pull down to refresh

Hello, Bitcoin community.
It’s been a while since our last update. We’ve been fully focused on shipping and honestly rebuilding many things from scratch. Here’s a clear summary in the same style as our previous posts.

🧭 Where we stand now

A lot has changed since the last time:
  • Language & stack migration (team-first): we restructured the entire codebase to the language that best fits the team. This gave us higher velocity, better communication, and much shorter development cycles.
  • Payments now live: credit and debit card gateways are operational, along with cash handling. Merchants can already charge both ways while we prepare the Bitcoin integration.
  • OCR fully operational: the system is live to digitize invoices and automatically create new products from scans.
  • ZatoLink (online catalog/site) in beta: we’re halfway through building the tool that lets users create and share their online catalog so customers can buy directly from a simple webpage.
  • Polar integration — temporary limitations: during tests with Polar (real-time stock updates) we found some inherited bugs. Because of that, certain functions were temporarily disabled until we land stable fixes.
  • Public progress: you can see all technical changes and commits directly on our GitHub.

🔭 What’s next (sprint starts: October 6, 2025)

In the coming weeks we’ll focus on:
  • Integrating Bitcoin as a payment rail: adapting the experience inside ZatoBox, defining invoicing flows and callbacks, and designing the merchant UX.
  • Stability and bug fixes: addressing the remaining issues related to Polar.
  • Gathering real feedback: opening the beta (by invitation) to get direct input from real merchants and improve in practice.

🏛️ HRF submission

We recently applied to the Human Rights Foundation’s Bitcoin Development Fund. Interestingly, we initially reached out only for product feedback; the person we spoke with encouraged us to apply—so we did. Regardless of the outcome, the process helped us sharpen our focus and reaffirm our commitment to merchant sovereignty and autonomy.

🤝 Call for collaborators

ZatoBox is open source by design. If you care about local commerce and real-world Bitcoin adoption, we want to build with you:
  • Backend and frontend developers
  • UX/UI designers focused on simplicity
  • Product & systems thinkers (architecture, scalability, experience)
  • Bitcoiners
  • Community and content creators

📣 We’re hiring too (outreach)

We’re looking for sales and outreach reps for field work and direct contact with small businesses. If you’re motivated to help real merchants modernize their points of sale, we want to meet you.

🎯 Our mission remains the same

Empower 50,000 small businesses in 5 years, without banks, intermediaries, or forced lock-in.
ZatoBox is a toolkit for real merchants: set up a store, accept Bitcoin, sync inventory, and grow… in minutes.
  • Beta: by invitation (or paid subscription). If you want access, leave your email and we’ll send an invite, or message us at support@zatobox.io.
  • We’re also posting weekly on our socials.

☕ Join the conversation