Hey everyone!
I'm excited to share our latest product with you all - Speed! ( www.tryspeed.com )
Speed is like Stripe but for Bitcoin Lightning payments. We're on a mission to make bitcoin transactions faster and more accessible for everyone.
We have features like payment link, Speed.js, eCommerce plugins, payouts, withdrawal links, refunds, OneQR etc. Speed has public robust API and docs for lightning developers.
I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback on this concept. If you have any experience with Bitcoin Lightning payments or have suggestions for improvement, please share! Your input is invaluable as we continue to develop Speed.
Thank you for your support, and I can't wait to hear from you!
The website looks neat (easy to navigate, not too little and not too much info, straight to the point info), to me that is a indication of founder(s) professionalism.
Cant give much feedback as I have not used it but love the Try Speed name!
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agree. the branding of ‘stripe for bitcoin/lightning payments’ stuck in my head too, very clear pitch.
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Note: You must load Speed.js directly from https://js.tryspeed.com. You cannot include it in a bundle or host it yourself. This package is the same as the above link and wraps the global Speed object provided by the Speed.js script as an ES module.
Why is this the case? And why publish the package to npm if you require everyone to load it from your hosted CDN instead of self-hosting?
Is this the case so you can publish updates to the package and automatically have consumers use it? Treating it more like a SaaS module could be useful, but that doesn’t really follow the established paradigm of allowing consumers to pin to a version of the library.
This also means you can’t ever have breaking changes in the library since every consumer will always pull the latest published version. As an engineer integrating this library into an e-commerce application, this would concern me.
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@038bb3c3cb We put it on our CDN so we can keep it updated with new releases and provide the latest versions. Most of the updates we make to Speed.js don't change are backward compatible, so even if you're using an old version, your application won't break. The same is true for our APIs.
I'm sorry if I couldn't fully answer your question, but I'll have my engineering team take a look and provide more information.
Are you thinking of using it for an eCommerce store? If so, we'd love to invite you to our Slack channel to chat with our engineering team.
Every customer is important to us!
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Thanks for the response.
We put it on our CDN so we can keep it updated with new releases and provide the latest versions.
Making it available on a CDN makes perfect sense. I think what’s missing is a way to request an exact version of the library from the CDN.
For example, right now I can load the library from https://js.tryspeed.com/, which presumably will always provide the latest version.
What if I want to affix myself to a certain version for stability reasons? I should be able to load from something like https://js.tryspeed.com/v1.0.1.
Forcing your consumers to always load the latest version means they’re at your mercy for when updates are deployed.
It’s very common for engineering teams to update their dependencies in a controlled manner so they can verify functionality remains intact before making it available to their customers. What’s described above doesn’t allow that to happen.
Most of the updates we make to Speed.js don't change are backward compatible, so even if you're using an old version, your application won't break. The same is true for our APIs.
I know you said most of your updates don’t break backwards compatibility, but that most needs to be all in this situation.
Also, how would anyone be using an old version if you only supply the latest?
I’m not trying to grill you too hard here, I’m just sharing my thoughts on this so you can provide the best developer experience.
I'm sorry if I couldn't fully answer your question, but I'll have my engineering team take a look and provide more information.
Sounds good!
Are you thinking of using it for an eCommerce store? If so, we'd love to invite you to our Slack channel to chat with our engineering team.
I’m not, I’m just an engineer who reads SN :)
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Nice! Is it LN-only or LN + on chain? A demo checkout could be an useful addition.
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Our payment system incorporates both the Lightning Network and on-chain transactions. However, our core focus is on the Lightning Network. This is because we believe that the Lightning Network is the ideal solution for microtransactions, with faster processing times and lower fees.
Thank you for your suggestion. Would you like us to add a demo checkout process to our website to give users a better understanding of how our payment system works?
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Amazing product! All the features for free and no transaction fee?
Is this sustainable business?
Right now I am working on a hobby project which has similar features as try speed, but I want customers create a payment link and directly receive it in non-custodial wallets.
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Right now, using our service is free while we are still working on it. Later on, we might charge a fee of 2.5% to the store that accepts payments. If a customer pays with Bitcoin, they will get a 2% cashback right away through the LNurl withdraw.
We believe that stores are used to paying 2.9-3.2% for credit card payments, so they won't mind paying the 2.5% fee if a customer chooses to pay with Bitcoin. And it will be a great benefit for customers who pay with Bitcoin, as they will get 2% cashback.
What do you think about our plan? Does it sound good?
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We are still in early stage, more bitcoiners love to pay with lightning, but few merchants accept that.
So I think at the beginning it's better to cut the fee in merchant side, like free < 0.5 btc volume, then 0.5% after. Your service is easy to use and merchants love to integrate.
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Okay, got it. We need to try things out. Our problem is about getting people to use Bitcoin Lightning, not getting merchants to accept it. If customers ask to pay with Bitcoin Lightning, then the merchant will start accepting it as a payment method.
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Nice, put the Collison brothers out of business. It is my theory that the reason Stripe has not gone public is because they will have to disclose that the lightning network makes Stripe obsolete.
Ok,, Ok, it's the absurd private market valuation but I like my theory better.
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We may not be in a position to directly compete with Stripe and credit card networks, however, we can certainly provide a strong alternative payment option. The advantage of the lightning network is that it does not have high interchange fees, and this presents an opportunity for us to offer the same level of cashback and rewards to drive increased adoption. We aim to leverage this advantage to make our payment method a preferred choice for customers.
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Let me know if you need any help.
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Help us spread the word and attract more merchants:)
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Will do.
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Are you interested in adding stablecoin support? (ie. Tether over Liquid or Taro when ready)
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Yes, we are interested in adding stablecoin support, particularly for Taro when it becomes available. We believe Taro has the potential to be a game changer and we are closely monitoring any new updates and developments. Our plan is to start supporting stablecoin as soon as Taro is available. Currently, we allow users to swap their bitcoin earnings for USDC for added stability, and users can also receive payouts in USDC.
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Nice looking solution
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That's is a good one, will you guys in the future support cashbacks for the eCommerce feature.
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Yes. There will be two different kinds of cashbacks:
  1. Merchant-created: Based on factors such as quantity, product, total value, and location, a merchant can create cashback.
  2. Speed generated: To boost bitcoin adoption and advertise bitcoin as a payment method, we will run a global cashback offer above what merchants offer.
We will make cashback using LNurl withdraw available. Speed currently offers raw withdraw APIs that can be used to generate cashback.
What do you think?
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Is ok for the clueless and lazy merchants. Do you have already some clients using it?
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Yes, Speed is integrated as a payment method to fiat payment gateways (with a number of merchants) and is used by more than ten separate merchants via plugins.
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