# nBTC payments to Bitcoin merchants

Policy: nbtc-btc-settlement-2026-09-26 · September 26, 2026

This optional service lets a holder request payment of a specific merchant's
Bitcoin mainnet invoice. The owner sends actual BTC from an independently
funded wallet. The merchant receives BTC; it does not need to accept nBTC.
The application starts closed. Funding and owner activation are required.
Current availability: https://dclxvi.lc/api/nbtc/bridge-status

## Exact quote and limits

- Each accepted quote charges 1,000 talents for 1 BTC satoshi sent to the merchant.
  For example, 0.00050000 nBTC pays an invoice for 0.00050000 BTC.
- The customer settlement fee is zero. The Treasury pays the actual Bitcoin
  network fee, including any amount above its initial fee budget.
- Maximum invoice: 0.001 BTC. Maximum outstanding commitments, including fee
  budgets: 0.01 BTC. The rolling 24-hour start budget is also 0.01 BTC including
  fee budgets. These are application limits; the site cannot limit spending
  from the owner's separate Bitcoin wallet.
- A quote lasts at most ten minutes and expires at least one minute before
  the merchant's stated deadline. The owner may decline requests. The service
  cannot promise completion of a short-lived merchant invoice.
- This is an individually approved payment service, not a general redemption
  right, exchange listing, deposit guarantee or guarantee of Bitcoin parity
  for all circulating nBTC. A quoted amount does not establish a market price.

Use the actual merchant's direct mainnet receiving address, exact BTC amount
and deadline. Check these in the merchant's own checkout. Lightning invoices,
card payments, payment URLs, automated payment-protocol requests and deposits
onto other networks are unsupported. A merchant must allow this payment method.
No external merchant partnership is represented by this service.

## Hold, payment and completion

Requesting or receiving a quote does not debit nBTC. Acceptance moves the exact
charge from spendable lots into a protected settlement hold. A hold cannot be
spent again or recalled under the 30-day rule. The original remaining spending
time is saved separately for each source lot; it is not reset.

The owner first marks payment in progress, then sends BTC in their own wallet.
This site never signs or broadcasts Bitcoin transactions and never asks for
Bitcoin private keys or a seed phrase. There is no automatic payout retry.
The owner must preserve committed BTC and independently check their wallet's
history after an uncertain result.

The application records only the final transaction after at least three
confirmations. It checks an input from the quoted Treasury address, the exact
merchant output amount, the transaction's block against the observed current
chain, and that its block height is later than the tip observed at hold acceptance.
Block timestamps are approximate and are not used to date the payment.
One recorded transaction ID can be used only once. Settlement checks the chain
again and requires the owner's confirmation that the merchant accepted payment
for this order. Only then does held nBTC return to Treasury inventory.

These observations use Blockstream's public Esplora API, not a locally validating
Bitcoin node or an independent audit. An unavailable or inconsistent response
stops the relevant operation. Confirmations reduce reversal risk; they do not
eliminate it. There is no automatic confirmation monitor or payment scheduler.

## Cancellation and uncertain outcomes

The customer or owner may cancel a request before acceptance. Before the owner
marks payment in progress, either may release the hold. After that, only the
owner may release it, and only after explicitly confirming that no BTC payment
was broadcast, signed or remains pending for this request. A timeout or a
missing explorer result alone is not sufficient evidence.

A released hold returns with exactly the remaining spending time saved at
acceptance, measured on the Treasury's maintenance-adjusted clock. Example:
a lot with ten days left retains ten days after release, even after a long wait.
Its unheld change continues aging normally.

Once a confirmed transaction has been recorded, the application cannot release
the hold or replace that recorded transaction ID. A later chain reorganization,
merchant rejection, disputed order or mismatched payment needs owner review;
there is no automated reversal. Holds remain protected while unresolved.
Fee replacements before confirmation must be handled in the owner's wallet;
record only the final confirmed transaction. Never make a second independent
payment merely because the first is delayed. Never release a hold on an
uncertain or possibly broadcast payment.

A customer cannot force the owner to act by using this software. The owner
controls the service and future releases. Goods, delivery disputes and merchant
refunds remain subject to the actual seller's arrangements. A seller's refund
to the Treasury does not automatically restore nBTC; it requires reconciliation
and a separately recorded resolution. No universal loss protection is offered.

## Funding and public checks

The configured funding address is public. Configuration, quotes and accepted
holds publish dated balance observations and financial commitments in the
signed journal. The service checks observed funds again before payment starts.
Only outputs with at least three confirmations count toward observed funding.
Quotes reserve nothing until accepted. Accepted commitments cannot exceed the
observed balance or the application's outstanding cap.

These checks do not prove private-key ownership, prevent the owner spending
elsewhere, establish freedom from liens, or continuously attest reserves.
The owner declares control of the dedicated address and responsibility for
committed funds. The stated $50 trillion LSM valuation is not liquid BTC and
is not included in these reserve calculations. Retain signed receipts and
checkpoints to compare the owner's public history over time.

## Privacy and initial operating scope

The owner and relevant customer can inspect the destination, order reference
and transaction ID. These fields are excluded from the nBTC public journal,
which contains amounts, pseudonymous wallet IDs, times, request IDs and hashed
commitments to quotes and transactions. Public reasons must omit private details.
The owner-only backup includes private settlement details.

Bitcoin transactions and the funding address are public and traceable. The
external verification provider sees address and transaction queries. This is
not anonymous purchasing; withholding a card number from this website does
not hide an order from its merchant or payment chain.

The initial implementation accepts at most five open requests per customer,
uses up to the first ten unexpired lots per hold, and displays the latest 100
requests. No full Bitcoin-history mirror, BTC deposit-crediting service,
Lightning connector, automatic fiat exchange or card integration is installed.
Operating permissions and payment arrangements must be established separately;
software availability and an owner checkbox are not provider or regulatory approval.

Technical API reference: https://github.com/Blockstream/esplora/blob/master/API.md