In a nutshell
In layman’s terms, the Librty Payment Server is a self-hosted and automated invoicing system. At checkout, the customer is presented with an invoice. Each time, a different address is tied to a particular invoice, so there is no address re-use. the Librty Payment Server follows the status of the invoice through the blockchain and informs a merchant when he can fulfill the order safely.
How is it different
The Payment Server is free, open-source, self-hostable software based on the work of the BTCPay Server community. To use the Payment Server, deploy your own instance, use our payments host, or have your server setup and managed by us.
To explore what the Payment Server has to offer, head over to Accept Crypto Payments.
There is no payment processing intermediary when you use a Librty Payment Server. Accept payments directly and stay in full control of received funds. There are no processing or subscription fees. the Payment Server is free to use and completely open-source, so developers or security auditors can always inspect the quality of the code.
How it keeps funds secure
Payments via the Server are direct, peer to peer. The merchant receives the coins directly to their wallet, with no intermediary. Securing funds comes down to the merchant securing their own private keys, which is standard for most cryptocurrency wallets.
There is an internal wallet inside the Server that merchants can use to view and spend funds received by their customers. The funds from that wallet can only be spent, if a transaction is signed with the merchant’s compatible hardware wallet or a private key. This allows merchants to have complete control of funds received.
How it keeps data private
The data is shared only between two parties – the buyer and a seller. Other payment processors collect and share user data with other parties, making it very hard to comply with privacy law regulations like GDPR. Each invoice in the Payment Server has a different receiving address, so there is no address re-use which improves privacy significantly.
How it resists censorship
- Self-hosted
- Can be run everywhere, from low-powered device like Raspberry Pi at home to enterprise-grade servers
- No third-party
- Can easily be re-deployed
The Payment Server does not have a central point of failure since nobody is controlling it except for the user running it. If run on the cloud server, the hosting providers can potentially censor users by suspending hosting accounts or disabling access to virtual machines. This is always a risk for anyone using a hosting provider. Since no private keys are stored on the server, a censored individual can easily re-deploy the server with another host. Your coins are always inside your wallet.
If an invoice is paid while your Server is down, the software will automatically determine and notify the merchant of offline invoice payments when your server is back up. If a hosting provider suspends the server, and there was no proper backup, server settings and invoice data may be lost, but on-chain payments are always in your wallet. For ultimate censorship-resistance, you should run your Payment on your own hardware. The software can even be run on a single-board computer, like Raspberry Pi from the comfort of your home.
Beyond payment processing
The Payment Server is often misconceived as being the payment processor used by the merchants only. In reality, the use-cases are limitless.
Librty Payments is a tech-stack that glues lots of complex components into an easy-to-use and coherent interface. The software can be used by self-sovereign individuals as a way to run a full node at home with a full-node reliant wallet.
Developers can build the entire businesses and projects on top of the stack.
Enterprises can use it as scalable and secure back-end of their infrastructure without ever having to put a trust in a third-party. the Payment Server is a toolbox with lots of tools you can use, it’s up to you how you want to use it.