BTCPay Server is a free, open-source, and self-hosted Bitcoin payment gateway, which means developers and security auditors can always inspect the code for quality. It enables individuals and businesses to accept Bitcoin payments online or in person without any fees, offering self-sovereignty in the process.
Difficulty: Hard
BTCPay Server is a self-hosted and automated invoicing system. At checkout, a customer is presented with an invoice that they pay from their wallet. BTCPay Server follows the status of the invoice through the blockchain and informs you when the payment has been settled so that you can fulfill the order. It also takes care of payment refunding and bitcoin management alongside plenty of other features.
More information can be found in its documentation, and stay tuned for news on its blog
To run the BTCPay Server you will need to install .NET Core SDK, PostgreSQL, and NBXplorer
Configure Bitcoin Core
We need to set up settings in the Bitcoin Core configuration file - add new lines if they are not present
With user admin, edit bitcoin.conf
sudonano/data/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
Add the following line to the "# Connections" section. Save and exit
# NBXplorer requeriment
whitelist=127.0.0.1
Restart Bitcoin Core to apply changes
sudosystemctlrestartbitcoind
Firewall
Configure the Firewall to allow incoming HTTP requests
sudoufwallow23000/tcpcomment'allow BTCPay Server from anywhere'
Expected output
Rule added
Rule added (v6)
Create the btcpay user & group
We do not want to run BTCPay Server and other related services alongside other services due to security reasons. Therefore, we will create a separate user and run the code under the new user's account.
With user admin, create a new user called btcpay
sudoadduser--disabled-password--gecos""btcpay
Add btcpay user to the bitcoin and lnd groups
sudousermod-a-Gbitcoin,lndbtcpay
Install .NET Core SDK
With user admin, change to the btcpay user
sudosu-btcpay
We will use the scripted install mode. Download the script
Before running this script, you'll need to grant permission for this script to run as an executable
chmod+x./dotnet-install.sh
Set environment variable version
VERSION=8.0
Install .NET Core SDK
./dotnet-install.sh--channel $VERSION
Example of expected output ⬇️
dotnet-install: Attempting to download using aka.ms link https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net/dotnet/Sdk/6.0.417/dotnet-sdk-6.0.417-linux-x64.tar.gz
dotnet-install: Remote file https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net/dotnet/Sdk/6.0.417/dotnet-sdk-6.0.417-linux-x64.tar.gz size is 186250370 bytes.
dotnet-install: Extracting zip from https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net/dotnet/Sdk/6.0.417/dotnet-sdk-6.0.417-linux-x64.tar.gz
dotnet-install: Downloaded file size is 186250370 bytes.
dotnet-install: The remote and local file sizes are equal.
dotnet-install: Installed version is 6.0.417
dotnet-install: Adding to current process PATH: `/home/btcpay/.dotnet`. Note: This change will be visible only when sourcing script.
dotnet-install: Note that the script does not resolve dependencies during installation.
dotnet-install: To check the list of dependencies, go to https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/install, select your operating system and check the "Dependencies" section.
dotnet-install: Installation finished successfully.
Cloning into 'btcpayserver'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 75078, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (2765/2765), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (1249/1249), done.
remote: Total 75078 (delta 1834), reused 2203 (delta 1485), pack-reused 72313
Receiving objects: 100% (75078/75078), 51.55 MiB | 4.86 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (58704/58704), done.
Note: switching to 'a921504bcf619c5e845813b8f994b39147694a97'.
You are in 'detached HEAD' state. You can look around, make experimental
changes and commit them, and you can discard any commits you make in this
state without impacting any branches by switching back to a branch.
If you want to create a new branch to retain commits you create, you may
do so (now or later) by using -c with the switch command. Example:
git switch -c <new-branch-name>
Or undo this operation with:
git switch -
Turn off this advice by setting config variable advice.detachedHead to false
cdNBXplorer
Modify NBXplorer run script
nanorun.sh
Comment existing line
#dotnet run --no-launch-profile --no-build -c Release --project "NBXplorer/NBXplorer.csproj" -- $@
Add the next line below. Save and exit
/home/btcpay/.dotnet/dotnet run --no-launch-profile --no-build -c Release --project "NBXplorer/NBXplorer.csproj" -- $@
Welcome to .NET 8.0!
---------------------
SDK Version: 8.0.100
----------------
Installed an ASP.NET Core HTTPS development certificate.
To trust the certificate, view the instructions: https://aka.ms/dotnet-https-linux
----------------
Write your first app: https://aka.ms/dotnet-hello-world
Find out what's new: https://aka.ms/dotnet-whats-new
Explore documentation: https://aka.ms/dotnet-docs
Report issues and find source on GitHub: https://github.com/dotnet/core
Use 'dotnet --help' to see available commands or visit: https://aka.ms/dotnet-cli
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MSBuild version 17.8.3+195e7f5a3 for .NET
Determining projects to restore...
Restored /home/btcpay/src/NBXplorer/NBXplorer.Client/NBXplorer.Client.csproj (in 30.33 sec).
Restored /home/btcpay/src/NBXplorer/NBXplorer/NBXplorer.csproj (in 30.35 sec).
NBXplorer.Client -> /home/btcpay/src/NBXplorer/NBXplorer.Client/bin/Release/netstandard2.1/NBXplorer.Client.dll
NBXplorer -> /home/btcpay/src/NBXplorer/NBXplorer/bin/Release/net8.0/NBXplorer.dll
Build succeeded.
0 Warning(s)
0 Error(s)
Time Elapsed 00:00:41.43
Cloning into 'btcpayserver'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 75078, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (2765/2765), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (1249/1249), done.
remote: Total 75078 (delta 1834), reused 2203 (delta 1485), pack-reused 72313
Receiving objects: 100% (75078/75078), 51.55 MiB | 4.86 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (58704/58704), done.
Note: switching to 'a921504bcf619c5e845813b8f994b39147694a97'.
You are in 'detached HEAD' state. You can look around, make experimental
changes and commit them, and you can discard any commits you make in this
state without impacting any branches by switching back to a branch.
If you want to create a new branch to retain commits you create, you may
do so (now or later) by using -c with the switch command. Example:
git switch -c <new-branch-name>
Or undo this operation with:
git switch -
Turn off this advice by setting config variable advice.detachedHead to false
MSBuild version 17.3.2+561848881 for .NET
Determining projects to restore...
Restored /home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer.Rating/BTCPayServer.Rating.csproj (in 32.66 sec).
Restored /home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer.Data/BTCPayServer.Data.csproj (in 1.41 sec).
Restored /home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer.Common/BTCPayServer.Common.csproj (in 392 ms).
Restored /home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer.Client/BTCPayServer.Client.csproj (in 1.1 sec).
Restored /home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer.Abstractions/BTCPayServer.Abstractions.csproj (in 8 ms).
Restored /home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer/BTCPayServer.csproj (in 36.6 sec).
BTCPayServer.Common -> /home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer.Common/bin/Release/net6.0/BTCPayServer.Common.dll
BTCPayServer.Client -> /home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer.Client/bin/Release/netstandard2.1/BTCPayServer.Client.dll
BTCPayServer.Rating -> /home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer.Rating/bin/Release/net6.0/BTCPayServer.Rating.dll
BTCPayServer.Abstractions -> /home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer.Abstractions/bin/Release/net6.0/BTCPayServer.Abstractions.dll
BTCPayServer.Data -> /home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer.Data/bin/Release/net6.0/BTCPayServer.Data.dll
/home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer/Services/Cheater.cs(37,35): warning CS1998: This async method lacks 'await' operators and will run synchronously. Consider using the 'await' operator to await non-blocking API calls, or 'await Task.Run(...)' to do CPU-bound work on a background thread. [/home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer/BTCPayServer.csproj]
BTCPayServer -> /home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer/bin/Release/net6.0/BTCPayServer.dll
BTCPayServer -> /home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/BTCPayServer/bin/Release/publish/
Check the correct installation
head -n 3 /home/btcpay/src/btcpayserver/Build/Version.csproj | grep Version
Example of expected output:
> <Version>1.12.0</Version>
Create the data folder and enter it
mkdir -p ~/.btcpayserver/Main && cd ~/.btcpayserver/Main
Now point your browser, "http://minibolt.local:23000" (or your node IP address) like "http://192.168.0.20:23000"
You can now create the first account to access the dashboard using a real (recommended) or a dummy email + password
Congratulations! You now have the amazing BTCPay Server payment processor running
Extras (optional)
Remote access over Tor
You can easily do so by adding a Tor hidden service on the MiniBolt and accessing the BTCPay Server with the Tor browser from any device.
Ensure that you are logged in with the user admin and add the following lines to the location hidden services section, below ## This section is just for location-hidden services ## in the torrc file. Save and exit
sudo nano /etc/tor/torrc
# Hidden Service BTCPay Server
HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/hidden_service_btcpay/
HiddenServiceVersion 3
HiddenServicePoWDefensesEnabled 1
HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:23000
Before running this script, you'll need to grant permission for this script to run as an executable
chmod +x ./dotnet-install.sh
Set the new VERSION environment variable, for example, 6.0 -> 8.0
VERSION=8.0
Install .NET Core SDK
./dotnet-install.sh --channel $VERSION
Example of expected output ⬇️
dotnet-install: Attempting to download using aka.ms link https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net/dotnet/Sdk/6.0.417/dotnet-sdk-6.0.417-linux-x64.tar.gz
dotnet-install: Remote file https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net/dotnet/Sdk/6.0.417/dotnet-sdk-6.0.417-linux-x64.tar.gz size is 186250370 bytes.
dotnet-install: Extracting zip from https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net/dotnet/Sdk/6.0.417/dotnet-sdk-6.0.417-linux-x64.tar.gz
dotnet-install: Downloaded file size is 186250370 bytes.
dotnet-install: The remote and local file sizes are equal.
dotnet-install: Installed version is 6.0.417
dotnet-install: Adding to current process PATH: `/home/btcpay/.dotnet`. Note: This change will be visible only when sourcing script.
dotnet-install: Note that the script does not resolve dependencies during installation.
dotnet-install: To check the list of dependencies, go to https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/install, select your operating system and check the "Dependencies" section.
dotnet-install: Installation finished successfully.
(Optional) If you haven't done this before, to improve your privacy, disable the .NET Core SDK telemetry
hint: You have divergent branches and need to specify how to reconcile them.
hint: You can do so by running one of the following commands sometime before
hint: your next pull:
hint:
hint: git config pull.rebase false # merge (the default strategy)
hint: git config pull.rebase true # rebase
hint: git config pull.ff only # fast-forward only
hint:
hint: You can replace "git config" with "git config --global" to set a default
hint: preference for all repositories. You can also pass --rebase, --no-rebase,
hint: or --ff-only on the command line to override the configured default per
hint: invocation.
You need to do and exec the before git pull command again:
git config pull.rebase false
Press Ctrl+X when the nano automatically opens the MERGE_MSG to no apply modifications
Build it
./build.sh
Example of expected output ⬇️
MSBuild version 17.8.3+195e7f5a3 for .NET
Determining projects to restore...
Restored /home/btcpay/src/NBXplorer/NBXplorer.Client/NBXplorer.Client.csproj (in 2.43 sec).
Restored /home/btcpay/src/NBXplorer/NBXplorer/NBXplorer.csproj (in 2.47 sec).
NBXplorer.Client -> /home/btcpay/src/NBXplorer/NBXplorer.Client/bin/Release/netstandard2.1/NBXplorer.Client.dll
NBXplorer -> /home/btcpay/src/NBXplorer/NBXplorer/bin/Release/net8.0/NBXplorer.dll
Build succeeded.
0 Warning(s)
0 Error(s)
Time Elapsed 00:00:19.80
Check the correct installation update
head -n 6 /home/btcpay/src/NBXplorer/NBXplorer/NBXplorer.csproj | grep Version
Example of expected output:
> <Version>2.4.3</Version>
Go back to the admin user
exit
Start the NBXplorer & BTCpay server again. Monitor logs with journalctl -fu nbxplorer & journalctl -fu btcpay to ensure that all is running well
