosystems.

Our goals for year two include:

1. Transitioning from LLC to C-Corp: Converting our legal structure to position Lightning Bounties for serious investment opportunities. This transformation enables us to issue different stock classes, and speak the same language as VCs when we're ready for growth capital. Put simply: we're building the legal foundation to scale beyond what bootstrapping alone would allow.

2. Hackathon Organization and Workshops: Leveraging our experience as both winners and mentors at the MIT Bitcoin Hackathon to organize our own events. Our platform is tailor-made for hackathons with instant payments and clear success metrics, creating opportunities to introduce more developers to Lightning Network's power.

3. Enhanced GitHub Automation and PR Templates: Developing standardized templates and automated workflows that streamline the bounty fulfillment process. These improvements ensure consistent submission quality and make it easier for contributors of all skill levels to participate effectively.

4. Comprehensive Onboarding Resources: Developing detailed documentation and video tutorials that make Lightning Bounties accessible to developers of all experience levels. These resources will reduce the learning curve and help showcase our platform's full capabilities to both bounty hunters and project maintainers.

5. User-Driven Product Iteration: Creating formal feedback channels and a transparent feature request system where users can see their suggestions turn into roadmap items. Our platform will evolve based on actual usage patterns rather than our assumptions about what might be useful.

Conclusion: From Proof-of-Concept to Proof-of-Value

One year ago, Lightning Bounties was just an idea—a hopeful solution to the critical disconnect between open-source value creation and contributor compensation. Today, we're processing millions of sats in bounties, connecting developers worldwide, and demonstrating that Bitcoin isn't just a store of value—it's a powerful engine for recognizing and rewarding value creation in real-time.

What we've built goes beyond a payment platform. We're creating an ecosystem where contribution is valued immediately and transparently, where open-source maintainers can sustain their work, and where the global developer community can participate regardless of geographic or financial barriers.

The journey from hackathon project to a vibrant platform has taught us countless lessons, but perhaps the most important is this: when you align value with contribution using the power of Bitcoin, magic happens. Communities form. Innovation accelerates. Barriers fall.

How You Can Get Involved

If you've read this far, you're probably either a believer in what we're building or curious enough to give it a shot. Here's how you can be part of the Lightning Bounties revolution:

1. For Project Maintainers: Post your first bounty today at and see how incentivizing contributions can transform your project's momentum.

2. For Developers: Join our growing —earn sats while contributing to meaningful open-source projects that match your skills and interests.

3. For Bitcoiners: Spread the word! Share our platform with your favorite open-source projects, especially those struggling with maintainer burnout or contribution bottlenecks.

4. For Everyone: Follow our journey through our social channels (listed below) for updates, success stories, and opportunities to shape our platform's future.

This Is Just Beginning

We believe Lightning Bounties represents something fundamental to both Bitcoin and open-source: the recognition that value should flow to those who create it, without friction, permission, or delay. As we enter our second year, we're not just building features—we're building a future where contribution and compensation are seamlessly connected through the power of Bitcoin.

The first million sats was just the beginning. Join us for the next hundred million.

⚡️ The Lightning Bounties Team

Imagine this: After months of stacking sats on exchanges, you're ready to take the orange pill and truly own your Bitcoin. The horror stories of exchange collapses like FTX have you itching to self-custody. But as you prepare to move your hard-earned Bitcoin to your own wallet, a pit forms in your stomach. What if you make a mistake? What if you send your Bitcoin to the wrong address, never to be seen again?

This fear isn't unfounded. In the unforgiving world of Bitcoin, one wrong move can mean irreversible loss. It's precisely this anxiety that Branta, part of PlebLab's Top Builder Season 2, aims to address. By tackling one of the most critical challenges in the Bitcoin ecosystem, Branta is on a mission to make transactions safer and more accessible for everyone. But how exactly does it work to alleviate the fear of sending your Bitcoin to the wrong address?

What is Branta?

Branta acts as an invisible layer of protection that runs alongside Bitcoin wallets. It provides an extra shield against phishing attacks and malicious threats, such as clipboard attacks. Branta verifies the authenticity of wallet software, which helps protect users from inadvertently interacting with harmful entities.

Here's a simplified diagram of its functionality:

Key Features of Branta

Branta enhances your Bitcoin experience with the following key features:

1. Wallet Verification

   • Automatically scans your downloads folder.

   • Checks PGP keys of wallet installation files against known legitimate keys.

   • Ensures you're not installing malware or compromised wallets.

2. Transaction Protection

   • Provides visibility into your clipboard at runtime.

   • Prevents malware from swapping your Bitcoin addresses during transactions.

   • Protects against man-in-the-middle attacks.

3. Merchant Verification

   • Offers API support for verifying the authenticity of merchant addresses.

   • Reduces the risk of sending funds to impersonators.

4. Lightning Network Integration

   • Supports Lightning Network functionality.

   • Enables faster and more efficient Bitcoin transactions while maintaining security.

Here's how Branta works in practice:

Example 1: Wallet Download Protection

Imagine you're downloading Sparrow Wallet for the first time. You might not realize there's a difference between sparrow .com and sparrow .org, and one of these could be an imposter site.

Here's how Branta protects you:

This proactive approach significantly reduces the risk of users falling victim to sophisticated phishing attempts that target the very tools meant to keep Bitcoin safe.

Example 2: Transaction Protection

When making a Bitcoin transaction, Branta ensures your intended recipient address isn't swapped by malware:

Branta x Lightning Bounties Partnership

We at Lightning Bounties are thrilled to be partnered with Branta! We've integrated Branta directly into our application, providing an unparalleled level of security for our users. We can't think of a better way to keep our users safe than having Branta as our security layer. This integration ensures that every transaction, whether on-chain or through the Lightning Network, is protected by Branta's advanced security features.

For more details on how Lightning Bounties is utilizing Branta, visit Branta's

The Inspiration Behind Branta

The development of Branta stems from a deeply personal understanding of the risks involved in handling Bitcoin. Keith, the creator of Branta, was inspired by his own journey into Bitcoin security. As he puts it, "Once you buy your first significant amount of Bitcoin, you start thinking, how do I keep my Bitcoin safe?" This relatable concern led him to explore the mindset of potential attackers, ultimately driving the creation of Branta. Keith Gardner's approach to Bitcoin security extends beyond just software solutions. He emphasizes the importance of user education and vigilance.

Some of his top tips for guarding against phishing and man-in-the-middle attacks include:

1. Protecting your email inbox vigorously, as it's often the first point of entry for attackers.

2. Being extremely cautious of any messages that create a sense of urgency, especially those asking you to log in immediately to prevent account closure.

3. Exercising caution when using large group messaging apps like Telegram or Signal, and avoiding clicking on links shared in these platforms.

By combining robust software protection with user education, Branta aims to create a comprehensive security solution for Bitcoin users of all levels of experience.

Conclusion

Branta is transforming Bitcoin security. Whether you're self-custodying your first sats or managing a significant stack as a seasoned Bitcoiner, Branta offers peace of mind by addressing critical vulnerabilities like phishing attacks, wallet authenticity, and address verification. It doesn’t hold your seed phrase and integrates seamlessly into existing setups or applications.

Bitcoiners deserve tools that make transacting safe without sacrificing sovereignty. Branta delivers exactly that—an invisible layer of protection that ensures you're sending to the right place and using authentic software. It’s simple to add, powerful in its protection, and essential for anyone serious about securing their Bitcoin.

Branta isn’t just a product; it’s a solution helping Bitcoiners sleep better at night.

To discover more about Branta, click on the images below to explore their website, Twitter, and GitHub!

Suggesting Changes

Want to make our blog content even better? First of all, thank you! This page will guide you through our contribution process, including how to submit changes and claim bounties for your contributions.

Prerequisites

To edit our documentation, you must have a GitHub account. If you already have one, make sure you are logged in. If you don't, please create one.

Understanding GitBook's Integration with GitHub

We use a platform called GitBook to host, manage and serve our documentation. GitBook fetches files from our GitHub repository Lightning-Bounties/our-blog, reads them and converts them into the pages you can access on blog.lightningbounties.com.

Repository Structure

A generic structure of documentation hosted on GitBook looks like this:

First page
├── A group of pages
│   ├── A page
│   ├── Another page
│   ├── One more page
│   │   ├── A nested page
│   │   └── Another nested page

Its mirror to GitHub has the following structure:

├── .gitbook/
│   └── assets/
│       └── an-image.png
├── a-group-of-pages/
│   ├── a-page.md
│   ├── another-page.md
│   ├── one-more-page/
│   │   ├── README.md
│   │   ├── a-nested-page.md
│   │   └── another-nested-page.md
├── README.md
└── SUMMARY.md

Key Components:

• The .gitbook/assets folder manages every file used in any page

• The SUMMARY.md file tells GitBook the order and grouping of pages

• The README.md file contains the first page content users see

• Groups of pages are controlled by folders named after the group title

• Nested pages have a similar structure, but require a README.md file in the parent folder

Method 1: Quick Editing via GitHub Web Interface

Step 1: Access the Edit Function

1. Open the page you want to edit on blog.lightningbounties.com

2. Look for an "Edit on GitHub" button above the Table of Contents on the right side

3. Click on the GitHub icon to navigate to the Markdown file

Step 2: Edit the File

1. Click on the pencil icon labeled "Edit this file"

2. Make your edits using Markdown formatting

3. Use GitBook's Markdown reference guide for proper formatting

Step 3: Create Your Pull Request

1. Scroll down to the "Commit changes" section

2. Write a short, descriptive title for your changes

3. Add a detailed description explaining your improvements

4. Important: Include close #[issue-number] in your description if you're fixing a specific issue

5. Select "Create a new branch for this commit and start a pull request"

6. Click "Propose file change"

Step 4: Submit Your Pull Request

1. On the Pull Request page, add a clear comment explaining your changes

2. Critical Step: Ensure your PR description includes close #[issue-number] syntax if applicable

3. Click "Create pull request"

Method 2: Local Development Workflow

Step 1: Fork and Clone

1. Navigate to the Lightning-Bounties/our-blog repository

2. Click the "Fork" button to create your personal copy

3. Clone your fork locally:

git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/our-blog.git
cd our-blog

Step 2: Create a Feature Branch

git checkout -b your-improvement-branch

Step 3: Make Your Changes

1. Edit the relevant Markdown files using your preferred editor

2. Follow GitBook's formatting guidelines

3. Place any images in the .gitbook/assets/ folder

4. Test your changes locally if possible

Step 4: Commit and Push

git add .
git commit -m "Descriptive commit message"
git push origin your-improvement-branch

Step 5: Create Pull Request

1. Navigate to your fork on GitHub

2. Click "New Pull Request"

3. Essential: Include close #[issue-number] in the PR description

4. Provide clear explanation of your changes

5. Submit the pull request

Lightning Bounties Payment System

The Critical close #[issue-number] Syntax

To earn Bitcoin bounties for your contributions, you must include the close #[issue-number] syntax in your pull request description. This connects your PR to the Lightning Bounties issue and triggers automatic payment processing.

Important Notes:

• The close keyword must be in the PR description itself, not in regular comments

• Adding this connection after merging will automatically trigger Lightning Bounty payment

• If you forget to add this initially, you can edit your merged PR description later

If You Forgot the Close Syntax

Option 1: Edit Your Merged Pull Request

1. Go to your merged PR and click into it

2. Click the "..." button at the top-right of your PR description

3. Select "Edit"

4. Add close #[issue-number] to your PR description

5. Click "Update Comment"

Option 2: Ask for Help If you cannot edit the PR, ask the repository owner to add the close syntax for you.

Claiming Your Bitcoin Bounty

Step-by-Step Claiming Process

1. Visit the Platform: Go to app.lightningbounties.com

2. Find Your Bounty: Look for your bounty.

   1. Example: "Help Improve Our Blog & Docs and Earn Sats!"

3. Claim Your Reward:

   • Click on "Claim Reward"

   • Add your pull request number

   • Click the "Check" button to verify eligibility

4. Receive Payment: The reward will be added to your balance and paid instantly via the Lightning Network

Payment Requirements

• Your pull request must be merged

• The PR description must contain close #[issue-number] syntax

• Lightning Bounties uses the GitHub API as an oracle to prevent fraudulent claims

• Payments are processed automatically when all conditions are met

Content Guidelines

Writing Best Practices

• Use clear, concise language

• Follow consistent Markdown formatting

• Include relevant links to Lightning Bounties resources

• Ensure proper heading hierarchy (H1, H2, H3, etc.)

• Test all external links for functionality

Technical Standards

• Keep contributions focused on specific improvements

• Follow existing file structure and naming conventions

• Optimize images and include descriptive alt text

• Use proper Git commit message conventions

Community Engagement

• Respond promptly to feedback during reviews

• Be open to suggestions from maintainers

• Credit sources appropriately when building on existing work

• Maintain professional and constructive communication

Getting Support

For additional help with contributions:

1. Documentation: Check our detailed guides at docs.lightningbounties.com

2. Community: Join our Discord for real-time assistance

3. GitHub Issues: Report bugs or request features on our repository

Lightning Bounties Platform Benefits

• No Installation Required: Simply log in with your GitHub account

• Instant Bitcoin Payments: Receive rewards immediately after PR approval

• Global Accessibility: Available worldwide, bypassing traditional banking restrictions

• Crowdfunding Support: Multiple users can fund single bounties

• Automated Validation: GitHub API integration prevents fraudulent claims

Thank you for helping us improve our documentation and contributing to the Bitcoin development ecosystem! Your contributions help make Lightning Bounties more accessible and valuable for developers worldwide.

Want to make our documentation even better? First of all, thank you! This page will guide you through our contribution process, including:

• The steps you need to follow to make contributions and edits on our blog.

• How to claim a bounty on app.lightningbounties.com for your contrinutions.

To edit our docs, you must have a GitHub account. If you already have one, make sure you are logged in. If you don't, please create one.

Understanding GitBook's integration with GitHub

We use a platform called GitBook to host, manage and serve our documentation. GitBook fetches files from our GitHub repository Lightning-Bounties/our-blog, reads them and converts them into the pages you can access on docs.lightningbounties.com.

A generic structure of a documentation hosted on GitBook would look like this:

First page
├── A group of pages

│   ├── A page
│   ├── Another page
│   ├── One more page
│   │   ├── A nested page
│   │   └── Another nested page

Its mirror to GitHub, on the other hand, would have the following structure:

├── .gitbook/
│    └── assets/
│    │    └── an-image.png
├── a-group-of-pages/
│    ├── a-page.md
│    ├── another-page.md
│    ├── one-more-page/
│    │    ├── README.md
│    │    ├── a-nested-page.md
│    │    └── another-nested-page.md
├── README.md
└── SUMMARY.md

• The .gitbook/assets folder manages every file used in any page.

• The SUMMARY.md file tells GitBook in which order we wish to display our pages and what groups there are in our documentation.

• The README.md file in the main folder has the contents of the first page users see when accessing the documentation website.

• Groups of pages are controlled by folders named after the group title (i.e. a-group-of-pages).

• Nested pages have a similar structure to groups of pages; however, a README.md file with the contents of the parent page must be added to the folder named after the parent page title.

Editing Existing Pages

1. Open the page you want to edit. What you see next depends on the resolution of your screen and whether you are viewing that page zoomed in or not.

   1. On certain occasions, you may see a button saying Edit on GitHub above the Table of Contents on the right side of the page.

2. Click on the GitHub icon. This will direct you to the Markdown file in which the contents of the page are stored.

3. Click on the pencil icon (labeled "Edit this file"). This will open a basic editing environment in which you are able to customize aspects like line wrap and indentation.

4. Make any edits you need, remembering to always format them using Markdown. To understand better GitBook's implementation of Markdown, check their reference guide

5. When you are done making changes, scroll down and write a short description of your changes.

• Select the option Create a new branch for this commit and start a pull request and click on Propose file change.

  • This will direct you to the Pull request page.

6. On the Pull request page, write a short comment explaining why are proposing those changes (e.g. improving readability, covering cases that weren't mentioned, adding critical details about our platform) and publish your pull request clicking on Create pull request.

Earning Rewards

1. Visit https://app.lightningbounties.com

2. Look for open docmentation bounties

   1. Example "Help Improve Our Blog & Docs and Earn Sats!"

3. Claim a bounty by linking your pull request

4. Once approved, you'll receive sats as a reward!

Additional Info

1. For a more detailed walkthrough on how to submit a pull request on the blog article file through Lightning Bounties see here

2. Also, feel free to contact us at [email protected]

Thank you for helping us improve our blog content and documentation!

This week tested builders under intense pressure as the Top Builder competition narrowed from 14 teams to just 5, with finalists set to pitch at PlebLab’s Startup Day in Austin. Amidst the high stakes, founders balanced critical workshops on Bitcoin’s most urgent challenges—from Joe Wood (Satoshi Pacioli) demystifying accounting pitfalls to Phil (21M Communications) refining PR strategies for Bitcoin’s no-bullshit ecosystem. For every team, the goal was clear: build products that survive Bitcoin’s volatility and outlast crypto’s noise.

Did Lightning Bounties secure a spot in the final round? We’ll share the results at the end.

Spoiler: Tears were shed. Sats were stacked. Let’s dive in.

Bitcoin Startup Accounting

Workshop Recap with Joe Wood (Satoshi Pacioli)

Bitcoin businesses face a minefield of accounting quirks—but Joe Wood’s workshop cut through the noise. Here’s what builders need to know:

1. Accounting for Bitcoin: What Actually Matters

• Valuation: Bitcoin’s price swings hit your balance sheet. Unrealized gains/losses now get tracked, so monitor them like a hawk.

• Taxes: Holding Bitcoin? No taxes until you sell/spend it. But every transaction (sending, receiving, swapping) triggers a taxable event. Track sats like your startup depends on it—because it does.

2. Using Bitcoin as Payment

• Price It in USD: When accepting Bitcoin for goods/services, record the USD value at receipt. Volatility isn’t an excuse for lazy bookkeeping.

• Employees Love Sats: Paying team members in Bitcoin boosts morale (if you’re already holding). But warn them: selling = taxable income.

3. Holding Bitcoin: Treasury Strategy

• Risk Check: How much volatility can your startup stomach? If investors panic at -30% dips, maybe don’t put 80% of cash reserves in Bitcoin.

• Investor Optics: Fundraising? Assume VCs will grill your Bitcoin treasury strategy. Prepare answers tighter than a 21M supply cap.

4. International Payments: Bitcoin’s Killer App

• Speed Wins: Pay global contractors in minutes, not days. Traditional banks can’t compete.

• Tools Matter: Use non-custodial processors like Zap to avoid third-party risk.

5. Accounting Tools for Bitcoiners

• Zap: Track payments without handing keys to a custodian.

• Clan Tech: Open-source accounting suite for Bitcoin-only businesses.

• Banking: Mercury/Brex still work, but keep Bitcoin transactions separate.

Biggest Pitfalls

• Tax Surprises: That Lightning payment you sent? Taxable. That refund you received? Taxable. Assume everything’s taxable until proven otherwise.

• Custody Risks: Mixing custodial/non-custodial wallets? Recipe for audit hell. Segregate funds like a cypherpunk monk.

Why This Matters for Builders Bitcoin accounting isn’t about compliance—it’s about survival. Messy books attract regulators. Sloppy tax reporting kills startups. Joe’s takeaway? “Run your Bitcoin business like a Fortune 500 company, but with better money.”

Phil 21M Communications on Early Days Podcast

In a recent conversation, Phil, the founder and CEO of 21M Communications, shared his journey and insights into the Bitcoin space, particularly focusing on public relations (PR) and marketing for Bitcoin companies. His unique perspective stems from a rich background in media and a deep commitment to Bitcoin, which is fundamentally different from the broader crypto landscape. This summary encapsulates Phil's key points, emphasizing the importance of tailored PR strategies for Bitcoin startups, the nuances of marketing in this niche, and actionable advice for early-stage founders.

Phil's Background and the Birth of 21M Communications

Phil's journey into the Bitcoin realm began with a solid foundation in media, having worked across various platforms, including print, digital, and podcasts. His experiences in traditional PR agencies led him to recognize a gap in the market for Bitcoin-focused PR services.

• Key Motivations for Founding 21M Communications:

  • Focus on Bitcoin: Phil's disillusionment with the broader crypto space, particularly the prevalence of "shitcoins," drove him to concentrate solely on Bitcoin.

  • Community-Centric Approach: He aimed to create a PR agency "for Bitcoiners, by Bitcoiners," ensuring a deep understanding of the Bitcoin ethos.

  • Long-Term Vision: Phil emphasized the importance of aligning with companies that have a long-term vision, contrasting them with the high time preference often seen in the crypto space.

The Unique Nature of Bitcoin PR

Phil articulated the distinctiveness of PR in the Bitcoin ecosystem compared to the broader crypto market.

• High vs. Low Time Preference:

  • High Time Preference in Crypto: Many crypto companies focus on short-term gains, leading to a volatile and often unethical environment.

  • Low Time Preference in Bitcoin: Bitcoin companies tend to prioritize long-term goals, fostering a more stable and ethical business environment.

• PR Strategies for Bitcoin Companies:

  • Authentic Storytelling: Phil highlighted the importance of crafting narratives that resonate with both the media and the Bitcoin community.

  • Understanding the Audience: He stressed the need for PR professionals to grasp the intricacies of Bitcoin to effectively communicate its value.

Marketing Insights for Bitcoin Startups

Phil shared his thoughts on the marketing landscape within the Bitcoin ecosystem, emphasizing the need for a strategic approach.

• Seth Godin's Philosophy: Phil referenced Godin's quote, "Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make; it's about the stories you tell," underscoring the importance of narrative in marketing.

• Technical vs. Accessible Communication: He noted that while Bitcoin products may be technically complex, the messaging should be simplified for broader understanding.

Practical Advice for Early-Stage Founders

Phil provided practical advice for founders looking to establish their presence in the Bitcoin space.

1. Create a Document for Announcements:

   • Maintain a running list of potential announcements, product updates, and partnerships to keep the media informed.

2. Engage in Media Activity:

   • Social Listening: Monitor conversations in the Bitcoin space to identify trends and opportunities for engagement.

   • Trend Jacking: Leverage existing conversations to insert your brand into relevant discussions.

3. Content Creation:

   • Opinion Editorials: Write op-eds to establish thought leadership and address pressing issues within the Bitcoin ecosystem.

   • Utilize Newsletters: Engage with industry newsletters to share insights and gain visibility.

The Role of Influencers in Bitcoin Marketing

Phil discussed the evolving landscape of influencer marketing within the Bitcoin community.

• Authenticity Matters: Phil emphasized that consumers are increasingly interested in the people behind the brands, making it essential for founders to be authentic and relatable.

• Building Trust: By positioning themselves as thought leaders, founders can foster trust and credibility within the community.

Conclusion

Phil's insights into Bitcoin PR and marketing reveal a landscape that is both challenging and ripe with opportunity. His emphasis on authenticity, long-term vision, and community engagement provides a roadmap for Bitcoin startups looking to navigate the complexities of the media landscape. As the Bitcoin ecosystem continues to evolve, the strategies outlined by Phil will be crucial for founders aiming to make a meaningful impact.

Key takeaways from Phil:

• Focus on Bitcoin: Prioritize long-term goals and ethical practices.

• Craft Authentic Narratives: Engage with the media through compelling storytelling.

• Leverage Community: Build relationships within the Bitcoin ecosystem to enhance visibility and credibility.

By following these principles, Bitcoin startups can effectively position themselves for success in a competitive and rapidly evolving environment.

Top Builder Final 5 Teams Announced

We’re honored to share that Lightning Bounties has been selected as one of the Top 5 teams advancing to Pleb Lab’s Startup Day on March 13 in Austin, Texas, during SXSW. Standing alongside innovators like Jippi (gamifying Bitcoin education), Branta (securing Lightning transactions), Shopstr (uncensorable commerce), and Sats.gg (live streaming platform akin to twitch.tv) is both thrilling and humbling.

This season’s competition was fierce. With 243 applications reviewed, 35 projects submitted, and 17 teams onboarded, the talent pool was staggering.

To every builder who participated: your work inspired us. It really did. The creativity and grit we saw over these six weeks pushed boundaries and reminded us of the incredible potential within our community. Some of the projects I'm personally excited about include:

Club Bink's open-source toolkit, designed for Bitcoin evangelists to easily facilitate peer-to-peer DCA trades with friends & Family.

Cozy's gamified platform for AI agents to be created by non technical users.

BitcoinOnly Events: a platform dedicated to organizing, promoting, and supporting Bitcoin-focused meetups, conferences, and community events worldwide.

Inherit's self-custodial Bitcoin recovery solution, enabling users to time-lock their BTC to guard against wrench attacks and quantum threats.

and the list goes on.

These projects prove that Bitcoin’s ecosystem is stronger than ever. To those not advancing: keep building. This space needs you!

Pleb Lab’s stats say it all: 65+ Bitcoin projects launched since 2022, 280+ workshops held, and a community of 640+ learners. This isn’t just a competition—it’s a movement.

We’ve got two weeks to refine our pitch for Austin. No victory laps. Just gratitude for the push from peers, mentors, and the other founders in this trenches with us. Let’s show why Bitcoin collaboration matters!

To Austin, with purpose.

“Iron sharpens iron. Keep building.” — Car PlebLab CEO

PlebLab's Week 3 Recap: Lightning Bounties

Documenting our journey through PlebLab's Top Builder competition is more than just a weekly update—it's an inside look at the valuable resources and mentorship shaping the future of Bitcoin innovation. Week 3 was particularly intense, packed with workshops that delivered crucial insights for early-stage startups like Lightning Bounties. This week, we had the privilege of attending four transformative sessions:

Documenting our journey through PlebLab’s Top Builder competition isn’t just about weekly check-ins—it’s a front-row seat to the groundbreaking ideas and mentorship shaping Bitcoin’s next wave of innovation. Week 3 pushed us to new limits, packed with intensive workshops that delivered critical insights for early-stage startups like Lightning Bounties. This week, we participated in four transformative sessions led by industry pioneers, each unpacking strategies to navigate the unique challenges of building in Bitcoin. From refining user experiences to rethinking fundraising, here’s how these lessons are accelerating our mission to create a Bitcoin-powered bug bounty platform that rewards developers worldwide—in real time, directly through GitHub—for fixing software bugs.

1. Media Strategy with Phil of 21M Communications

2. AMA with Topher Scott on Lightning Network Development

3. Product, Users, and Revenue with Santos Hernandez

5. Timestamp Financial: Invest In Bitcoin Startups with as Little as $100

Each workshop was so rich with actionable advice that we've decided to focus on highlighting key takeaways rather than diving deep into each one. To do justice to these presentations would require a much longer read, but we encourage fellow builders to seek out these mentors directly.

Each workshop was packed with actionable insights that could fill an entire playbook. While we’re focusing on key takeaways here, we encourage you to watch the full sessions (links below) to absorb the depth of knowledge shared. No summary can fully capture the wealth of knowledge that came with each of these session, but we're gonna try anyways. First up Media strategy with 21M Communictions.

Mentor Session - Phil of 21M Communications

This session sharpened our approach to media strategy as a Bitcoin startup, emphasizing how to protect our mission from misrepresentation. We learned to anchor messaging in clear problem-solution narratives—for Lightning Bounties, this means spotlighting how instant Bitcoin payouts break barriers for developers globally. Phil stressed targeting Bitcoin-native outlets like Bitcoin News while cautioning against legacy media’s filthy habbit of twisting narratives, as seen in the Boston Globe’s misleading framing of Caroline Ellison’s fraud as a “crypto issue” rather than gross misconduct.

Key insights included refining our messaging for distinct audiences—crafting specialized pitches for project owners (B2B) versus developers (B2C)—and building partnerships to strengthen trust. We’re also prioritizing collaboration with Bitcoin communities in regions like Africa, where challenges like currency volatility make Lightning solutions critical. To combat legacy media’s narrow focus on price swings, we’re steering conversations toward our core purpose: enabling instant, borderless payments for developers. These strategies not only sharpen our focus during Top Builder but also lay groundwork for lasting impact, ensuring Bitcoin remains a tool for global financial freedom.

AMA Session with Topher Scott

This week’s AMA with Topher Scott highlighted a critical insight: Lightning’s growth depends on lowering barriers to entry, not just moving money. At Lightning Bounties, we’re leveraging our Lightning Instance—a self-hosted node that enables developers to earn Bitcoin without needing external wallets. This approach directly addresses the friction many new users face, especially those transitioning from Web2. Hearing Super Testnet’s emphasis on comprehensive documentation resonated deeply, as we’re currently building detailed guides through our documentation, crafting short form YouTube tutorials for using our platform, and planning future workshops to educate users. For developers unfamiliar with Lightning, these resources will demystify everything from claiming bounties to withdrawing sats, making sure no one gets left behind.

This session reminded us that Lightning is still in its infancy, with vast opportunities for innovation. Collaboration, not competition, drives progress. We’re actively partnering with Top Builder teams and engaging the PlebLab community to refine our platform.

Want to help shape Lightning Bounties? You can contribute to our documentation efforts and earn sats for your work! Whether it’s writing guides, testing out our platform, or fixing typos on this blog post, your input matters! This guide offers simple, step-by-step instructions for making edits directly through GitHub—no need to fork the entire repository.

Want to contribute but don't know how to get started? No problem! Reach out to [email protected] to get started and claim your first lightning bounty today!

Product, Users, and Revenue with Santos Hernandez

Santos' mentorship session discussed the importance of user-centric design and strategic monetization for Bitcoin startups. A key takeaway was the need to prioritize honest user feedback through anonymous surveys, asking questions like “What frustrates you about our platform?” to uncover pain points. For Lightning Bounties, this means incentivizing developers with sats for candid feedback, ensuring we address barriers for global contributors. Santos stressed that ignoring competitors is a red flag—rigorous SWOT analysis helps identify gaps in the market. For example, studying how competitors handle onboarding or fees allows us to refine our own approach, focusing on what Michael Porter calls “choosing what not to do.”

The session also highlighted the critical role of frictionless user journeys. Tracking every step from signup to logout reveals where users drop off, enabling iterative improvements. While Santos emphasized tutorial videos, we’re doubling down on written guides and in-app tooltips to simplify onboarding for developers new to Lightning. Building in public remains vital: sharing progress on Bitcoin-native platforms like Nostr and Stacker News encourages community trust and attracts early adopters. As Reid Hoffman noted, “If you’re not embarrassed by v1, you launched too late.

Monetization & Growth: Lessons for Lightning Startups Santos challenged the myth of delaying revenue, urging startups to monetize early. For Lightning Bounties, this could start with testing a small fee-per-bounty model while focusing on retention through gamification (e.g., achievement badges for top contributors). Email marketing, often overlooked in Bitcoin, offers a 36:1 ROI—a tool we’ll leverage for product updates and educational content. Retention tactics like rewarding loyal users and reactivating inactive ones are 5-25x cheaper than acquisition.

Collaboration within the Top Builder ecosystem, such as cross-promotions with other teams, amplifies growth organically. Ultimately, the workshop reinforced that Bitcoin startups thrive by balancing user needs with sustainable revenue. This means staying lean, iterating quickly, and keeping the “build in public” ethos at the core—turning every piece of feedback into a step toward reshaping open-source collaboration.

Investing in Bitcoin Companies with Dr. Arman Meguerian

Dr. Arman Meguerian’s workshop offered a sobering yet strategic look at fundraising for Bitcoin startups, emphasizing that raising capital is “brutal but sometimes necessary.” For Lightning Bounties, his insights arrived at a pivotal moment as we transition from an LLC to a C-corp—a move critical for attracting investors. Arman stressed the importance of getting corporate structure right early, from equity allocation to bylaws, to avoid costly revisions later. His guidance, paired with our monthly consultations, has been invaluable in navigating this complex process while maintaining focus on product growth.

A key takeaway was the need to “speak the language of fundraising,” particularly when pitching to investors. Arman’s framework for pitch decks—starting with problem-solution narratives and bottom-up market sizing—reshaped how we articulate Lightning Bounties’ value. Instead of claiming “1% of the global developer market,” we are now going to calculate our Total Addressable Market (TAM) based on active Bitcoin contributors, making projections more credible. For early-stage startups like ours, he advised prioritizing proof-of-work milestones (e.g., user traction, partnerships) to build investor confidence without over-diluting equity.

Timestamp Financial: Invest In Bitcoin Startups with as Little as $100

As co-founder of Timestamp Financial, Arman practices what he preaches. The platform disrupts traditional venture capital by letting almost anyone invest in early-stage Bitcoin startups with as little as $100—no accreditation required. Current listings include Jippi, a Pokémon Go-style game rewarding players with Bitcoin, and Shopstr, a Nostr-based marketplace slashing eBay’s 15% fees. These projects exemplify Bitcoin’s potential to reimagine industries through decentralized applications.

For Lightning Bounties, Timestamp represents more than funding—it’s a community-powered launchpad. While we’re early in our C-corp transition, the platform’s ethos mirrors our vision of open collaboration. Future listings will invite supporters to back our mission directly, turning users into stakeholders. As we refine our pitch and structure, Timestamp’s model—like Arman’s mantra of “no half-measures”—reminds us that Bitcoin’s future is built by those willing to democratize access, one satoshi at a time.

Wrapping it Up

These workshops have reshaped our approach to everything from user onboarding to fundraising strategy. As we apply these lessons, we're more committed than ever to building in public and iterating quickly based on user feedback.

Next week's edition, we'll shift focus to Lightning Bounties' recent developments, including:

• More bounties are being solved on our platform thanks to the addition of new bounty hunters.

• A comprehensive explainer on why GitHub login is necessary (we only request read-only access)

• Exciting discussions at the MIT BTC Expo on mentoring hackers and organizing bounty postings for hackathon projects.

Plus much much more! Tune in next week for TopBuilder Recap week 4!

Remember that feeling when you're building something in your basement and suddenly realize it might just be something that someone will use? That's basically us right now, looking back at Lightning Bounties' first year. When we huddled together at the MIT Bitcoin Hackathon last April, we were just a bunch of indie hackers with a crazy idea: what if we could use the Lightning Network to fix open-source funding? Fast forward one year, and we've gone from scribbling ideas on dusty notebooks to processing over a million sats across our platform. Grab some coffee (or whiskey) and let me walk you through the rollercoaster that's the first year of Lightning Bounties.

Winning the 2024 MIT Bitcoin Hackathon

Our journey began during a historic weekend—April 19-21, 2024—coinciding with Bitcoin's fourth halving. While the crypto world watched the halving countdown, our team huddled at MIT with a mission: solve a critical problem plaguing open-source development.

The statistics told a troubling story: 76% of modern codebases rely on open-source foundations, yet only 21% of maintainers receive compensation for their contributions. This disconnect wasn't just a statistic—it represented countless hours of unrecognized work powering our digital world. Over 30 caffeine-fueled hours, we built "Lightning Bounties," integrating GitHub Actions with Bitcoin rewards through the Lightning Network. Our pitch was simple but powerful: create a easy way for open-source contributors to receive instant compensation through borderless Bitcoin payments.

When we were announced as first-place winners in the Bitcoin, Lightning & Taproot track, it wasn't just a victory for our team—it validated that we'd identified a real problem with a viable solution. The bragging rights was nice, but the enthusiastic feedback from judges and fellow hackers convinced us we were onto something bigger than a weekend project.

From Hackathon Project to Forming an LLC

The post-hackathon high quickly gave way to the realities of building a sustainable platform. Transforming our prototype into a legitimate business meant tackling unfamiliar territory: legal structures, business models, and strategic planning.

Forming our LLC wasn't just paperwork—it represented our commitment to building something lasting. Each team meeting became more structured, shifting from "wouldn't it be cool if..." conversations to discussions about user acquisition, development roadmaps, and sustainability. The transition taught us valuable lessons about building in both the Bitcoin and open-source spaces. We learned to balance innovation with practicality, idealism with sustainability. Most importantly, we discovered that our passion for connecting value to contribution resonated deeply with both communities.

Embracing Self-Sovereignty: From GitHub Plugin to Independent Platform

Our most pivotal decision came when we transitioned from a GitHub plugin to our own self-hosted platform. Building as a GitHub Action initially made sense for rapid deployment, but we quickly realized we'd be building on quicksand—one policy change could wipe us out overnight.

Late-night team discussions always circled back to the same Bitcoin principle: "Why sacrifice self-sovereignty when it's the very foundation of what we believe in?" The answer was clear.

Our pivot to app.lightningbounties.com became our declaration of independence. We built a platform that leverages GitHub's API while maintaining complete control of our destiny—essentially becoming a Layer 2 solution atop GitHub's infrastructure. Contributors still interact with familiar GitHub workflows while we handle the Lightning payments independently.

By year's end, with over 1 million sats flowing through our platform, we'd proven that in true Bitcoin fashion, choosing sovereignty over convenience pays dividends.

Lightning Bounties Launch / PlebLab Startup Day CMDX

September 20, 2024, marked a pivotal moment for Lightning Bounties—our official debut to the Bitcoin world at PlebLab's Startup Day in Mexico City. This wasn't just another presentation; it was our "getting out of our basement and introducing the world to Lightning Bounties" moment. Behind the scenes, our development team was working tirelessly to ensure everything ran smoothly. Will and Pavel were coding around the clock, squashing bugs and optimizing performance to transform what once took 30 seconds in our Alpha stage into an almost instantaneous experience.

Meanwhile, Mike and Enrique were on the ground in Mexico City, refining our presentation while simultaneously trying to ward off Montezuma's revenge—a challenge that only added to the pre-presentation jitters. As we took the stage, hearts racing despite countless rehearsals, Enrique executed each click and transition flawlessly, demonstrating the platform we'd poured our hearts into building.

Finding Our Home in the Bitcoin Ecosystem

By the event's conclusion, any doubts about where Lightning Bounties belonged had completely dissolved. As the formal presentations gave way to the Yopaki Block Party, featuring gourmet food, bottomless drinks, and even a surprise mariachi band, we found ourselves forming meaningful connections that would shape our future. Particular highlights included meeting Dr. Bitcoin, the founder and CEO of TimeStamp Financial who became our impromptu mentor, offering invaluable insights and ongoing guidance. An interview with a Bitcoin Journalist and legend, Juan Galt not only garnered thousands of views but doubled our Twitter following overnight.

We came away from Startup Day with absolute certainty that we had found our home in the Bitcoin ecosystem—the most inspiring and dynamic community in all of crypto. The connections made, knowledge gained, and support received energized us like never before, leaving us more motivated than ever to continue building Lightning Bounties into the best platform it could possibly be.

Security First: Partnering with Branta

As our platform handled increasing transaction volumes, security became our top priority. Our partnership with Branta to secure BOLT-11 deposits represented not just a technical integration but our commitment to building trust with users.

The collaboration introduced critical security features:

• Deposit Verification: Implemented a system allowing users to verify payments before processing.

• Tamper Detection: Enabled identification of client-side tampering that was previously impossible to detect.

• Security Flagging: Created mechanisms to flag non-matching BOLT-11 deposits as suspect.

These enhancements addressed vulnerabilities that are often overlooked in Lightning implementations. By verifying deposits and detecting tampering, we created a more secure environment for both project owners and contributors—building the trust necessary for our platform's continued growth.

Lightning Bounties Enters PlebLab’s Top Builder Season II

When we submitted our application to PlebLab's Top Builder Season ||, we essentially threw our fledgling project into a pressure cooker alongside Bitcoin's most ambitious builders. From day one, we embraced the "ship or sink" mentality that permeates the Bitcoin space. By Week 2, we'd deployed our Time Lock and Expiry feature to production, striking that crucial balance between security and user experience. Behind the scenes, our internal analytics dashboard gave us the cold, hard metrics that became our north star: percentage of solved bounties, average sats per bounty, and developer engagement rates.

The competition's accelerated timeline pushed us to eliminate friction at every opportunity. Week 6 became our feature blitz with the launch of Anonymous Rewards and "Add Without Login" capabilities—strategically removing barriers to entry. All while maintaining our dual focus of building features and documenting everything we learned.

Lightning Bounties: Top Builder Season II Finalists

The announcement in Week 7 validated our efforts: Lightning Bounties had secured a spot as one of just five finalists heading to Austin. Preparing for PlebLab's Startup Day on March 13th consumed every moment as we refined our demonstration to showcase our platform's simplicity and direct access to GitHub's massive developer community.

Standing on that Austin stage alongside innovators like Branta, Shopstr, Sats.gg, and Jippi was both humbling and energizing. Though we didn't take home the top prize, we gained something more valuable: battle-tested experience and crystal-clear direction. The compressed timeline of Top Builder forced us to make hard choices about prioritization and to refine our messaging relentlessly. This pressure-cooker environment provided exactly the exposure, validation, and focus we needed to propel Lightning Bounties into its next chapter—one where we could apply these hard-won lessons to serve our growing community of bounty hunters and open-source maintainers.

Alby Community Call (Gaining Traction)

When Alby reached out via Twitter asking if we'd join their community call, I nearly spilled RedBull all over my keyboard. For context, this is like being an indie band and suddenly getting a text from Spotify asking if you want to be on their featured playlist. Alby is THE browser extension for Lightning payments—a platform we assumed would never notice us in an ocean of impressive Bitcoin projects. The call itself was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating.

We shared our vision, demonstrated our platform, and waited for the inevitable "thanks but no thanks." Instead, something magical happened—people got it. They understood what we were building and why it mattered. The cherry on top? Within 2 hours of that call, someone posted our first 100,000 sat bounty. Six figures of sats might not sound like much to the VCs of the world, but for us, it was validation in the most Bitcoin-native way possible: someone valued our platform enough to put their sats where their mouth was.

Even more surprisingly, the call opened our eyes to an entire market we'd overlooked—Nostr. The positive reception from the Nostr community made one thing clear: Lightning Bounties needed to expand beyond Twitter. You can bet your sats you'll see us engaging more with the Nostr ecosystem in the coming weeks. Sometimes the best opportunities come from the places you least expect to find them.

Full Circle: Mentoring at the 2025 MIT Bitcoin Hackathon

In a full-circle moment that perfectly captured our journey, we returned to the MIT Bitcoin Hackathon in April 2025 – not as participants this time, but as mentors. Just one year after winning the competition ourselves, we had the privilege of helping the next generation of Bitcoin builders bring their ideas to life.

Will Sutton from our team conducted a workshop titled "Setup LNBits on MutinyNet," teaching participants to build Lightning Network applications without risking real funds. Our team members Enrique Gamboa and Pavel Kononov also served as judges, evaluating the impressive projects created during the hackathon. This experience was one of the most rewarding so far, seeing the next wave of Bitcoin builders solve complicated bugs, share knowledge with one another and push themselves through 30 hours of intense hacking was something that we all found inspiring.

As a result, the projects submitted in this years hackathon were arguably the best and most creative in the Expo’s rich history.

What's Next For Lightning Bounties? Our Vision for Year Two

As we celebrate our first trip around the sun, we're setting ambitious goals for Year Two. Building on our foundation of connecting value to contribution, we're focusing on platform enhancements, community growth, and strategic positioning in both the Bitcoin and open-source ecosystems.

Our goals for year two include:

1. Transitioning from LLC to C-Corp: Converting our legal structure to position Lightning Bounties for serious investment opportunities. This transformation enables us to issue different stock classes, and speak the same language as VCs when we're ready for growth capital. Put simply: we're building the legal foundation to scale beyond what bootstrapping alone would allow.

2. Hackathon Organization and Workshops: Leveraging our experience as both winners and mentors at the MIT Bitcoin Hackathon to organize our own events. Our platform is tailor-made for hackathons with instant payments and clear success metrics, creating opportunities to introduce more developers to Lightning Network's power.

3. Enhanced GitHub Automation and PR Templates: Developing standardized templates and automated workflows that streamline the bounty fulfillment process. These improvements ensure consistent submission quality and make it easier for contributors of all skill levels to participate effectively.

4. Comprehensive Onboarding Resources: Developing detailed documentation and video tutorials that make Lightning Bounties accessible to developers of all experience levels. These resources will reduce the learning curve and help showcase our platform's full capabilities to both bounty hunters and project maintainers.

5. User-Driven Product Iteration: Creating formal feedback channels and a transparent feature request system where users can see their suggestions turn into roadmap items. Our platform will evolve based on actual usage patterns rather than our assumptions about what might be useful.

Conclusion: From Proof-of-Concept to Proof-of-Value

One year ago, Lightning Bounties was just an idea—a hopeful solution to the critical disconnect between open-source value creation and contributor compensation. Today, we're processing millions of sats in bounties, connecting developers worldwide, and demonstrating that Bitcoin isn't just a store of value—it's a powerful engine for recognizing and rewarding value creation in real-time.

What we've built goes beyond a payment platform. We're creating an ecosystem where contribution is valued immediately and transparently, where open-source maintainers can sustain their work, and where the global developer community can participate regardless of geographic or financial barriers.

The journey from hackathon project to a vibrant platform has taught us countless lessons, but perhaps the most important is this: when you align value with contribution using the power of Bitcoin, magic happens. Communities form. Innovation accelerates. Barriers fall.

How You Can Get Involved

If you've read this far, you're probably either a believer in what we're building or curious enough to give it a shot. Here's how you can be part of the Lightning Bounties revolution:

1. For Project Maintainers: Post your first bounty today at app.lightningbounties.com and see how incentivizing contributions can transform your project's momentum.

2. For Developers: Join our growing community of bounty hunters—earn sats while contributing to meaningful open-source projects that match your skills and interests.

3. For Bitcoiners: Spread the word! Share our platform with your favorite open-source projects, especially those struggling with maintainer burnout or contribution bottlenecks.

4. For Everyone: Follow our journey through our social channels (listed below) for updates, success stories, and opportunities to shape our platform's future.

This Is Just Beginning

We believe Lightning Bounties represents something fundamental to both Bitcoin and open-source: the recognition that value should flow to those who create it, without friction, permission, or delay. As we enter our second year, we're not just building features—we're building a future where contribution and compensation are seamlessly connected through the power of Bitcoin.

The first million sats was just the beginning. Join us for the next hundred million.

⚡️ The Lightning Bounties Team

Cross-posted from

Will Sutton - June 21, 2023

First, LightningAPI's for AI services is the definitive answer to the objection "What can you even buy with bitcoin?" Similar to SilkRoad days, the main thing people will want sats for, is things you can only buy with sats. And since OpenAI, Microsoft et al. will be pressured by their compliance departments, the most powerful and most creative uses will be open source, but difficult to run for the average users (software skills, access to hardware), thus lightning-AI.A couple of overlooked ideas in the thesis for serving models:

• EC2 for GPUs - Generative AI artists have highly variable demand for image generation: sometimes they want access to multiple GPU's at once to generate a bunch of different draft images or render frames in a video, and sometimes they are doing just touch-up and paying for full use of even 1 GPU is overkill. Existing services (or self-service) will not allow you to both pay-per-use and scale up to multiple processing units on-demand.

• This brings up another intriguing idea...the AirBNB GPU strategy, buy to fulfill your own need but also to rent spare capacity. This strategy was mentioned yesterday by GeoHot for his new AI server which have "FLOPcoin" apparently. (See video below)

• Etsy for Models - Currently there's not a great way to monetize a fine tuned model, if you check out civit.ai people are uploading their stable diffusion models simply for clout. With a strong financial incentive, this could supercharge this space, and give the most succeful fine tuners ways to invest into more serious training runs.

Maybe most exciting for the average StackerNews reader is potential for the much awaited bitcoin circular economy: Artists use sats to pay for gpu cycles, gpu suppliers use these sats to buy more servers/models/gpus, and Artists use the images they create to collect more sats from fans/customers. None of these participants even have to like bitcoin, just recognize it's the mana that ties this decentralized ecosystem together.

This series explores the diverse teams competing in the Top Builder challenge. Each week, we shine a spotlight on a different team, diving into their project goals, development approach, and unique perspectives. Learn about the innovative solutions, collaborative strategies, and individual experiences that fuel the Top Builder competition. Follow along as we look inside the teams striving to be this year's Top Builder!

This week, Lightning Bounties doubled down on growth—sharpening strategy with mentors like Alby’s Moritz Kaminski, tightening legal safeguards via Jim Chester’s no-nonsense advice, and refining PR tactics with Phil's media mastery. On our own platform, two new features (Anonymous Rewards and Add Without Login) began dismantling barriers to collaboration, letting anyone contribute sats—privately or effortlessly. Here’s what went down in Week 6 of PlebLab's Top Builder competition.

Mentor Session - Moritz Kaminski of Alby

, co-founder of the Bitcoin Lightning wallet and former venture capitalist, has spent years bridging the gap between startup pragmatism and Bitcoin’s decentralized ethos—a perspective he shared candidly during the mentorship session. Known for his work streamlining micropayments for and web developers, Kaminski offered hard-won lessons on balancing user needs with business growth in Bitcoin’s unique ecosystem.

During our mentorship session Moritz showcased, his deep understanding of two-sided markets in Bitcoin shone through. He pointed out a crucial insight about bounty platforms: while finding hunters is relatively straightforward, securing organizations to post bounties presents the real challenge. His experience with Alby's scattered bounty system across GitHub, separate bounty platforms, and their website highlighted the need for consolidation. The suggestion to start with simpler bounties - focusing on front-end fixes or documentation - before tackling complex Lightning-specific issues resonated strongly. His emphasis on tiered difficulty levels to manage submission quality felt particularly relevant.

On the fundraising front, Moritz didn't sugarcoat his advice. He stressed quick closure when a fund shows interest rather than shopping for better terms. For pre-seed valuations, he shared that companies with solid user traction could reasonably target a $3 million pre-seed valuation cap. The fundraising strategy he outlined was refreshingly practical: rank potential investors from most to least desirable, and work down the list systematically.

When discussing controversial feature requests, Moritz emphasized staying true to core mission over chasing every suggestion. This philosophy extends to his approach with Layer 2 protocols - while explores options like , they carefully weigh whether new integrations justify the resources required. His measured responses and frequent pauses to think demonstrated the depth of consideration he gives to each decision in building Bitcoin products.

Company Killers: 8 Common Legal Mistakes that Startups Make with Jim Chester

Navigating Bitcoin’s legal gray zones demands equal parts innovation and prudence. In a recent mentorship session with Jim Chester, a 25-year tech lawyer and SMU professor, Lightning Bounties absorbed hard truths about startup pitfalls. Chester—a veteran of Bitcoin ventures—stressed that legal hygiene isn’t optional, even in decentralized ecosystems.

Here’s how his advice applies to Bitcoin builders:

1. No Legal Budget

“Bitcoin startups aren’t exempt from legal fires.”

Set aside funds for foundational legal work upfront—even 5-10% of early capital. For Lightning Bounties, this meant drafting multisig escrow clauses and reviewing state-specific Bitcoin regulations.

2. Wrong Lawyer Choice

“BigLaw bills like Fortune 500 clients; Bitcoin needs specialists.”

Opt for lawyers fluent in crypto’s risks (e.g., securities law for holding bounties in escrow). Avoid firms allergic to “chaotic awesomeness” of startups.

3. Overcomplicated Entity Structure

“Delaware C-Corp? Coming Soon”

Start as a simple LLC (e.g., Texas) to avoid governance bloat. Convert only when investors demand it. Lightning Bounties is staying lean until traction justified complexity.

4. Copied Contracts

“ChatGPT privacy policies = legal Russian roulette.”

Generic template terms from the likes of ChatGPT miss Bitcoin-specific risks (e.g., time-locked sats, Nostr integrations). Jim advised reverse-engineering competitors’ docs for industry nuances—then customizing these documents with the help of an expierenced attorney.

5. Inadequate Founder Agreements

“Ambiguity = litigation grenade.”

Define equity splits, vesting (4-year cliffs), and IP ownership day one. Lightning Bounties added clawbacks for inactive co-founders.

6. Giving Equity Like Candy

“Equity is irreversible—vest it or regret it.”

No free shares for “advisors” without deliverables. For Bitcoin projects, tie equity to code commits or bounty resolutions.

7. Ignoring IP Ownership

“Your dev’s code ≠ your company’s code.”

Use Founder IP Agreements to transfer ownership. Lightning Bounties now auto-include these for open-source contributors.

8. No Succession Plan

“What if your CTO gets hit by a bus?”

Define buyout terms (sats-based valuations) and equity redistribution. For decentralized teams, codify this in smart contracts.

Jim’s Bitcoin-Specific Wisdom

• “Your v1 legal strategy will suck. Iterate publicly.”

• Use BDD (Budget/Deadline/Deliverable) with lawyers: “Draft a Lightning-compliant bounty agreement”

• Never lie to counsel—regulators already assume you’re guilty.

Lightning Bounties left with actionable fixes: tightening NDAs, and auditing competitor TOS.

Bitcoin PR for Startups with Phil from 21M

Phil from 21M Communications broke down PR strategy into three core buckets for Bitcoin builders: announcements, media activity, and content—with events as a bonus lever. For startups like Lightning Bounties, announcements (funding rounds, partnerships, novel features) offer the biggest visibility spikes, but only if they’re truly newsworthy. Phil stressed avoiding AI-generated fluff words (i.e: “revolutionary,” “game-changing”) and keeping announcements concise (1-1.5 pages max) with founder quotes that add grit—like explaining how Bitcoin-native escrow solves real dev pain points.

Crafting pitches requires surgical precision: subject lines must hook reporters in 5-7 words (i.e: “Lightning Bounties Launches Auto-Expiring Bug Bounties”), while embargo strategies (8-day lead time, avoiding Mondays or Fridays) balance exclusivity and reach. For Bitcoin startups, targeting niche reporters at outlets like or beats spray-and-pray. Phil highlighted cost-effective PR wires ($500-$6.5K) for SEO boosts but urged prioritizing feature coverage for credibility—like a deep dive on how tiered bounties attract global dev talent.

Long-term, Phil framed PR as a marathon: weekly refinement of op-eds (800-1,000 words problem-solving Bitcoin’s friction points), podcast clips repurposed into social soundbites, and “newsjacking” trends (e.g., tying announcements to nation-state adoption). His blunt advice? “Be spicy but strategic.” For Lightning Bounties, this means pitching data-driven stories (e.g., “Nigeria Tops Bounty Earnings Amid Hyperinflation”) while building relationships with reporters who live in Bitcoin’s trenches.

“PR isn’t about hype—it’s about proving you’re solving real problems.” – Phil’s parting wisdom.

Must Watch: Cozy on Early Days Podcast

Kiki’s Journey to Building Cozy

Kiki’s path to tech innovation defies convention. A former artist, and dog trainer, she stumbled into coding while helping an artist collective explore virtual reality (VR) and 3D modeling. Her Venezuelan upbringing—marked by hyperinflation and distrust in centralized systems—fueled her fascination with Bitcoin’s decentralized promise. After enrolling in a VR program and winning third place at her first Bitcoin hackathon in Austin, Kiki merged her creative instincts with technical rigor. This fusion birthed Cozy, a gaming experience blending Tamagotchi-like digital pets with Bitcoin-powered utility. Players train AI agents to perform real-world tasks—like purchasing items via Lightning or managing social media—while earning sats through challenges. For Kiki, Cozy isn’t just a game; it’s a gateway to financial sovereignty, where playful interactions teach Bitcoin’s value without complex jargon.

Cozy’s Vision: Where Play Meets Pragmatism

Cozy reimagines gaming as a tool for everyday Bitcoin adoption. Set in a vibrant, interconnected world, players customize AI agents that handle practical tasks—think virtual pets that pay invoices or crowdfund projects. Kiki envisions a deep in-game economy reflecting real-world transactions, powered entirely by Bitcoin. Drawing inspiration from machine-to-machine payment trends and Nostr’s decentralized social layer, she aims to eliminate friction between play and utility. Within 18 months, Kiki plans to assemble a team to expand Cozy’s ecosystem, emphasizing community collaboration—a lesson from her hackathon days. For newcomers intimidated by Bitcoin’s complexity, Cozy offers a whimsical on-ramp: “Play,” she says, “is the best teacher.” As VR and AI reshape digital interaction, Kiki’s work proves creativity and decentralized principles can coexist—one playful agent at a time.

Meet the Top Builders Stream

The 2025 Pleb Lab Top Builder competition has become a launchpad for Bitcoin’s most audacious innovators. In a recent virtual roundtable, seven teams shared their progress, struggles, and visions for reshaping Bitcoin’s ecosystem—from gamified education () to decentralized commerce () and self-custody solutions (). Each project reflects a unique approach to onboarding the next billion users while staying true to Bitcoin’s core ethos: collaboration over corporations, sovereignty over surveillance.

Here’s a closer look at the teams pushing Bitcoin’s boundaries.

Meet the Teams

1.

• Team: , , , &

• Description: A Bitcoin-native bug bounty platform where developers solve GitHub issues for Bitcoin.

• Mission: Democratizing open-source development: We pay contributors in Bitcoin to fix bugs and grow the Lightning Network, one bounty at a time.

• Origin Story: Lightning Bounties was born at the 2024 MIT Bitcoin Expo Hackathon, where our team developed the initial prototype to bridge the gap between open-source development and Bitcoin compensation. The project gained significant momentum after participating in the 2024 PlebLab Startup Day in Mexico City. Our platform aims to strengthen the Bitcoin ecosystem by providing sustainable incentives for developers while maintaining the decentralized ethos of both Bitcoin and open-source development.

• Quote: “We’re building tools to turn every developer into a Bitcoin contributor.”

2.

• Team:

• Description: Jippi is Pokémon GO for Bitcoin.

• Mission: To educate the next generation of Bitcoiners through gamification.

• Origin Story: Jippi began as a hobby project in 2022 and was born from Oliver's love for Bitcoin and education. As a receiver of the orange pill in 2020, he started learning through various books, podcasts, and articles that make up the recommended learning for new Bitcoiners. This multitude of content was overwhelming at the time. He decided to set to work to build the most accessible on-ramp into the Bitcoin ecosystem for beginners. A fun and friendly tool to educate the next generation.

• Quote: “Bitcoin’s future depends on capturing 8-second attention spans.”

3.

• Team:

• Description: Branta offers payment verification for various bitcoin and lightning technologies.

• Mission: Expanding Bitcoin as a Medium of Exchange:

• Origin Story: Read the Bitcoin Standard and never looked back.

• Quote: “Bitcoin’s final settlement needs good security.”

4.

• Team:

• Description: Inherit is a self-custodial Bitcoin recovery solution, enabling users to time-lock their BTC to guard against wrench attacks and quantum threats, with an optional dead man's switch for recovery in case of key loss or unexpected life events.

• Mission: Empower more people to self-custody Bitcoin by making it safer.

• Origin Story: I befriended an elderly man seeking a self-custodial way to pass on his Bitcoin without changing his wallet setup, inspired by John McAfee's "dead man switch" concept.

• Quote: “Your keys shouldn’t die with you.”

5.

• Team:

• Description: A gamified platform for AI agents to be created by non technical users.

• Mission: Make Bitcoin interactions fun, playful, and accessible.

• Origin Story: As a new mom, I rely on voice assistants like Alexa a lot, but they constantly frustrate me. I find myself repeating commands, dealing with irrelevant ads, and realizing Alexa is designed to serve Amazon—not me. It doesn’t learn, adapt, or truly assist in a meaningful way. This frustration led me to create Cozy during my student innovation project at the University of Advancing Technology—a personalized, intelligent assistant built on open protocols like Bitcoin, Lightning, and Nostr to prioritize the user, not a corporation.

• Quote: “Delight as a gateway to financial sovereignty.”

6.

• Team:

• Description: Shopstr is a global, decentralized Nostr marketplace for Bitcoin commerce.

• Mission: Permissionless, KYC-free marketplace on Nostr.

• Origin Story: Having attended the alma mater of Ross Ulbricht (founder of Silk Road), Cristian drew inspiration to create a market for p2p trade, but on the right foundation with Nostr. As time worked on the project has progressed, the potential and conviction with regards to the project has only grown. The mission is to allow anyone to be able to trade globally and permissionlessly directly with Bitcoin and to make Bitcoin earn-ramps more accessible.

• Quote: “Free markets shouldn’t require permission.”

7.

• Team:

• Description: BitcoinOnly Events is a platform dedicated to organizing, promoting, and supporting Bitcoin-focused meetups, conferences, and community events worldwide.

• Mission: To help HODLers, professionals, and newcomers stay informed, connected, and engaged with the events that matter most.

• Origin Story: Andrew founded BitcoinOnly Events after years of attending grassroots Bitcoin meetups, where he saw firsthand how fragmented event organization had become. Frustrated by reliance on centralized platforms like Eventbrite, he envisioned a decentralized alternative that aligned with Bitcoin’s ethos. Inspired by the Lightning Network’s scalability and community-driven growth, he built a tool to empower organizers, amplify Bitcoin-only principles, and foster local adoption through education-first gatherings.

• Quote: “Bitcoin’s community thrives when it gathers.”

From mission to turn developers into Bitcoin contributors to uncensorable marketplace, these builders prove Bitcoin’s potential stretches far beyond “digital gold.” Whether safeguarding generational wealth (), securing transactions (), or reimagining AI assistants (), their work fuels an ecosystem where innovation thrives without gatekeepers. As connects communities and gamifies onboarding, one truth emerges: Bitcoin’s future isn’t built in silos. It’s forged by builders who stack sats—and principles—together.

New Features on Lightning Bounties: Anonymous Rewards & Adding Rewards Without Login

This week, Lightning Bounties introduced two powerful features to enhance user participation. Anonymous Rewards allows logged-in users to contribute sats to bounties privately, ensuring their identity remains hidden while still supporting open-source development. Add Without Login enables anyone to add sats to bounties without creating an account, making it easier for non-developers or those without GitHub accounts to get involved.

Explore these features in detail below and see how they’re shaping the future of collaboration on Lightning Bounties.

Anonymous Rewards

The Anonymous Rewards feature enables logged-in users on Lightning Bounties to add sats to bounties without revealing their identity. This is ideal for contributors who value privacy but still want to incentivize progress on open issues. With Anonymous Rewards, users can fund bounties discreetly while maintaining full control over their contributions.

This feature encourages participation from individuals and organizations that prefer to stay private while supporting the Bitcoin and Lightning ecosystem. It’s another step toward decentralizing collaboration and ensuring that anyone can contribute, regardless of their need for anonymity.

Add Without Login

The Add Without Login feature allows anyone to contribute sats to existing bounties on the Lightning Bounties platform without needing to create an account or log in. This is perfect for users who want to support developers but don’t have a GitHub account or prefer not to login. By removing this barrier, more people can participate in funding open-source development, helping bounties grow faster and attracting more contributors.

To ensure security, this feature leverages Branta’s address verification, protecting both the platform and bounty hunters while maintaining trustworthiness. Add Without Login expands accessibility, making it easier than ever for anyone to back projects they care about.

Wrapping Up Week 6:

Week 6 wasn’t just about coding or compliance—it was about building with intention. Moritz’s insights on balancing user needs, Jim’s legal firewalls, and Phil’s PR pragmatism gave us tools to navigate Bitcoin’s chaos. With new features empowering contributors and a community stacking sats (and principles) together, Lightning Bounties is proof that collaboration outpaces competition. Onward to Week 7!

Five teams. One stage. $15K in Bitcoin on the line.

The PlebLab Top Builder Season 2 finale wasn’t just another pitch competition, it was a battleground for Bitcoin’s most promising builders. Months of sleepless nights, relentless iteration, and bold ideas had led to this moment. For Lightning Bounties and four other exceptional projects, everything came down to twenty minutes on stage—a chance to prove we had what it takes to shape the future of Bitcoin. This was the "Top Chef of Bitcoin," where only one team would take the crown. Let me take you inside the chaos, the excitement, and the journey that brought us here.

What the Hell is Anyway?

For those new to the Bitcoin building scene, has become the Mecca of the Bitcoin startup ecosystem in the United States. Born in 2021 from the vision of and , what began as a humble coworking space at Capital Factory in Austin has evolved into a thriving community hub that's launched over 65 Bitcoin projects and hosted 280+ workshops.

As Car explains about his vision:

"How do I make it more collaborative? When you say coworking, it's literally just working. How boring is that—working among other people who are also working? That's not fun,"

This philosophy has transformed PlebLab into "an accelerator for the Bitcoin era"—not following the traditional startup path of giving someone "$500k on day one and say, 'You got three months to make it or see you later,'" which Car correctly considers "a fiat-era thing." Instead, it's a hybrid hacker garage and startup incubator where Bitcoin builders transform impossible ideas into working products, creating the beating heart of Bitcoin innovation in Texas.

The Competition

isn't just another hackathon. As Car puts it, it's "the Top Chef of Bitcoin" where they "try to find the latest, greatest builders, pile them in, and get them to build an MVP or something pitchable.” The competition runs over approximately three months, culminating in presentations before VCs and angel investors.

Our journey through Top Builder Season 2 led us to the final round, where we faced off against four other impressive Bitcoin projects:

The Final Contenders

: Guardrails for Bitcoin

presentation focused on enhancing Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. flagship product, , provides payment verification to solve the "last mile problem" in Bitcoin transactions. When you interact with Bitcoin, you typically see a QR code and a string representing a Bolt11 invoice or address. What happens if that information gets compromised somewhere between generation and scanning?

solution allows users to verify whether an address is legitimate before sending funds, with implementation as simple as hovering over text that says "verify invoice Bronta". This provides a second touchpoint to verify the address is correct, protecting against compromised servers or malicious browser extensions.

During the presentation, also announced new partnerships with for compliance solutions and for Bitcoin-native accounting, creating a complete stack for Bitcoin businesses.

: Revolutionizing Bitcoin Commerce

addresses a significant problem: permissionless commerce. As Christian () explained in his presentation, small merchants frequently face censorship on centralized platforms. He shared examples of sellers getting shut down on Etsy for seemingly minor issues like claiming a tallow cream was "deeply moisturizing".

provides a permissionless marketplace built on three technologies: Bitcoin/Lightning for payments, ecash for privacy, and Nostr for social infrastructure and distribution. makes it remarkably simple for merchants to list products and receive Bitcoin payments, without requiring extensive technical knowledge or payment infrastructure.

What impressed me was their self-hosted feature—merchants can install their own client on or , completely removing reliance on DNS or other centralized internet technologies. With about 50 people already running their own instances and 5 million sats in transaction volume, they're demonstrating real traction.

: Post Content. Get Paid.

from presented a compelling solution for content creators struggling with monetization. He highlighted how platforms like YouTube provide minimal revenue to creators (showing an example of 83,000 views generating only $280), forcing them to use services like Patreon or OnlyFans, which require followers to create new accounts and enter payment information.

fixes this by allowing creators to upload content once and monetize it anywhere through an innovative protocol called L402 HLS, which combines HTTP Live Streaming with Lightning Labs' L402 payment system. Their Lightning video player works across platforms—from personal websites to Twitter and Nostr—letting viewers pay directly through Lightning without creating accounts.

The live demo showed how content creators can stream, set pricing tiers for different quality levels, and receive payments instantly to their Lightning wallets, with viewers able to watch the content where they already are, without extra accounts.

: Fix Code, Earn Bitcoin

Up next was us, Lightning Bounties. Saying I was nervous is a massive understatement. I was sweating fucking bullets. It didn't help that the three pitches before us absolutely nailed their presentations and we still had Jippi to follow, who I'd witnessed give a . Worst of all, we were running on 3-4 hours of sleep—refining, editing, changing slides and talking points until the insomnia and the previous three days all seemed like a blur.

But this is what Top Builder is all about: bringing out the absolute best in us. We wouldn't have had it any other way.

Our presentation focused on three key aspects of Lightning Bounties:

1. Market potential: By integrating Lightning-based payments into GitHub, we're meeting 100+ million developers where they already work. This creates a massive addressable market for Bitcoin adoption through everyday developer workflows.

2. Versatility beyond code: Bounties aren't limited to programming tasks. They can include logo designs, documentation updates, YouTube tutorials, and more. If it can be solved online, it can be posted as a GitHub issue and turned into a Lightning Bounty.

3. Simplicity by design: Posting a bounty requires just six clicks and about 30 seconds. With one click, you're already logged in and registered. Copy/paste the GitHub Issue URL, set your reward amount in sats, and you've created your first bounty—friction removed.

We demonstrated this with a live example. The only hiccup came when I didn't account for using Enrique's MacBook. Hard to believe, but this was the first time I'd used a Mac in as long as I could remember. While running through the demo, this realization hit me as I looked up at everyone watching. I froze momentarily, trying to figure out why copy/paste wasn't working. Luckily, I heard whispering "Command-A, Command-C, Command-V." Once I heard that, it was smooth sailing, and I took a massive breath of relief knowing everything went off without a hitch.

As we wrapped up our pitch, I stepped back from the podium with a strange mix of exhaustion and exhilaration. The judges scribbled notes while the audience applauded. In that moment, standing under those lights, the results almost didn't matter anymore. We'd shown how Lightning Bounties could make a genuine impact in the Bitcoin ecosystem. We'd changed some minds about what a bounty could be—not just code, but design, documentation, education, and beyond. Most importantly, we'd demonstrated just how ridiculously simple the platform was to use—so fucking easy that even a caveman could post a bounty in 30 seconds.

Our journey through Top Builder helped us refine our platform and connect with the broader Bitcoin developer community, creating relationships that will continue to grow long after the competition ends. We've built a marketplace that solves real problems for both open-source projects and developers, all powered by Bitcoin's Lightning Network.

: An AR Adventure Game with a Bitcoin Twist

took the stage to present , an augmented reality game that brilliantly reimagines Pokémon Go with a Bitcoin educational twist. His pitch immediately zeroed in on their target audience: Gen Z users with their notorious 8-second attention spans who nonetheless represent a staggering $12 trillion in expected purchasing power by 2030.

What made compelling was how it merges three key elements that Gen Z craves—gaming (played by 90% of the demographic), rewards (expected by 70% while playing), and Bitcoin knowledge (with 41% wanting to learn more). The concept is elegantly simple yet addictive: players explore their real-world surroundings to discover Bitcoin-themed "beasts" in augmented reality, answer Bitcoin quiz questions to capture them, and earn tickets to spin a rewards wheel for actual Bitcoin sats.

Oliver's live demonstration showcased how players progress through educational "islands" before encountering characters like "Nakamoto Nick" and "Proof of Work Patrick." He dangled a tantalizing million-sat prize for the first person to collect all six beasts in their foundation series. Backing up their concept with hard data, he shared impressive metrics from their SXSW promotion and dropped the mic with the announcement that the app was available for download that very day.

The Winner Is... Jippi!

When the judges announced as the winner of Top Builder 2025, it was a well-deserved victory. When Oliver said that had launched that day with live Bitcoin Beasts, I immediately went on my phone and caught a Beast, receiving 1000 sats - over 10x the reward I've ever received using adjacent augmented reality Bitcoin reward apps.

This inspired the Lightning Bounties team to try and catch all 6 inaugural Bitcoin Beasts, which is a 100k sats reward (approximately $800 United States dollars). Our immediate thought was, "fuck, think of how many bounties we could post with that amount of sats?!?" But that's a story for a dedicated blog post (coming soon).

built a truly impressive product with real mainstream potential. His ability to make Bitcoin education fun and engaging for a demographic that's notoriously difficult to reach impressed everyone in the room.

genuinely has viral potential that could bring a new generation into Bitcoin.

Reflections on Top Builder

Looking back at our Top Builder journey, I'm struck by how much we've grown. Competing alongside brilliant teams motivated us to refine our product, crystallize our vision, and improve our pitch. The community provided invaluable insights and connections that would have taken years to cultivate independently.

The competition's crucible compressed several months of growth into weeks, creating an environment where innovation thrived under pressure. Though victory eluded us, we emerged battle-tested with a superior product and clear direction for Lightning Bounties' future.

What's Next for Lightning Bounties

The Top Builder finale isn't the end—it's just the beginning. Energized by this experience, we're accelerating our mission to bridge Bitcoin open-source projects with elite developer talent. The competition's critical feedback is already reshaping our product roadmap and amplifying our community outreach.

The confidence gained from Top Builder fuels our ambitious next phase: enhancing platform features, crafting intuitive guides, hosting hands-on workshops, mentoring hackathons, and engaging through podcasts and . We're transforming Lightning Bounties into not just a platform, but a cornerstone of Bitcoin's collaborative development ecosystem.

A Thank You to Car, the Teams, and PlebLab

We want to express our profound gratitude to and the entire ecosystem for creating this incredible platform for Bitcoin builders. The structure of Top Builder, with its emphasis on shipping code and building viable products rather than just pitching ideas, truly sets it apart from other startup competitions.

To the brilliant minds behind , , , and —your creativity and resilience have raised the standard for all of us. The Bitcoin ecosystem shines brighter through your contributions, and we're honored to have shared this journey with you.

Join Our Journey

If you're a developer looking to earn Bitcoin or a project in need of development help, we invite you to join us at Lightning Bounties. Visit or join our community to learn more.

The future of Bitcoin is being built by individuals and small teams with big visions. Whether you're a builder, investor, or Bitcoin enthusiast, there's a place for you in this revolution. Let's build together.

PlebLab's Week 4 Recap: Lightning Bounties

Week 4 of PlebLab's Top Builder competition has been transformative for Lightning Bounties. From laying groundwork as possible mentors at the 2025 MIT Bitcoin Expo to enhancing our platform's documentation with a revamped blog landing page, and launching our first experimental live coding session - each milestone demonstrates our commitment to building value for the Bitcoin ecosystem. These achievements not only showcase our progress in the competition but also highlight our dedication to making bug bounty hunting more accessible and rewarding for developers worldwide. Let's dive into these developments that are shaping our journey through Top Builder.

This Week's Journey: A Snapshot

Must Watch Content

• Bitcoin Marketing & Media with Brandon Keys

• Must Watch: Shopstr on Early Days Podcast!

Lightning Bounties: Milestones & Achievements

• Join Us at the 2025 MIT Bitcoin Expo

• Blog Landing Page Improvements

• First Live Coding Session

Bounty of the Week: Contribute to PlebBook.com

Bitcoin Marketing & Media with Brandon Keys

Brandon Keys delivered some hard-hitting truths that changed our perspective on marketing in the Bitcoin space. The biggest wake-up call? The best products don't always win—it's the ones that are effectively marketed and sold that succeed. As we build Lightning Bounties, this hit home: creating an amazing platform is crucial, but getting our message out there is equally important. Brandon encouraged us to start marketing now, not wait for some mythical "perfect moment," and to keep our branding consistent even if we're still refining our approach.

His practical content creation tips were game-changing, especially around the power of presentation. When Brandon shared how he achieved 55x more views just by improving a thumbnail, it really drove home the importance of these seemingly small details. For our team, this means rethinking how we showcase our demos, educational content, and technical updates. What really resonated was his emphasis on personal branding within the Bitcoin ecosystem—showing the human side of our platform and sharing our building journey openly. It's exactly what we need as we continue building in public and engaging with fellow developers.

Shopstr on Early Days Podcast!

Our journey with Shopstr began when we met CalDev at the 2024 PlebLab Startup Day in Mexico City, where his passion for revolutionizing e-commerce immediately resonated with our team. After watching their compelling Early Days podcast interview, we were inspired to try the platform ourselves. We purchased a Shopstr-themed t-shirt, and the experience perfectly demonstrated their vision - a seamless, peer-to-peer marketplace that works. Unlike traditional platforms like eBay that take a hefty 15% cut from sellers, Shopstr's Bitcoin-native approach using Lightning Network for payments and Nostr for communication creates a more efficient, cost-effective solution for everyone involved.

What makes Shopstr truly revolutionary is how it solves fundamental problems in e-commerce. In their Early Days interview, CalDev shares how Shopstr emerged from the need to create a truly permissionless marketplace - one without the restrictive policies, high fees, and centralized control that plague Web2 platforms. Their mission extends beyond just creating another shopping site; it's about building a future where commerce is peer-to-peer, borderless, and accessible to everyone. The team's approach to bridging the gap to mainstream users is particularly impressive - making Bitcoin commerce as simple as traditional online shopping while maintaining the core benefits of decentralization.

For aspiring builders in the Bitcoin space, Shopstr's journey offers valuable insights about focusing on user experience without compromising on decentralization principles. Want to experience the future of e-commerce yourself?

Visit https://shopstr.store/ to start shopping!

Lightning Bounties: Milestones & Achievements

Week 4 marks significant strides in our platform's evolution and community engagement. From taking our first steps toward mentoring at the 2025 MIT Bitcoin Expo to improving our documentation with a revamped blog landing page, and conducting our first live coding session trial - each milestone reflects our commitment to building in public and fostering collaboration within the Top Builder competition. Let's dive into these achievements.

Initial Steps Toward Mentoring in the 2025 MIT Bitcoin Expo Hackathon

Our journey with the MIT Bitcoin Expo holds a special place in Lightning Bounties' story. After first meeting at the 2023 expo and then winning first place at the 2024 MIT Bitcoin Hackathon, we're thrilled to announce our return in 2025 - this time as mentors. Our transformation from hackathon participants to mentors represents a full-circle moment that embodies the collaborative spirit of the Bitcoin community. In just one year, we've grown from a hackathon project into a platform that's been featured in Bitcoin News and presented at events like the 2024 PlebLab Startup Day.

Recent discussions with the MIT Bitcoin Expo organizers have opened exciting opportunities for Lightning Bounties to give back to the community that helped launch us. We'll be sharing our experience and knowledge with the next generation of Bitcoin builders, helping teams develop their ideas and navigate the challenges we faced just a year ago. Our focus will be on supporting projects that align with freedom tech principles and fostering the kind of innovation that can shape Bitcoin's future.

The 2025 MIT Bitcoin Expo is happening on April 5th-6th, and we encourage everyone in the Bitcoin community to get involved! Whether you're interested in being a speaker, sponsor, attendee, or hackathon participant, there are numerous ways to contribute to this incredible event.

The expo represents a unique opportunity to connect with builders, learn from industry leaders, and potentially launch your own Bitcoin journey - just like we did.

Visit https://mitbtcexpo.org/index.html to learn more about participation opportunities and join us in shaping the future of Bitcoin!

Blog Landing Page Improvements

The evolution of our blog's landing page reflects our commitment to building comprehensive, accessible documentation for the Lightning Bounties community. By restructuring our content into clear categories - from event recaps and team insights to media coverage and upcoming tutorials - we're making it easier for users to navigate our growing knowledge base.

Whether you're exploring our platform updates, diving into technical guides, or following our building journey through the Bitcoin ecosystem, the improved layout ensures a smoother path to the information you need. It's all part of our iterative approach to building in public and growing alongside our community of builders and bounty hunters.

Click the video below to see a quick visual of the before and after!

First Live Coding Session (Trial Run)

Our team conducted our first experimental live coding session this week, testing the waters for future community-focused development streams. Using Aider and DeepSeek-R1 AI tools, we worked through UI improvements while exploring how to create engaging, educational content for developers interested in bug bounty hunting. While the session revealed some technical challenges with streaming and AI response times, it provided valuable insights into how we can structure future live coding sessions. This trial run aligns with our mission to make bug bounty hunting more accessible and collaborative, laying the groundwork for Twitch-style streams where developers can learn, contribute, and earn Bitcoin in real-time.

Bounty of the Week: Contribute to PlebBook.com

PlebBook stands as the essential builder's manual for the Bitcoin and Lightning ecosystem, serving as a comprehensive resource hub where developers and enthusiasts can learn, contribute, and grow. Think of it as community-driven documentation that helps bridge the gap between curiosity and capability in the Bitcoin building space. This week's featured bounty presents an exciting opportunity to help refresh PlebBook's content across 24 different categories. The Bitcoin ecosystem evolves rapidly, and keeping documentation current is crucial for newcomers and experienced builders alike.

By contributing to PlebBook, you're not just earning sats—you're helping maintain a vital resource that empowers the next generation of Bitcoin builders.

Why does this matter? Because documentation is the foundation of adoption. Every line you update, every concept you clarify, and every category you refresh makes Bitcoin development more accessible to someone starting their journey. Plus, you'll earn sats for each successfully updated category while gaining recognition as a PlebBook contributor. Ready to make an impact?

Check here to get started, and help shape the future of Bitcoin education!

Looking Ahead: What's Next for Lightning Bounties

As we wrap up Week 4 of PlebLab's Top Builder competition, anticipation builds for next week's crucial milestone - the end of Round 1. The competition has pushed us to grow, innovate, and strengthen our platform in ways we couldn't have imagined.

Will Lightning Bounties advance to Round 2? The stakes are high, and we've poured our hearts into building value for the Bitcoin ecosystem. Tune in next week for our final Round 1 recap to find out if we make the cut and continue our journey in this incredible competition!

PlebLab's Week 5 Recap: Lightning Bounties

Week 5 of PlebLab's Top Builder competition marked a pivotal moment for Lightning Bounties. Not only did we advance to Round 2, but we also had the privilege of learning from industry leaders who shared invaluable insights about building in the Bitcoin space. From mastering UI/UX design with AI tools to understanding startup growth strategies, this week's mentorship sessions and workshops equipped us with practical knowledge to enhance our platform.

Let's dive into the key insights from this week's mentor sessions and workshops:

Austin Kelsay (PlebDevs & Voltage)

, DevRel at and Founder/Instructor at , shared his extensive expertise in a dynamic mentorship session focused on Lightning Network development and education. Through , has built a content and community platform that uniquely integrates Lightning Network and Nostr, demonstrating practical applications of the technologies he teaches. His enthusiasm for emerging technologies, particularly and developments, showcased the exciting possibilities for decentralized authentication and server administration in Bitcoin applications.

The session dove into practical aspects of Lightning development, with Austin highlighting essential tools like Polar ) as the 'Hello World' starting point for Lightning Network development. His recommendations for Lightning applications provided real-world examples of innovation in action - from to Mutiny Network, and particularly (NWC) for automated recurring Lightning subscriptions. For , Austin's insights about building on adversarial networks while maintaining user sovereignty align perfectly with our mission to create a trustless bug bounty platform.

What particularly resonated with our team was perspective on how Nostr and Lightning Network complement each other, creating possibilities for authentication and payments that weren't previously possible. His experience both as DevRel at and building offers valuable lessons as we continue developing Lightning Bounties' features and community engagement tools.

Ted Thayer (FeedFilter AI)

Ted Thayer from FeedFilter.AI delivered a thought-provoking session focused on the critical aspects of building and pitching Bitcoin startups. Drawing from his experience with three early-stage startups, Ted emphasized the fundamental importance of thorough market research and understanding user problems. His current venture, FeedFilter.AI, which helps users filter out unwanted content from social media feeds, served as a practical example of identifying and solving real user pain points. For our team at Lightning Bounties, his insights about conducting market research early and often resonated deeply with our mission to make bug bounty hunting more accessible and rewarding.

The session transformed how we view Lightning Bounties' market potential and pitch strategy. Ted's advice to "build your startup deck, then think about removing 90% of your words to condense your value prop" helped us refine our core message: anyone with a GitHub account can earn Bitcoin instantly through open-source contributions. His warning about Bitcoin founders underselling their total addressable market (TAM) hit home - our platform's reach extends to every developer and organization using GitHub worldwide.

Ready to earn Bitcoin for your coding skills or find talented developers to solve your issues? Visit to start your journey today!

Bitcoin UX For the Streets by Stephen Delorme

Stephen DeLorme delivered an eye-opening workshop on Bitcoin UI/UX design that demonstrated the power of combining AI tools with traditional design principles. The interactive session showcased how tools like can speed-up the design process - what typically takes weeks of UI component development, Stephen accomplished in minutes through well-crafted AI prompts that combined specific requirements with style references.

For , learning that works seamlessly with AI coding tools like Cursor was a game-changer. As my preferred component library, we initially had concerns about AI compatibility with newer design frameworks like . Stephen's demonstrations eliminated these doubts, providing us with a clear pathway to enhance our live coding sessions. We're already implementing these insights as we test AI coding tools, using his workshop as a practical guide to sharpen our development process.

The workshop's emphasis on UI/UX testing strategies, particularly gathering multiple perspectives while making users comfortable with statements like "We are testing the UI/UX, not you," is a statment I'll be repeating when gathering feedback on our own platform.

Want to see how AI tools can transform your design process? Check out the full workshop below: ⬇️

Must Watch Branta on Early Days Podcast

Branta's appearance on Early Days podcast offered a compelling look into their mission to make Bitcoin transactions safer and more transparent. Founded by , a former Bloomberg veteran, latest product "" addresses a critical challenge in Bitcoin's path to mass adoption: verifying payment addresses and invoices before sending funds. This elegant solution helps ensure users never send payments to unintended destinations, addressing one of the most significant risks in Bitcoin transactions.

emphasis on solving real problems and his transition from traditional finance to Bitcoin entrepreneurship showcases the opportunities within the ecosystem. Want to learn more about how Branta is making Bitcoin transactions safer?

Check out the full Early Days interview here: ⬇️

Top Builder Round 2 Team Announcements

is thrilled and honored to announce our advancement to Round 2 of PlebLab's Top Builder competition! The caliber of projects moving forward with us is truly impressive, showcasing the incredible innovation happening in the Lightning Network ecosystem. Each team brings unique solutions and powerful visions for Bitcoin's future, making this next phase both exciting and challenging.

Click the project cards below to explore what each Round 2 team is building and discover the next wave of Lightning Network innovation.

Lightning Bounties' Round 1 Recap In 100 Seconds

Want to see Lightning Bounties' journey through Round 1? Check out our "Lightning Bounties Round 1 Recap in 100 Seconds" below for a rapid-fire tour of our key milestones and achievements!

Closing Thoughts:

As we move into Round 2 of Top Builder, the competition is fiercer than ever. We're already brainstorming ideas for a 'home run' feature or partnership that would energize the entire PlebDev ecosystem and strengthen our bid for the final five. The caliber of projects advancing alongside us is incredible, pushing us to think bigger and build better.

We want to hear from you! What features would make Lightning Bounties an essential tool in your development workflow? Are you looking to streamline your software bug management with Bitcoin rewards? Whether you're a potential partner or a developer with ideas, - we'd love to explore how we can build something amazing together!

Introduction:

When I first heard about it was described as “the most open-source Bitcoin conference out there.” Naturally, I was intrigued 🤔. A space where developers, innovators, and Bitcoin enthusiasts gather to share, build, and push the boundaries of what’s possible? Count me in 🙌.

This year, it was extra special because I wasn’t going solo—I had from the team with me. Together, we represented our ⚡️ and explored the vibrant ecosystem of Bitcoin builders. From October 23rd to 26th, we immersed ourselves in four exciting and occasionally overwhelming days at Georgia Tech in Atlanta 🍑.

Here’s how we made the most of it:

Day 1: Setting the Stage and Building Connections 🌟

Day 1 was all about first impressions and laying the groundwork 🎤. and I kicked off the day by meeting incredible innovators and soaking in the collaborative vibe 💻.

We had some amazing conversations, including with:

• 🛠️: This team is working on a DIY device based on ESP32 for Bitcoin wallets. Their commitment to open-source reminded us of why Lightning Bounties exists in the first place.

• ⛏️: Skot and his team are making Bitcoin mining more accessible with low-cost devices. It’s grassroots innovation like this that makes the ecosystem so exciting.

• 🌌: is pioneering decentralized rollups using Bitcoin blockspace for dApps. Will and I found it fascinating how their challenges with GitHub issue descriptions paralleled the problems we’re solving with Lightning Bounties 💼.

🦢: We connected with the Branta team, who are enhancing Bitcoin and Lightning security by providing guardrails for transactions. This meeting was particularly fruitful, leading to a partnership where Branta now bolsters the security of our Lightning transactions. Their focus on verifying Bitcoin addresses before transactions has been instrumental in safeguarding our users from phishing and man-in-the-middle attacks.

Talking with these builders wasn’t just inspiring—it gave us a ton of ideas about how Lightning Bounties can help streamline workflows and support creators globally 🌎.

Day 2: Learning and Growing Through Workshops

Highlights from sessions: Day 2 was packed with hands-on learning ✋📖. The gave me a deeper understanding of unlocking new potential in Bitcoin’s scalability 📈💡.

Favorite takeaways: stood out 🚀—it aligned perfectly with Lightning Bounties’ mission of empowering developers to innovate with ease 🔧 and be rewarded for their contributions 💰.

It was amazing to see how the lessons from these workshops directly reinforced the importance of seamless integration 🌐, something we prioritize in our platform 🛠️.

Day 3: Exploring Real-World Impact

Memorable sessions: Sessions like 🌍📜 and '' ⚡️🚀 highlighted the transformative potential of Bitcoin.

These discussions reinforced the global impact of tools like ours 🌎—making open-source contributions and Bitcoin adoption more accessible, particularly in regions like El Salvador.

Day 4: Closing Strong and Looking Ahead

The vibe of the final day: Day 4 wrapped up with advanced discussions and thought-provoking panels 💭✨. was a powerful reminder of the ongoing innovations in this space 🔧⚙️.

Also, , had a great workshop: . I was able to create my layer two 😎😎.

The energy on the last day ⚡️ solidified a recurring theme throughout TABConf—collaboration is key 🤝. It’s the foundation of the Lightning Bounties vision, and seeing it in action here was inspiring 🚀.

Reflection: Lightning Bounties at TABConf 24

TABConf wasn’t just about Bitcoin’s future 🌟; it was about building the tools, communities, and partnerships to get there 🛠️🤝. For , it validated our mission to transform collaboration in open-source development ⚡️.

Armed with these experiences and insights 💡, we’re more committed than ever to empowering developers with instant Bitcoin rewards ⚡️💰 and streamlined workflows 🔧. Watch this space 👀 as we take the next steps in redefining open-source collaboration 🌐.

Welcome to Lightning Bounties x Top Builder Page

Thank you for checking out our blog! We document our progress in the PlebLabs Top Builder competition, provide insights into what Lightning Bounties is all about, and share updates on what we and other top builder teams are working with each week.

We're Lightning Bounties, dedicating ourselves to Bitcoin Bug Bounties on GitHub!

Our Goals For Top Builder

At Lightning Bounties, our main goal through the Top Builder competition is to collaborate, build, and learn with participating teams and mentors. You can join us with building Lightning Bounties and earn sats in the process. Need help fixing a pesky bug or want to add a cool feature on your Top Builder projct?

About Lightning Bounties

Open-source software powers the world, yet millions of talented developers remain on the sidelines, constrained by geographical and financial barriers. Imagine if these brilliant minds could contribute freely, unburdened by banking restrictions or currency conversion headaches. What if their code could instantly translate into fair compensation, regardless of their location?

Enter Lightning Bounties: the fusion of Bitcoin's borderless ethos with GitHub's collaborative spirit. We're not just incentivizing developers; we're liberating them. With our platform, contributors receive Bitcoin payments at the speed of committing, directly on GitHub. No more waiting. No more restrictions. Just pure, unadulterated coding freedom.

Lightning Bounties isn't just changing how developers get paid—it's transforming the very fabric of open-source collaboration. Welcome to the future of GitHub, where your code doesn't just make a difference—it makes you money.

Weekly Insights

Read our weekly blogs on what the LB team is building/learning & the innovative projects in Top Builder!

Follow Lightning Bounties Throughout Top Builder

Stay informed about our progress and updates during the Top Builder competition by using the following trackers:

Lightning Bounties Team

TopBuilder Teams

Discover the projects shaping the future of Bitcoin and Lightning Network in this year's Top Builder competition. Each team card links to their project site, Click each project to visit their site and engage with their fun and game-changing apps.

Lightning Bounties Socials

Connect with us and stay up-to-date. Engage through direct communication, code exploration, or follow us on our various social media platforms.

About Top Builder

Top Builder is a three-month competition that invites teams from around the globe to tackle real-world challenges and create impactful Bitcoin solutions.

This program emphasizes mentorship, community collaboration, and technical innovation, offering participants a unique opportunity to gain exposure and showcase their work.

Key Dates:

• Round 1 (January 6 – February 8): Teams are mentored and judged on initial milestones.

• Round 2 (February 9 – 22): Half the teams continue, refining their projects.

• Final Round (Starting February 23): The top 5 teams are selected to pitch live at Startup Day in Austin.

About PlebLab

PlebLab is a Bitcoin-focused hackerspace and accelerator dedicated to supporting open-source innovation and fostering a thriving community of developers, creatives, and entrepreneurs.

Based in Austin, Texas, PlebLab empowers the next generation of Bitcoin builders to turn bold ideas into impactful solutions.

August 10, 2024

In the early 18th century, the British government faced a formidable challenge: how to accurately determine a ship's longitude at sea. The inability to do so led to numerous shipwrecks and lost lives, posing a significant threat to the empire's naval dominance and maritime trade. To solve this critical problem, the British Parliament, in 1714, offered a substantial reward known as the "Longitude Prize." This bounty was open to anyone who could devise a reliable method for calculating longitude at sea. While many prominent scientists and astronomers attempted to solve the problem, it was a relatively unknown clockmaker, John Harrison, who ultimately succeeded. Harrison's marine chronometer revolutionized navigation and underscored the potential of using innovation prizes, or bounties, to solve complex challenges.

The concept of bounties as a catalyst for innovation has a long and storied history. These prizes have been used by governments, organizations, and private entities to encourage individuals and small teams to tackle specific problems. Unlike large-scale efforts such as the X-Prize, which often require significant resources and are typically pursued by well-funded organizations, bounties are accessible to a broader audience. They offer a unique opportunity for independent inventors, small teams, and even hobbyists to compete on a level playing field, where creativity and ingenuity are the primary currencies.

One of the most compelling aspects of bounties is that they democratize innovation. By opening competitions to anyone with the skills and determination to solve a problem, bounties tap into a diverse pool of talent that might otherwise go unnoticed. This inclusivity fosters a wide range of solutions, often leading to breakthroughs that traditional research and development methods might not achieve. Furthermore, because bounties typically focus on specific, well-defined problems, they encourage participants to think creatively and pragmatically, leading to solutions that are both innovative and practical.

Modern Day Bounties

In the modern era, the concept of bounties has been revitalized and expanded through platforms like Kaggle. Kaggle is a popular online community that hosts machine learning competitions, where individuals and small teams can compete to develop the best models for various data science challenges. These competitions offer cash prizes, but more importantly, they provide participants with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, gain recognition, and contribute to solving real-world problems. Kaggle competitions have led to significant advancements in fields such as healthcare, finance, and environmental science, illustrating the power of bounties to drive innovation in diverse areas.

The success of platforms like Kaggle highlights another key advantage of bounties: they encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing. While participants compete against each other, many also share their approaches and insights with the community. This open exchange of ideas accelerates the pace of innovation, as participants build on each other's work and refine their solutions. Moreover, the competitive nature of bounties incentivizes participants to push the boundaries of what is possible, often leading to breakthroughs that extend beyond the scope of the original challenge.

Bounties: Powering Innovation Ecosystems

Bounties also serve as a powerful motivator by offering a clear and tangible reward for innovation. Unlike traditional research grants or funding, which may require extensive applications and approval processes, bounties are straightforward: solve the problem, and you win the prize. This simplicity appeals to many innovators who prefer to focus on the challenge itself rather than navigating bureaucratic hurdles. Additionally, the competitive aspect of bounties adds an element of excitement and urgency, driving participants to work harder and faster to achieve their goals.

The impact of bounties extends beyond the immediate winners. Often, the solutions developed in response to a bounty have broader applications, leading to new products, services, or technologies that benefit society as a whole. For example, John Harrison's marine chronometer not only solved the problem of determining longitude at sea but also laid the groundwork for the development of precise timekeeping, which is crucial for various fields, including telecommunications and GPS technology.

Furthermore, bounties can stimulate entire industries by drawing attention to specific challenges and encouraging a focus on innovation. For instance, in the field of machine learning, Kaggle competitions have inspired thousands of data scientists to hone their skills, leading to a surge in expertise and interest in this critical area. As a result, bounties can play a crucial role in shaping the direction of technological progress and ensuring that key challenges receive the attention they deserve.

Another important aspect of bounties is their ability to uncover hidden talent. By opening competitions to a wide audience, bounties often attract participants who may not have traditional credentials or experience but possess the creativity and problem-solving skills needed to succeed. This inclusivity allows for a more diverse range of perspectives and approaches, which can lead to more innovative and effective solutions. It also provides an entry point for individuals who may not have had the opportunity to contribute to a particular field, fostering a more inclusive and dynamic innovation ecosystem.

Lightning Bounties: The Next Step in Micro Bounties

As discussed, most innovation bounty prizes took months or years to complete in the past. While some of these bounties are still remembered today due to their difficult and impactful nature, the problem bounty solvers is the significant risk of spending so much time.

This is why Lightning Bounties is a significant advance in bounties. We break them down into very small pieces and reward the prize immediately. It's not unheard of to earn multiple bounties in a single day. With this rate of feedback, bounty hunters can focus their efforts on the languages, projects that are best suited to their skills and earning goals.

Earn Your First Bounty Now - By adding to this article

So much for theory, time to take action...and get paid!

Respond to this article by adding an example of a historical or modern day bounty system and add to the article. To do this simply

• Sign up by "Log In with GitHub" at app.lightningbounties.com

• Review the metrics for evaluating submissions here

• Fork the repo, make a commit and submit a PR as described here. Notice this works because this website (powered by Gitbook) is sync'd with an underlying git repository.

• Wait for a team member to review your changes and merge them into the git repo

After these steps are complete: you should now have sats deposited into your profile. Now you can use those sats to withdraw them into your wallet or to post a bounty of your own.

Community Contributions

What are some examples of bounties you've seen that have been effective?

from @sutt:

Vitalik Buterin earned his first bitcoins in 2011 by writing articles for Bitcoin Weekly (1). Vitalik also offered bounties to Gavin Wood for his Ethereum C++ client on their first communications (2).

Looks like in both cases, bounties were a key part of bringing in talent that did not have any official credentials in the space.

(1)

(2)

Excerpts from Laura Chin's Cryptopians (2022). I was gited this book several months ago and it's been a great read. I highly recommend it.

End.

PlebLab's Week 2 Recap: Lightning Bounties

In this weeks edition, we’ll explore the key milestones and achievements from the second week of Pleb Lab's Top Builder competition. For week 2, Lightning Bounties focused on expanding our business development efforts, documenting our journey, and implementing our Time Lock and Bounty Expiry feature onto our production app. Join us as we dive into an eventful Week 2 of Top Builder and explore what these developments mean for Lightning Bounties!

Time Lock and Expiry Feature Now Live on Lightning Bounties!

We're excited to announce that after a week of rigorous testing in our development environment, the Time Lock and Expiry feature is now live on ! This new functionality brings a significant enhancement to our platform, balancing security for bounty hunters with flexibility for project teams.

Key Features:

• Time Lock: Each bounty's reward is held in escrow for a set period (typically two weeks), guaranteeing the reward for valid submissions within this timeframe.

• Expiry Option: After the lock period, bounty posters can expire unclaimed bounties if priorities change or issues are resolved internally.

Why It Matters: This feature makes bounty hunting less risky for contributors while giving project teams more control over their resources. It ensures that funds are firmly allocated for a specific period, encouraging participation, and then allows for adaptability as project needs evolve.

GitHub Integration Improvements

• We encountered and swiftly addressed a schema change in GitHub's API.

• This led to improved health checks and more reliable integration with GitHub.

• A key improvement: GitHub now guarantees that merging a PR will close associated issues, enhancing our workflow reliability.

What's Next: Dev Milestone 2 Planning

Key Focus Areas

• Non-logged-in crowdfunding has been identified as a top priority to drive business development traction.

• We've reshuffled some items:

  • Lightning Network withdrawal enhancements moved to v3

  • Some infrastructure and developer experience items from v1 added to v2

Ongoing Tasks

• Implementing time tracking for development periods

• Collaborating with @BrantaOps for expiry feature testing

We're excited about these developments and the direction we're heading. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to build and improve Lightning Bounties!

Documenting Our Journey: Week 1 Recap & Diving Into Branta

For week 2, we kicked off our journey in the Top Builder competition by publishing our , highlighting our interactions with fellow Top Builder Teams, what we learned from the Week 1 workshops, development progress and lessions we learned along the way. This provides a transparent look into our progress while celebrating collaborative milestones. We also featured , a Top Builder team and valued partner of Lightning Bounties, in a dedicated article. important solutions, such as wallet verification, transaction protection, and Lightning Network integration, provide essential safeguards for Bitcoin users, aligning perfectly with our mission to enhance security and usability in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

We’re excited to continue featuring Top Builder teams in future posts and invite others to contact for an interview to share their story with the community!

Analytics Dashboard for Lightning Bounties

Thanks to Enrique's efforts, the Biz Dev team has developed an internal dashboard to visualize key metrics for our bug bounty platform. This dashboard tracks essential data, including the percentage of open versus solved bounties, average and total sats per bounty, the number of developers, unique repositories, and Twitter follower growth. These insights will enhance our understanding of user engagement and help us refine our strategies. In the coming weeks, we will actively monitor these metrics and make necessary adjustments to ensure our platform remains attractive to both bounty issuers and hunters.

Below are some screenshots of our Dashboard in action:

Documentation Bounties Are Live—Contribute with Ease!

The Lightning Bounties team reached an exciting milestone by creating a that makes it easier than ever for open-source contributors to improve our Blog and Documentation sites. This offers simple, step-by-step instructions for making edits directly through GitHub—no need to fork the entire repository. With GitBook seamlessly integrated into GitHub, contributors can quickly find, edit, and propose changes, streamlining the entire process.

This effort not only improves the quality of our written content but also encourages community engagement by rewarding approved contributions with a minimum of 5,000 sats. If you have ideas to further simplify or improve our documentation, we’d love to hear from you! Visit our platform at and help us make our documentation better for everyone. Your contributions matter!

YoPaki Mentorship Session

The YoPaki Mentorship workshop, led by Francisco, whom we met at the 2024 PlebLab Startup Day in Mexico City, provided valuable advice for developers and entrepreneurs looking to build on Bitcoin & Lightning. Francisco anticipates a significant influx of developers entering this space within the next 12-18 months, highlighting the growing importance of Lightning Network applications. The workshop emphasized the challenges of getting apps approved on Apple and Android app stores, particularly for those dealing with Bitcoin payments. Key advice included being prepared for initial rejections, appealing decisions after multiple rejections, and carefully framing the app's functionality to avoid raising red flags with app store reviewers.

The session also touched on the complexities of navigating Geo-IP restrictions and jurisdictional rules, emphasizing the need for patience and collaboration with other Bitcoin companies to overcome these hurdles. Francisco encouraged Top Builder teams to collaborate with each other and stressed the importance of discerning good advice from bad when receiving feedback. For those seeking funding, the workshop highlighted that VCs often look for founders with a track record of successful fundraising and teams capable of delivering on their roadmaps. Setting realistic goals and maintaining momentum throughout the development process were identified as crucial factors for success in the Lightning Network ecosystem.

To learn more about YoPaki, click the images below to view their presentation and elevator pitch at PlebLab’s 2024 startup day. Also, stay tuned for their Android app store release coming soon and if you have an iPhone check out YoPaki's website to download the app and start stacking sats!

PlebLab Early Days Interview with Lightning Bounties

Our interview with Car on PlebTV's Early Days Podcast was a highlight of the week. It was a great opportunity to reflect on how Lightning Bounties came to life and share our journey so far. Car asked insightful questions about our decision to build on the Lightning Network, how we’ve tackled challenges like managing development alongside operations, and the lessons we’ve learned along the way.

We also discussed how using Lightning Bounties for our own development has helped us refine the platform while staying connected to the needs of both developers and organizations. The conversation touched on fun topics like AI in coding and the future of decentralized technologies, making it both thought-provoking and fun.

It was a blast being featured on the podcast, and we’re looking forward to tuning into other Top Builder teams’ stories in upcoming episodes!

Bitcoin Design UX & UI Workshop with Sam Brewton

Sam Brewton’s recent workshop on Bitcoin interface and experience design was both insightful and inspiring. His focus on creating designs that support mass adoption resonated deeply with our team as we work to make Lightning Bounties accessible to a broad range of diverse users.

Sam highlighted three key principles that we’re excited to apply. First, he stressed the importance of reducing friction in Bitcoin transactions by carefully designing every step of the user journey. Small details, like animations providing feedback during transactions, can go a long way in building user confidence. Second, he underscored the value of accessibility by designing for edge cases, such as users with disabilities, which ultimately improves usability for everyone. Lastly, Sam emphasized real-world testing with actual users to uncover issues that might not surface otherwise—a hands-on approach we plan to incorporate into our development process.

This workshop gave us actionable insights as we continue building a platform that welcomes new developers and drives Bitcoin adoption. Simplicity, accessibility, and user-focused testing will remain at the core of our design philosophy moving forward.

To see Sam's entire workshop click the video below ⬇️

Wrapping Up Week 2

As we wrap up our Week 2 recap, we’re pleased with the progress made at Lightning Bounties. The deployment of the Time Lock and Expiry feature and improvements to our documentation and analytics have enhanced our platform's functionality. Additionally, insights from the YoPaki Mentorship session and Sam Brewton's presentation on Bitcoin design have provided valuable guidance as we work to improve user experience.

We appreciate the support from the Top Builder community and look forward to applying these learnings in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more updates, and be sure to check out our platform at !