[Lightning-dev] W3C Web Payments Working Group / Payment Request API

Christian Decker decker.christian at gmail.com
Thu Aug 30 14:15:52 UTC 2018


Just a quick followup on this: yes, I am indeed a member of the W3C Web
Payments Working Group, though not a very active one. I am following the
discussion as best I can, and try to figure out what changes and special
considerations, if any, are needed for both Bitcoin and Lightning to
work correctly, when the spec is finalized and deployed.

As it stands today the spec should be Bitcoin and Lightning compatible,
with the following considerations:

 - A special Payment Method ID [1] must be assigned to Bitcoin and
   Lightning since we cannot rely on a centralized URL to act as a
   payment method for these decentralized networks. Currently only the
   `basic-card` identifier has been assigned, but we can apply for one
   eventually;
 - As far as I see a local handler can be specified as Payment Handler
   [2] allowing us to have a Bitcoin or Lightning daemon running locally
   that is invoked for payment requests;
 - The Payment Request API [3] even mentions XBT as a supported
   currency, in addition to ISO4217 codes, so if a vendor publishes a
   Bitcoin amount and a matching Payment Method, we should be able to
   perform the payment;
 - Since we require special handling for Bitcoin and Lightning
   w.r.t. the Payment Method, the Payment Method Manifest [4] doesn't
   apply to us.

So all in all, we should be able to get Bitcoin and Lightning working
with the spec without any major roadblocks. Notice that this is based
solely on my current understanding of the spec, and I'd love for others
to chime in and point out anything that I might have missed.

Cheers,
Christian

[1] https://www.w3.org/TR/payment-method-id/
[2] https://www.w3.org/TR/payment-handler/
[3] https://www.w3.org/TR/payment-request/
[4] https://www.w3.org/TR/payment-method-manifest/

René Pickhardt via Lightning-dev <lightning-dev at lists.linuxfoundation.org> writes:

> Hey lightning devs,
>
> I was wondering if any of the companies here are members of W3C  and if
> anyone here could be member of the W3C Web Payments Working Group (c.f.:
> https://www.w3.org/Payments/WG/ )? According to this mail
> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/lightning-dev/2018-March.txt
> Christian Decker is a member. Which I think would be awesome!
>
> They have just released their candidate recommendation for a payment API
> at: https://www.w3.org/TR/payment-request/ According to their site the
> proposed recommendation will be published not earlier than October 31st
> 2018. They are currently looking for feedback in their github repository
> at: https://github.com/w3c/payment-request/
>
> I can see that they have bitcoin somewhat on their mind. But I guess it
> would be even cooler if we could make sure that lightning payments will
> also be compatible with their recommendation.
>
> Christian - if you really are a member -  could you give us an update on
> that work? How relevant is it for us?
>
> best Rene
>
> -- 
> https://www.rene-pickhardt.de
>
> Skype: rene.pickhardt
>
> mobile: +49 (0)176 5762 3618
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