Raspiblitz BTCPay Server

BTCPay Server on the Raspiblitz

The Raspiblitz is a hardware node that allows you to run your own Bitcoin and Lightning node. On the Raspiblitz, an own BTCPay server can be operated as an additional application.

There are other hardware node providers such as Nodl, MyNode and Umbrel which also support BTCPay server. With these providers, calling the BTCPay server from the Internet is almost impossible and therefore only possible for use in your own home network.

As an operator of a website or online store, customers should be able to pay with Bitcoin and Lightning. This requires that for payment processing the Internet online store interacts with the BTCPay server on the Raspiblitz in the home network.

The Raspiblitz offers a unique solution for this with the IP2TOR service.

If you want to run your own hardware node with a BTCPay server to accept Bitcoin payments in your online store, the Raspiblitz is the right solution.

If you don’t have a Raspiblitzyet, you can buy one from Fulmo Shop as a complete hardware node. There you will also find instructions and further information if you want to assemble a Raspiblitz yourself.

The following describes how to set up and operate the Raspiblitz for use with the BTCPay Server.

Accessibility of the Raspiblitz BTCPay Server via the Internet

In most cases, the Raspiblitz is operated in a home network from home or office.

The use within the own network is usually unproblematic. The problem occurs when you want to access the Raspiblitz from outside.

However, this is required if a Bitcoin payment is made via the online store and the payment processing is carried out via the BTCPay server.

External access from the Internet to the home network and thus to the Raspiblitz with the BTCPay server is prevented by the Internet provider and the connected router.

Most of the time, you only become aware of this problem when you want to connect your online store (for example, WooCommerce) to the BTCPay server.

This does not work because the online store is on the Internet and tries to connect to the Raspiblitz BTCPay server on the home network.

Via the Raspiblitz web interface you can access the settings for “Node settings & options” under Settings.

Accordingly, the “Run behind Tor” field must be activated under “Node Settings & Options”.

After Tor has been set up on the Raspiblitz, we want to enable the BTCPay server and go to “Additional Services”.

Here the BTCPayServer is selected and confirmed with OK.

After the installation has been completed successfully, the window shown opposite appears:

Set up Raspiblitz BTCPay Server

After the Raspiblitz BTCPay server has been activated, you must first register and log in to your own BTCPay server.

The account created first is automatically created as the administrator account.

You can find the information about the administration of the BTCPay Server under BTCPay Server Setup & Administration.

Instructions on how to set up BTCPay stores on this BTCPay server can be found at:

• Set up BTCPay Store
• Administer BTCPay Store

With the Raspiblitz BTCPay Server, fewer services are displayed under Server Settings -> Services than with an installation via Docker or Lunanode.

The services otherwise listed here, such as Lightning and Ride the Lightning (RTL), are called up on the Raspiblitz via the Raspiblitz menu.

Reach Raspiblitz BTCPay Server from the Internet

Within its own network, the Raspiblitz BTCPay server can be accessed with any normal Internet browser via the IP address.

With a Tor Browser and the Tor Browser Hidden Service address, the Raspiblitz BTCPay Server can also be accessed from the Internet.

If a customer wants to pay with Bitcoin, then he will be shown a Bitcoin payment page. This payment page must be viewable with any Internet browser, as we cannot force the customer to use a TOR browser.

Therefore, the Bitcoin payment page is displayed on the Internet as a normal web page and the request is forwarded as a TOR request via the TOR network to the Raspiblitz BTCPay server in the home network.

For this purpose, Raspiblitz offers a service called IP2TORBridge.

The service is accessed via the main menu and then Subscribe – Manage Subscription.

The available Subscription Services are listed.

We select IP2TOR and get an overview of the available bridges. Accordingly, we select that we want to open an IP2TOR bridge to BTCPay.

Then we get the adjacent view displayed.

An address starting with “fulmo” is already displayed.

This is the default address and we have to use it.

We confirm the preset default address with OK.

We selected the TOR Bridge in Europe at the Frankfurt site (eu-fra1).

This bridge costs 40 sats to set up and 24 sats every 24 hours thereafter.

You will receive an IP address, which will be forwarded to the TOR address of the BTCPay server.

After confirming the setting by Agree.

If you receive the following message

It is a daily subscription that is automatically deducted from the Lightning credit on the Raspiblitz Lightning Wallet.

Associate IP address with a domain

We can access this IP address directly via the Internet. We can now access the BTCPay server in our home network from outside.

If this url is accessed, then the user will always be told that this access is not secure. If it is our own BTCPay server, then it is irrelevant for ourselves. But if customers want to pay with Bitcoin in our online store, this warning message better not appear.

Therefore, we will take our IP2TOR address and connect it to a domain for which we will get an appropriate certificate afterwards.

We will therefore set up a third-level domain for the IP2TOR IP address via DuckDNS for free.

With DuckDNS you don’t create your own DuckDNS account, you use the account you already have with another service.

So it is required that you already have a Twitter, Github, Reddit or Google account. For example, if you want to use your Google account, click Sign In with Google.

The first step is to create a third-level domain under duckdns.org. Here you enter your desired name and click on Add Domain.

After that, enter the IP2TOR address you have received in Current IP. Here only the IP address and without the port information. You can leave the ipv6 information blank.

What we will need in a moment is the details of the token. We can copy those already.

After creating a domain at DuckDNS.org, we go to the Subscription Management section of the Raspiblitz and select the LetsEncrypt HTTPS Domain service.

You get the hint that a DuckDNS account is needed.

Since we have already done this in advance, we already have the relevant data.

In the first step we are asked what our DuckDNS subdomain is.

We have created the domain Coinpages and enter Coinpages in the appropriate field.

After that we are asked for the token.

Then we have to decide which service is wanted and select HTTPS for a IP2TOR Bridge.

If we did not already have an IP2TOR subscription, we would now be prompted to create an appropriate IP2TOR subscription.

After that it takes a few seconds and the certificate is installed in the background.