PhotonBolt: stablecoins on Bitcoin, paid in a second

01Abstract

Stablecoins are how most people actually use crypto for payments, yet almost all of them live on blockchains other than Bitcoin. PhotonBolt brings dollar stablecoins to Bitcoin with the RGB protocol and makes them move in about a second over the Lightning Network, through a PhotonBolt-operated liquidity hub.

Our goal is specific: to be the No 1 way to send and receive stablecoins over Bitcoin Lightning, the fastest to start, and the most trusted hub for RGB liquidity. This paper describes the problem, the technology, what already works on our practice network, what we will build next, how the business makes money, and the PHOTON token that aligns users and liquidity providers with the hub.

02The problem

• Stablecoins live elsewhere. Most dollar tokens run on other chains, each with its own fees, gas tokens and trust assumptions.
• Bitcoin is secure but slow and has no native dollars. A block every ~10 minutes is fine for settlement, not for paying at a counter.
• The pieces exist but are hard to use. RGB can put tokens such as USDT on Bitcoin privately, without a new blockchain; Lightning makes Bitcoin payments instant. Using them today means running servers, managing channels and learning very technical tools.
• Liquidity is fragmented. A Lightning payment is only as good as the channels it can route through. Nobody yet runs a well-funded, well-connected hub for RGB stablecoins that ordinary users can reach.

There is no simple, trusted product that lets ordinary people and businesses hold dollars on Bitcoin and pay each other instantly. That gap is what PhotonBolt fills.

03Background: Bitcoin, RGB and Lightning

Bitcoin

Bitcoin is the most secure and widely held network. PhotonBolt uses it as the settlement layer: every RGB asset and every Lightning channel ultimately anchors to Bitcoin transactions. Wallet keys are standard BIP39 recovery phrases with BIP86 Taproot addresses.

RGB

• Client-side validation. Token state and history are kept and checked by the parties involved, not published on-chain. Bitcoin only carries a tiny commitment. That keeps transfers private and the chain uncluttered.
• Single-use seals. Each piece of token state is bound to a Bitcoin output (UTXO). Spending that output "closes the seal" and moves the state, so Bitcoin's own double-spend protection prevents double-spending the token.
• Schemas. NIA (non-inflatable fungible assets, e.g. a stablecoin), CFA (collectible fungible assets) and UDA (unique digital assets, NFT-like).
• Consignments and the RGB proxy. The sender hands the receiver a consignment: the proof of the token's history needed to validate it. Sender and receiver exchange it through an RGB proxy relay, so neither needs to be online at the same moment. The receiver validates and acknowledges (ACK) the consignment before the transfer is final.

Lightning

• Channels. Two parties lock funds in a Bitcoin output and then update balances off-chain, instantly, as often as they like. RGB assets can live inside these channels next to BTC.
• HTLCs. Hash time-locked contracts let a payment hop across several channels atomically: either every hop settles when the receiver reveals the secret, or none does.
• Hubs. In practice, payments route through well-connected, well-funded nodes. The best hub becomes the route everyone uses. That's the long-term moat.

04What we have built today

All of the following runs end to end on our practice network (regtest).

PhotonBolt Wallet (browser extension)

• Chrome Manifest V3 extension with popup and side panel; create or restore a wallet in about a minute. Recovery phrase (BIP39) encrypted on the device; Taproot (BIP86) keys; each account is identified by its BIP32 master fingerprint.
• RGB operations run on a Python thin backend built on rgb-lib 0.3 (RGB 0.11), with a separate, isolated stash per wallet. Balances, invoices, transfers and broadcasts go through it; PSBTs are signed in the extension.
• Issue your own token (NIA / CFA) from the wallet, with an optional display symbol such as ₹ or ⚡, since RGB tickers themselves only allow ASCII letters and digits.
• Send and receive RGB tokens with invoices and QR codes. A transfer is broadcast only after the receiver ACKs the consignment, and invoices for the wrong token are refused, so tokens can't be stranded by a rejected transfer.
• Clear status ("Awaiting Receiver", then "Confirming"); balances refresh by themselves. A web provider (window.photonbolt, plus WebLN) lets websites connect, read assets, request signatures and import tokens.

Faucet and airdrop

New users receive free practice BTC (with a block mined to confirm it) and a USDT airdrop, so their first payment happens straight away. This is our growth engine and the model for PHOTON's airdrop seasons.

Asset registry

A public list of every token on PhotonBolt: ticker, name, supply, precision, issuer, creation date and block height, holders and transfer count, with one-click import into the wallet. See it live on the registry page.

Lightning hub

• 5 RGB Lightning (RLN) nodes on a fixed, reproducible build.
• RGB stablecoin payments between hub users in about 1 second.
• A multi-party "school" scenario (parents, students, a hotel and a stationery shop paying each other) passes 7/7.

Trust and operations

• Automatic, encrypted backups of every Lightning node, triggered on channel changes, copied off-site with a tested restore, byte for byte.
• Signed wallet requests: every wallet request to the faucet is signed with the wallet's own Taproot key (BIP340 Schnorr) and checked server-side; forged or unsigned requests are refused.
• Secrets rotated and moved out of config files; admin areas locked down.
• Every upgrade rehearsed in an isolated sandbox first; incidents written up publicly.
• 204 automated wallet tests passing.

05Architecture

PhotonBolt keeps each responsibility in one place. RGB state lives in the Python backend's per-wallet stash; BTC drip, mining utilities and Lightning live in the faucet services; chain data comes from our own Esplora (electrs) over bitcoind; consignments travel through a public RGB proxy.

Every RGB invoice embeds the public proxy address, so any two users can exchange consignments without a direct connection. All public endpoints run over TLS behind nginx.

06What we plan next

• Instant accounts: every wallet can pay over the hub in about a second, and install to first payment takes under 60 seconds.
• USDT ⇄ BTC swaps over Lightning, so users move between dollars and bitcoin in one tap.
• Channels on demand (LSPS1 / LSPS2): buy a ready-to-use channel with stablecoins already inside. For heavy users and merchants, this is the liquidity-service-provider model.
• Merchant tools: payment links, checkout and "paid" webhooks.
• Watchtower to protect users who go offline.
• Android app using LDK Node bindings, so users can hold their own channel on a phone.
• Public testnet in Q1 2027, with a public metrics page; mainnet after funding.
• RGB 0.11 → 0.12 decision. The RGB protocol is splitting into versions. We track where issuers and wallets go and keep a migration plan; the decision is due before mainnet.

07The PHOTON token

PHOTON is the token of the PhotonBolt hub. Its intermediate form is a fixed-supply token: BNB Smart Chain gives wide wallet support (MetaMask, Trust, Binance Web3), deep DEX liquidity and an easy airdrop today. When PhotonBolt runs on Bitcoin mainnet, holders can migrate 1:1 to PHOTON issued as an RGB asset on Bitcoin. The bridge burns PHOTON on BNB and issues the same amount on Bitcoin, and every burn and issuance goes on a public proof list.

Utility

Airdrop seasons

The community airdrop is released in seasons. Season 1 is claimable at TGE for early users who register a BNB address and link their PhotonBolt Wallet. Later seasons reward ongoing activity: wallet users, testers and liquidity providers. Claims use a Merkle tree, so the contract holds one root per season and each address proves its own amount. Register on the airdrop page; see the full schedule on the tokenomics page.

08Business model

Nothing is charged yet: everything runs on the practice network. Fee levels will be set with liquidity partners before mainnet.

09Security and trust

• Keys on the device. The recovery phrase is encrypted in the extension; transactions are signed locally.
• No stranded tokens. Broadcast only after the receiver ACKs; wrong-token invoices refused.
• Authenticated wallet requests with BIP340 Schnorr signatures from each wallet's own Taproot key.
• Backups that are proven, not assumed: encrypted, off-site, with a restore tested byte for byte.
• Safe change: reproducible node builds, sandbox rehearsal, automated tests (204 in the wallet) and CI with secret scanning.
• Openness: incident reports published; open-source release of the code under decision.
• Before real money: an external security audit, legal and licensing checks, and a watchtower.

10Roadmap

11Risks, honestly

12Legal disclaimer

This whitepaper is a draft for discussion and information only. It isn't a prospectus, an offer, or a solicitation to buy or sell any token, security or financial product, and it isn't investment, legal or tax advice. PHOTON is described as planned; its allocation, vesting, utility and availability may change after legal review and may be restricted in some jurisdictions. PhotonBolt currently runs on a Bitcoin practice network (regtest); coins and tokens there have no value. Statements about future plans are forward-looking and may not happen as described. Do your own research.