Frequently asked questions
What is Botoshi?
Botoshi is a Bitcoin Lightning Network bot. A wallet within Slack that let's you tip users and generate and pay lightning invoices.
What is Lightning?
In Bitcoin a block (batch of transactions) is mined every 10 minutes.
Because blocks have a fixed maximum size, Bitcoin can process around 7 transactions per second.
This means transactions on the main chain are not well suited for fast and cheap micro transactions.
In order to scale, new technologies have to be invented on top of this main chain.
The Lightning Network is one of those proposals and adds another layer to Bitcoin’s blockchain.
It enables users to create payment channels between two parties on that extra layer.
Within these channels it’s possible to send bitcoin payments,
and because they’re set up between two people, transactions are almost instant and the fees are extremely low.
Is Botoshi a custodial wallet?
At the moment using Bitcoin and the Lightning Network requires quite some effort for new users.
With Botoshi we focus on creating a smooth first experience with Bitcoin and the Lightning Network.
In order to create this friendly user experience we chose to manage the funds via an open source project
called
LNDhub.
This allows us to on-board users without troubling them with setting up nodes, opening channels etc.
If you would like to setup your own node, feel free to look at these
options.
Is it free?
Yes! Making profit is not the main goal of Botoshi.
Our aim is to educate people about Bitcoin and let everyone experience the future of money without much hassle.
However, in order to pay for our hosting we might add small fees in the future.
How do I get funds on my account?
It is possible to deposit via Lightning or Bitcoin.
The Lightning method is recommended if you already have a lightning wallet.
If you don’t have funds on the Lightning Network, choose the Bitcoin deposit method.
This will automatically convert your deposit to funds on the Lightning Network.
There are
lots of ways
to buy Bitcoin depending on your country and the payment method.
Why hasn't the app been officially reviewed by Slack?
At the moment Slack doesn't list apps that facilitate cryptocurrency transactions.
They do allow distribution through other channels.
