# Bitcoin and Lightning > links + original short summaries; content belongs to publishers Featured category. 24 entries. JSON: https://agentpaywire.com/api/library/bitcoin-lightning.json Markdown: https://agentpaywire.com/library/bitcoin-lightning.md JSONL: https://agentpaywire.com/library.jsonl Feed: https://agentpaywire.com/library/feed.json Schema: https://agentpaywire.com/schemas/library.schema.json ### 2026-03-11 - [The Future Is Now: Why L402 Is the Internet-Native Payments Protocol for Agents](https://lightning.engineering/posts/2026-03-11-L402-for-agents/) - id: lightning-labs-l402-for-agents - publisher: Lightning Labs - authors: Michael Levin - date_published: 2026-03-11 - type: announcement - tags: l402, lightning, bitcoin, m2m-payments, micropayments - summary: Lightning Labs post explaining how L402 puts HTTP 402 Payment Required to work by pairing it with the Lightning Network and cryptographic authentication tokens. Any Lightning-enabled client can pay for and authenticate with an L402 API instantly, with no signup, API key or prior relationship, and the post covers updates to the L402 bLIP specification. ### 2026-02-11 - [The Agents Are Here and They Want to Transact: Powering the AI Economy with Lightning](https://lightning.engineering/posts/2026-02-11-ln-agent-tools/) - id: lightning-labs-agent-tools-launch - publisher: Lightning Labs - authors: Michael Levin - date_published: 2026-02-11 - type: announcement - tags: lightning, l402, agent-wallets, mcp, bitcoin - summary: Launch post for Lightning Agent Tools: seven composable open-source skills that let AI agents run Lightning nodes, pay L402-gated APIs, host paid endpoints and query nodes via MCP. It also introduces lnget, an L402-aware command-line HTTP client. ### 2023-07-06 - [AI for All: Powering APIs and Large Language Models with Lightning](https://lightning.engineering/posts/2023-07-05-l402-langchain/) - id: lightning-labs-ai-for-all-langchain - publisher: Lightning Labs - authors: Olaoluwa Osuntokun, Michael Levin - date_published: 2023-07-06 - type: announcement - tags: l402, lightning, bitcoin, agent-wallets - summary: Lightning Labs announcement of developer tools built on L402 and LangChain, including LangChainBitcoin. With these tools, agents can hold a Bitcoin balance, send and receive over Lightning, and pay for L402-gated APIs. ### 2021-09-01 - [The "podcast:value" Specification](https://github.com/Podcastindex-org/podcast-namespace/blob/main/docs/examples/value/value.md) - id: podcast-namespace-value-spec - publisher: Podcast Index (podcast-namespace) - authors: Dave Jones, Gigi, Evan Feenstra, Paul Itoi - date_published: 2021-09-01 - type: spec - tags: lightning, streaming-payments, micropayments, bitcoin - summary: Podcasting 2.0 specification (v1.4) for a feed-level "value block" that lets listeners stream near-real-time Lightning micropayments directly to creators (for example via keysend), calculated per minute of consumption. ### 2020-12-19 - [Enabling Micro-payments on IoT Devices using Bitcoin Lightning Network](https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.10576) - id: arxiv-lightning-micropayments-iot - publisher: arXiv - authors: Ahmet Kurt, Suat Mercan, Enes Erdin, Kemal Akkaya - date_published: 2020-12-19 - type: research-paper - tags: lightning, iot, m2m-payments, micropayments, research - summary: Proposes a protocol that lets resource-constrained IoT devices use Lightning through a gateway node, with 3-of-3 multisignature channels so the device signs every channel operation. It was demonstrated on a Raspberry Pi in a toll-payment scenario. ### 2016-01-14 - [The Bitcoin Lightning Network: Scalable Off-Chain Instant Payments](https://lightning.network/lightning-network-paper.pdf) - id: lightning-network-paper - publisher: lightning.network - authors: Joseph Poon, Thaddeus Dryja - date_published: 2016-01-14 - type: research-paper - tags: lightning, bitcoin, micropayments, research - summary: Foundational paper (draft v0.5.9.2) proposing a decentralized network of micropayment channels whose value transfers happen off-blockchain. The aim is to scale Bitcoin to high transaction volumes without custodial third parties. ### Undated - [lightninglabs/lightning-agent-tools](https://github.com/lightninglabs/lightning-agent-tools) - id: lightning-agent-tools-github - publisher: GitHub (Lightning Labs) - date_published: null - type: repo - tags: lightning, l402, agent-wallets, mcp, security - summary: AI agent toolkit (skills plus an MCP server) for Lightning payments: node operation, L402 API payments, paid endpoint hosting and scoped macaroon credentials. Its default security model uses a remote signer that keeps private keys off the agent machine. - [L402: Lightning HTTP 402 Protocol](https://docs.lightning.engineering/the-lightning-network/l402) - id: lightning-labs-l402-builders-guide - publisher: Lightning Labs (Builder's Guide) - date_published: null - type: docs - tags: l402, lightning, m2m-payments, micropayments - summary: Lightning Labs documentation presenting L402 as a standard for selling and buying digital resources that lets services charge for API endpoints in a way AI agents can easily use. - [L402 Protocol Specification](https://docs.lightning.engineering/the-lightning-network/l402/protocol-specification) - id: lightning-labs-l402-protocol-specification - publisher: Lightning Labs (Builder's Guide) - date_published: null - type: spec - tags: l402, lightning, macaroons, identity - summary: Specification of the abstract L402 HTTP and gRPC protocols. It defines the "L402" authentication scheme, which carries credentials as macaroon:preimage pairs. - [lightninglabs/L402](https://github.com/lightninglabs/L402) - id: lightninglabs-l402-github - publisher: GitHub (Lightning Labs) - date_published: null - type: repo - tags: l402, lightning, macaroons, m2m-payments - summary: Repository for L402, an open protocol for paying for and authenticating access to APIs over the Lightning Network. The server's 402 response carries a macaroon and a Lightning invoice, and the client re-sends the request with the macaroon and the payment preimage. - [lightninglabs/aperture](https://github.com/lightninglabs/aperture) - id: lightninglabs-aperture-github - publisher: GitHub (Lightning Labs) - date_published: null - type: repo - tags: l402, lightning, m2m-payments - summary: Aperture is an L402 reverse proxy for gRPC and REST backends that gates access behind Lightning payments. The repository states it is used in production by Lightning Loop. - [lightninglabs/LangChainBitcoin](https://github.com/lightninglabs/LangChainBitcoin) - id: lightninglabs-langchainbitcoin-github - publisher: GitHub (Lightning Labs) - date_published: null - type: repo - tags: lightning, l402, bitcoin, agent-wallets - summary: Tools that give LangChain agents access to Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, including LLM agent BitcoinTools for an lnd node and an L402 HTTP API traversal wrapper. - [lightning/bolts: BOLT: Basis of Lightning Technology (Lightning Network Specifications)](https://github.com/lightning/bolts) - id: lightning-bolts-github - publisher: GitHub (lightning) - date_published: null - type: spec - tags: lightning, bitcoin, m2m-payments - summary: Repository of the BOLT specifications, which define the Lightning Network layer-2 protocol for off-chain bitcoin transfer. They cover messaging, peer channel management, transactions, onion routing and invoices. - [BOLT #11: Invoice Protocol for Lightning Payments](https://github.com/lightning/bolts/blob/master/11-payment-encoding.md) - id: bolt-11-invoice-protocol - publisher: GitHub (lightning/bolts) - date_published: null - type: spec - tags: lightning, bitcoin, micropayments - summary: Lightning specification for a simple, extendable, QR-code-ready protocol for requesting payments over Lightning (BOLT 11 invoices). - [BOLT #12: Negotiation Protocol for Lightning Payments](https://github.com/lightning/bolts/blob/master/12-offer-encoding.md) - id: bolt-12-offers-spec - publisher: GitHub (lightning/bolts) - date_published: null - type: spec - tags: lightning, bolt12, bitcoin, identity - summary: Lightning specification for offers, invoice requests, invoices, invoice errors and payer proofs. It is designed to address limitations of the BOLT 11 invoice format. - [BOLT 12](https://bolt12.org/) - id: bolt12-org - publisher: bolt12.org - date_published: null - type: docs - tags: lightning, bolt12, bitcoin - summary: Explainer site for BOLT 12, a protocol upgrade to the Lightning Network that enables reusable payment requests, stronger receiver privacy and better censorship resistance. - [NIP-47: Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC)](https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/47.md) - id: nostr-nip-47-wallet-connect - publisher: GitHub (nostr-protocol/nips) - date_published: null - type: spec - tags: lightning, nostr, nwc, agent-wallets - summary: Nostr Implementation Possibility that defines a standardized protocol for clients to access a remote Lightning wallet over Nostr, with commands such as pay_invoice and make_invoice. - [Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System](https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf) - id: bitcoin-whitepaper - publisher: bitcoin.org - authors: Satoshi Nakamoto - date_published: null - type: research-paper - tags: bitcoin, research - summary: Foundational paper proposing purely peer-to-peer electronic cash. A proof-of-work timestamp chain solves double-spending without a trusted third party. - [lightninglabs/lnget](https://github.com/lightninglabs/lnget) - id: lightninglabs-lnget-github - publisher: GitHub (Lightning Labs) - date_published: null - type: repo - tags: l402, lightning, agent-wallets, tools, mcp - summary: A wget/curl-style command-line client that pays L402 Lightning invoices automatically, caches the resulting tokens and retries the request. Per the docs it offers JSON output, a per-request spending cap and an MCP mode for agents. - [L402 and lnget (lightning-agent-tools docs)](https://github.com/lightninglabs/lightning-agent-tools/blob/main/docs/l402-and-lnget.md) - id: lightning-agent-tools-l402-and-lnget - publisher: GitHub (Lightning Labs) - date_published: null - type: docs - tags: l402, lightning, agent-wallets, security - summary: Lightning Labs guide on how agents use lnget to reach L402-gated endpoints, covering backend options (lnd, Lightning Node Connect, embedded Neutrino) and bounded per-request spending. - [getAlby/mcp](https://github.com/getAlby/mcp) - id: getalby-mcp-github - publisher: GitHub (Alby) - date_published: null - type: repo - tags: lightning, nwc, nostr, mcp, agent-wallets - summary: An MCP server that connects an LLM agent to a Lightning wallet over Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC). - [L402: native payments for MCP, AI agents, APIs and data](https://www.l402.org/) - id: l402-org - publisher: l402.org - date_published: null - type: spec - tags: l402, lightning, m2m-payments, mcp - summary: Site describing an offers-based L402 flow in which a server answers HTTP 402 with JSON payment offers and the client retries after payment. This is distinct from Lightning Labs’ macaroon-based L402 specification. The site does not name another publisher. - [NIP-90: Data Vending Machine](https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/90.md) - id: nostr-nip-90-data-vending-machine - publisher: GitHub (nostr-protocol/nips) - date_published: null - type: spec - tags: nostr, lightning, m2m-payments, micropayments - summary: Nostr spec for on-demand computation ('money in, data out'). Customers publish job requests (kinds 5000-5999), service providers return results (6000-6999) and feedback (7000), and payment is typically made over Lightning. The spec itself is marked draft and 'unrecommended'. - [L402 Apps](https://www.l402apps.com/) - id: l402apps-com - publisher: L402 Apps - date_published: null - type: directory - tags: l402, lightning, directory - summary: Directory of apps and APIs presented as reachable through L402 payment gateways.