Today I wanted to take a break from the regular bitcoin news cycle and get to, setting up a new Podcast to accept Lightning Payments using Umbrel and Sphinx Chat. Sounds simple enough right? Well it is but nothing is out there with pictures and an easy walkthrough that gives you a step by step.
So I decided to give it a shot.
Step 1
You will need the following:
Lightning Node & Bitcoin
Umbrel has put together all the materials you will need so be sure to get this hardware then come back here, once your ready.
Obviously we are using Umbrel's latest release Umbrel 0.4 — "A Personal Server OS for Everyone," as our Lightning OS. I chose this one because most podcasters will be able to understand it right out of the box. Umbrel makes everything really easy. The user interface is so beautiful and quite wonderful to use.
Once you get the hardware all setup and the software installed. Don't worry Umbrel has a great walkthrough for this. You literally will be up in 5 min. We can move forward.
Step 2
Once you are all done with this you are ready to began the process of setting up your Podcast with Lightning Payments.
Go to your Podcast Host. If you are someone like me and use Transistor. You will login and then navigate to settings. This is important make sure to copy your email address for your podcast where it says owner email, for mine its at the bottom right.
Now head over to Podcast Index and type in your Podcast.
You will now get to a different page that will have a Lightning Bolt next to it. Click on it.
At this point you will be asked for that email address for me it was that one on the bottom right, remember? Shortly after doing this you will get an email asking you to verify.
So this is where it gets tricky. Do not click on this link when this email comes in. This through me off a couple of times cause I kept clicking on it and tried signing up to create a login. Maybe its just me, but just wait shortly another 5 min and Podcaster Wallet will send you another email with your login and password for the site, see below.
Once you get this email go back to Podcasterwallet.com and login.
Once signed in you will see this site.
You're in and one step closer to receiving streaming Sats for your Podcast.
Step 3
Now its time to setup Sphinx Chat to your Umbrel Lightning Node.
Now head over to Sphinx Chat. When you get there scroll down until you see the following.
It will ask you to choose from the following. Lite is for regular Podcast listeners who want to listen to your podcast or participant in your Sphinx Chat Tribe community. We are clicking on the one that says I Have A Node.
You will be sent over to the Sphinx Chat GitHub but what we want to do first is Open a Channel on our Lightning Node. When you get there scroll down until you see the following.
Specifically look for where it says, gameb_2 or gameb_1 copy either one of those.
Once copied head over to your Lightning Node and send just over 100,000 Satoshi's to your Bitcoin Address. I sent 101,000 Sats just to be on the safe side.
Next you want to click on the Lightning Wallet on your Umbrel and click on Open Channel. Paste either gameb_2 or gameb_1 to connect to Sphinx Chat, also set the amount to 100,000 Sats.
You will then see your Sats removed from your balance and an Opening alert on your Lightning Node.
Once the channel is active, Sphinx Chat will automatically update the fees on there side so you can chat for free. Yea its pretty awesome I know. Lightning is cool. If you have any issues reach out on there Telegram.
Step 4
Now head over to the App Store on your Umbrel Lightning Node. Install Sphinx Relay.
Once its installed. Head over to Apps.
Choose Sphinx Relay.
You will be sent to the following address http://umbrel.local:3300/connect This will open on a new tab.
At the very top of the webpage you will see the following and directly below it you will see a QR Code for you to scan.
Step 5
Now head over to your phone and download Sphinx Chat. You will have the option for iOS or Android.
Once downloaded you will start the app and be asked to scan a QR Code go ahead and scan the QR Code you see on your Umbrel Lightning Node. Once you scan with the Sphinx Chat app some cool things will happen. First it will automatically recognize your Lightning node because you opened a channel earlier. Now go through the process of creating a user account and a password.
You will finally reach this screen.
Step 5
Now head back on your Sphinx Chat app on your phone. Touch your finger over the top left and select that hamburger menu.
Click on Create Tribe.
Once you create your Tribe you will see the option to enter all sorts of information.
This is important.
You can use the defaults that Sphinx Chat has provided here. See mine as an example below.
At the bottom of the this above screen is a line to enter your Podcast RSS feed.
That is important.
You can find that either at your Podcast Host or Podcaster Index just paste that in the app.
Step 6
Once all this is complete you will see your new Tribe for your podcast you added in your Sphinx Chat app.
Also let's export that QR Code that way you can share this later to your Tribe Community.
When your listeners scan your QR Code to your Tribe they will have the option to stream Sats directly from the app. Go ahead and try playing your podcast.
Now you will be streaming Sats to yourself. Unless you turn this option off in settings. Its pretty awesome.
Step 7
Now touch your finger over the top left and select that hamburger menu, one more time.
Go ahead and copy that long string of numbers and letters.
The Address you see right below.
Thats your Lightning Node public key.
Go ahead and paste that back over in PodcasterWallet.com and click on Add a custom Node... Paste that Lightning Node public key you just copied from your Sphinx Chat app.
You will see this box. Paste it here and click OK.
Step 8
You are all done. When you go back to PodcasterWallet.com you will see that your Podcast now has some code just beneath it.
You are now accepting Lightning payments to your node.
Or in my case paying myself...lol.
The cool thing is if you go back to Podcast Index and now search for your podcast again it will now say the following, "Value for Value via Lightning."
Pretty easy huh? I think so too. The hard part to this was not having a clear step by step process from beginning to end. I think most podcasters should be able to use this write up and manage through a little better. At least thats my hope. Hopefully someone from the Lightning or Bitcoin community will make a Video from this and do a step by step process. That will get many more people on Lightning. Hopefully this article will reach that YouTuber somewhere, wherever you are.
Also I should mention that for non bitcoin podcast listeners you should point them to podcast players that support Lightning. This will make things easier for them. I usually paste the same key piece of information for every episode. Feel free to use it and customize the links to your Podcast.
For Podcast Lightning Listeners
You can now use an app and support streaming sats to Thriller Lightning. Join our Thriller Lightning Tribe Community on Sphinx.chat. Make sure to download the app first.
- Mobile + Desktop: Sphinx Chat supports Lightning streaming to podcasts.
- Mobile: Breez is an excellent non-custodial Lightning wallet, supports Lightning streaming to podcasts. Find Thriller Lightning on Breez here.
Confused on what Lighting is? Not sure where to start when it comes to Podcast listening with Lightning. Read Roy Sheinfeld article on the subject.
Step 10
Learn more about your new Umbrel Lightning Node
BTCSessions will get you the rest of the way when it comes to understanding your new Umbrel Lightning Node.
Good Luck out there Podcasters. Lightning is the future and it's great to have you onboard.
Car González
