Nostr Web Client

If you run a web shop, a web hosting business or you offer VPS rental etc. you might want to use Cashu to improve your customer's privacy and avoid having to handle and store toxic data.

Here is how a VPS provider could use Cashu to unlink payments from purchases:

- Costumer logs in

- Charges their account to obtain Ecash minted by your own service (for example Bitcoin in, Ecash out or Fiat in, Ecash out)

- Ecash appears as the user's balance

- User uses Ecash to rent a VPS, paying it back to you

We made everything so easy that this can be integrated into your website using a simple wallet library. From the user's perspective, nothing changes compared to a classical top-up and purchase experience.

That way, you wouldn't need to know which credit card transaction belongs to which VPS purchase. No custodial risk eitther, you're the service provider.

Win win.

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Discussion

L 1y ago

برای کسانی که میخوان با حفظ حریم خصوصی مشتریان و با فیلترینگ بجنگن میتونه مفید باشه

nostr:nevent1qqsthsyp5a57y4fdce0spa3g7gryktm9ej4llfx6uh356pjj924fklspzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezumt0d5hsygzsm98u9kzcp35zkpc62shck8335gqtq5yt4w26xwl0pp2a72qavvpsgqqqqqqsehn28g

Max 1y ago

For what it's worth, this is almost how the Wasabi coinjoin coordination service works, so this model is proven with 7+ years of deployment.

It's magical tech, use it!

Peter Todd 1y ago

I vaguely recall reading something along the lines of Apple using (or maybe just proposing) tech like this for their VPN-like private browsing product.

calle 1y ago

Google uses RSA blind signatures it for their VPN to achieve exactly this, to decouple of the VPN use from the user account.

Râu Cao ⚡ 1y ago

Some companies already do this with usage credits and/or time-limited plans. I think the problem with using Cashu (as is) for this is that you can't accept fiat and give out tokens that people can then convert to BTC on Lightning through your server without becoming an unlicensed exchange. It would have to be utility tokens that are only spendable for your own service to avoid this, no?

Râu Cao ⚡ 1y ago

(Sorry if I missed that this is the idea and that it's already easy to do like that.)

Deleted Account 1y ago

The ecash would never leave you as a service provider from what I understand.

But you then need to be able to prove that the ecash is only used for your products/services.

Râu Cao ⚡ 1y ago

If you don't run a gateway yourself, I think that should be fine. People trading your utility tokens p2p is not your problem as a service provider.

Fun fact: this is actually how mobile money like M-Pesa started: people used airtime for mobile networks as a currency, then the carriers saw this and turned it into e-money products.

PAɃLO 1y ago

Spot on re: Mpesa

funny that it’s only a few years ago when Mpesa went fully KYC and since then it’s become a privacy mess + big honey pot for hackers

eCash is a good case study on how to rebuild Mpesa the right way.

nostr:npub12rv5lskctqxxs2c8rf2zlzc7xx3qpvzs3w4etgemauy9thegr43sf485vg

Peter Todd 1y ago

This could be a really interesting way to bypass AML/KYC laws.

tl;dr: with ecash tokens you can put yourself in a position where you know who your customers are. But you don't know what they're actually buying.

vinney...axkl 1y ago

This was my intuition also, but is that actually how KYC laws work? Just "who" and not "what"?

pleb_world 1y ago

Is there anything existing or in the works that is similar to btcpayserver but with each?

pleb_world 1y ago

Ecash*

leo 1y ago

is there mint software that already does this?

0xtr 1y ago

I hope nostr:npub18s4zkd0wjq5gkthz4paw2704ty4s354wcp2krvxy0sewz3g9z2cs73ydrt, Njalla and nostr:npub168euw93e4cam59llcmydav0akwjk2p4nfy3p85pn22xv9y2jxuzq4s9uaw look into this

PunjabiSatoshi 1y ago

You think nostr:npub155m2k8ml8sqn8w4dhh689vdv0t2twa8dgvkpnzfggxf4wfughjsq2cdcvg will add Cashu or will there be a similar service?

Emergent Behaviours 1y ago

Can this be integrated with an AI chatbot frontend like OpenWebUI? I want my users to log in with nostr and use cashu to pay for AI 🤖.

Can’t wait for this! Will happen eventually. I want to open my AI server and my custom agents to the world and get paid in bitcoin!

steepdawn974 1y ago

I don't get it; VPS provider knows Customer deposited X Bitcoin to top up their eCash (prepaid) balance. Customer uses this prepaid balance to pay for x-number of VPSs - but the provider still knows exactly which products (=VPSs) the customer pruchased cuz it's linked to their freakin' user profile!

What am I missing?

calle 1y ago

> What am I missing?

You don't need a user profile

steepdawn974 1y ago

But you wrote:

"- Customer logs in

- Charges their account"

...

calle 1y ago

Yes, read on.

calle 1y ago

You can purchase the VPS without identification. Just send the ecash to the service and receive a VPS.

steepdawn974 1y ago

Yeah but not requiring a user account is not something special to ecash; it's what LNVPN is doing: pay this invoice, get this service.

(Besides, your OP reads differently. Anyway 🤷)

vinney...axkl 1y ago

The customer "logs in" to "buy ecash" and then buys the VPS anonymously (with the ecash), logged out.

steepdawn974 1y ago

Again: how is this different from LNVPN??

Customer: hits Buy

Provider: pay this invoice (could be anything:LN, Monero, eCash)

Customer: sends funds

Provider: detects funds

Provider: generates connection details & sends to customer

calle 1y ago

You can do that and it's already a great step up. However:

- the payment is always associated with the purchase

- as soon as you want to have a balance that can be topped up, you need user (accounts)

vinney...axkl 1y ago

Can they do the initial buy with fiat?

vinney...axkl 1y ago

Timestamps and transaction amounts would be the Achilles heel of this, right?

vinney...axkl 1y ago

How do you see this interacting with KYC laws? Maybe there's an argument that you do know your customer (the logged in / fiat payment part) even if you don't know what resources each person is using...?