Ben Arc is the creator of LNBits: a modular Lightning wallet which empowers users to pick their desired features (presented as plugins) and even connect the software to their own full node. Furthermore, the Welsh bitcoiner is also one of the self-proclaimed “CEO of Nostr” – as one of the first 3 contributors to the decentralized social network, he registered the Nostr.com domain and ripped a page from the Roger Ver playbook to create a little bit of hype.

Previously, Ben Arc has appeared on the Bitcoin Takeover podcast twice: in S8 E9 when he spoke about his Bowser hardware wallet, and in S9 E6 when he told the story of anarchism and its left-wing roots. This time around, the conversation was more focused on LNBits’ evolution into a plugin behemoth that covers pretty much every Lightning Network use case, as well as the immense potential that Nostr has as a relaying system.

Though Ben describes himself as a left-wing anarchist, he is an old school cypherpunk who’s always curious about new tech and finds neat ways to repurpose electronics to run Lightning-related applications. If you take a look at the LNBits shop, you will find many of his creations – ranging from a pocket-sized Point of Sale device and inexpensive hardware wallets to arcade grabber machines and dispensers. Everything is affordable, general-purpose, and built with a DIY mindset that almost tells you to not buy the final product and built it yourself instead.

More recently, Ben Arc is interested in decentralized marketplaces. He coded DiagonAlley as a censorship-resistant software that enables commerce, and is also interested in doing something like LocalBitcoins on top of Nostr: a peer to peer exchange which matches bitcoin buyers and sellers in a way that can’t be stopped. Ben’s interests don’t stop here: he believes that the Lightning Network is truly revolutionary and microtransactions have the power to change lots of industries – including webcam modelling and sex toys.