Sats for Shops

The URL is an old version. I will attempt to update it, and the URL should remain the same since I am using Shakespeare for deployment.

Inspiration

What it does

How we built it# Sats for Shops

Inspiration

At every Bitcoin meetup, you hear the same conversation: "I wish more local businesses accepted Bitcoin." The desire is there, but the coordination is missing. Who's going to approach that coffee shop? What's in it for them? How do we make sure they don't just accept one payment and give up?

Attending bitcoin++ Taipei, surrounded by Bitcoiners from around the world, it clicked: what if we could pool our sats together to create bounties for merchant adoption? Like bug bounties, but for the real world. Stack sats on a "coffee shop in Da'an District" bounty, and whoever successfully onboards one gets the reward.

But here's the twist that makes it work: split payouts. 33% when you first onboard the merchant, and 67% three months later—only if they're still accepting Bitcoin. This aligns incentives for lasting adoption, not just a one-time photo op.

What it does

Sats for Shops is an honor-based bounty board where Bitcoin communities can:

🎯 Create bounties for types of businesses they want to see accept Bitcoin
⚡ Stack sats on existing bounties (like GitHub issues, but for merchants)
🏪 Claim bounties by onboarding a real business and providing their Google Maps link
✅ Verify claims by visiting the business and paying with Bitcoin
👁️ Watch categories to get notified about bounties you care about

Each meetup group has their own space, so Taipei Bitcoiners see Taipei bounties, Edmonton sees Edmonton, and so on. But the platform is global—after the hackathon, anyone can add their meetup and start building their local Bitcoin economy.

The Honor System

No smart contracts. No escrow. No custody. Contributors simply pledge their sats, and when a claim is verified, they send the payment directly to the person who did the work. It's trust-based, community-driven, and deeply aligned with Bitcoin's peer-to-peer ethos.

How we built it

Frontend: React with Tailwind CSS, designed mobile-first with a Taiwan-inspired aesthetic (orange/gold gradients, lantern vibes) that works globally.

Backend: Google Sheets + n8n for a no-code, hackathon-friendly architecture:

8 sheets: Meetups, Bounties, Contributors, Claims, Verifications, Comments, Watchers, Admins
n8n workflows handle email notifications, forgot password, and scheduled 3-month reminders

Key features:

Expandable comment threads for coordination
Google Maps integration for verification
Optional BTC Map linking for broader ecosystem visibility
Multi-admin system with email/password auth (organizers manage their own meetups)
Mobile-optimized admin panel with tile-based navigation

Challenges we faced

1. Incentive alignment The biggest design challenge was: how do you prevent someone from "onboarding" a business that accepts one payment and never again? The 33/67 split was our answer—you don't get the majority of the bounty until the community verifies the merchant is still accepting Bitcoin three months later.

2. Mobile UX for admins The admin panel kept getting cut off on mobile screens. We solved this by switching to a tile-based interface (like the category picker) with tabbed navigation, ensuring everything fits without scrolling to find important buttons.

3. Keeping it simple It's tempting to add escrow, multisig, automated payouts... but that adds complexity and custody concerns. We deliberately kept it honor-based. Bitcoin communities are tight-knit; reputation matters. This simplicity makes it deployable by any meetup, anywhere.

4. Global but local The platform needed to work for Taipei and Edmonton and Tokyo. We solved this with a meetup selector and per-meetup admin permissions, while keeping the codebase unified.

What we learned

No-code backends are surprisingly powerful for MVPs—Google Sheets + n8n can handle a lot before you need a "real" database
Mobile-first isn't optional—meetup organizers will manage this from their phones at events
The Bitcoin community wants to help—the problem isn't motivation, it's coordination. Give people a simple tool and they'll use it.