What a coffee really costs in bitcoin

It is a quarter to nine on a Tuesday at Juniper Coffee in Philadelphia. Maya orders a flat white and a croissant. The tablet at the till shows a Lightning code and a price of 0.00005 BTC. Here is what happens next, number by number.

The amount. Maya scans the code and Remiga shows 0.00005 BTC. Underneath, in small type, the app adds a dollar reference of about $4.80, based on an example rate of $96,000 for one bitcoin. Maya could switch that line off with Bitcoin only. Today she leaves it on.

Why bitcoin. A price in bitcoin is the price in the money Maya actually spends. She does not need to think about a rate to know whether she can afford a coffee. Her balance, 0.0481236 BTC, answers that at a glance.

The fee. Below the amount, Remiga shows the network fee. For this payment it is 0.00000001 BTC. It goes to the Lightning nodes that carry the payment across the network, not to us. Remiga adds no fee of its own, and if Maya had a Remiga card, we would cover that fee as well.

The tap. Maya confirms with her face. The payment settles in 0.4 seconds. The tablet at the till shows a check mark at the same moment as her phone. Nobody waits for a card reader or types a PIN.

The receipt. In Activity, Maya finds a receipt that says Paid to Juniper Coffee, Flat white, croissant, 0.00005 BTC, fee 0.00000001 BTC, settled in 0.4 s. Every number that mattered is on one screen.

What the café sees. Juniper Coffee uses Remiga Business. All 0.00005 BTC arrive at once, because Remiga charges merchants nothing per payment. The café keeps part of its sales in BTC and pays out the rest in dollars each evening, together with all other Lightning sales of the day.

That is the whole story. No hidden step, no number that appears later on a statement. If one coffee is this clear, the rest of the week can be too.

All values in this article are examples.