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PACT

Payment Attestation for Commerce Transactions

A non-custodial protocol enabling any third-party application to orchestrate peer-to-peer Bitcoin Lightning payments with cryptographic proof of settlement.

Prove payment. Never touch it.

The Problem Today

Marketplaces and commerce platforms must either:

1

Custody funds

Regulatory burden, counterparty risk, money transmission licenses

2

Trust payment screenshots

Trivially faked, no cryptographic proof

3

Build complex escrow

Still custodial, adds friction

PACT enables a fourth option:

Orchestrate without custody.
Prove payment cryptographically.
Never touch the money.

Protocol Overview

Direct peer-to-peer payments with orchestrated attestation

Payer(Buyer)
PACT App(Orchestrator)
Payee(Seller)
Direct P2P Payment

funds never touch the orchestrator

The PACT Flow

9 steps from checkout to cryptographic proof of payment

Step 1

Checkout Initiation

Payer initiates checkout on the Orchestrator application. The platform prepares to facilitate the payment between buyer and seller.

1 of 9

Built on Standards

PACT leverages existing Lightning Network and LNURL specifications

LUD06

LNURL-pay

Invoice generation with comment field

LUD16

Lightning Address

Human-readable payee identifier

LUD21

LNURL-verify

Payment settlement confirmation

BOLT11

BOLT11

Lightning invoice format

Why PACT?

A protocol designed for sovereign commerce

Non-Custodial

Never touch funds. No MSB/MTL required. Zero counterparty risk.

Cryptographic Proof

Preimage verification mathematically proves payment occurred.

Instant Settlement

Lightning-speed P2P transactions. No waiting for confirmations.

Simple Integration

Built on LNURL-pay, Lightning Address, and LNURL-verify standards.

Privacy Preserving

Inherits Lightning Network privacy properties. Minimal data exposure.

Open Standard

CC0 Public Domain. Community-driven. No vendor lock-in.

Traditional vs PACT

See how PACT compares to legacy payment platforms

Traditional

PACT

Funds Flow

Platform

Holds funds temporarily

Direct P2P

Payer to Payee instantly

Regulatory Burden

MSB/MTL

Money transmission licenses required

None

Information service only

Counterparty Risk

Platform

Trust the intermediary

Zero

Self-custody, trustless

Proof of Payment

Records

Platform database entries

Preimage

Cryptographic proof

Settlement Time

Variable

Platform controls timing

Instant

Lightning Network speed

Cryptographic Proof Chain

Mathematical certainty that payment occurred

sha256(preimage) == payment_hash

This is a cryptographic fact. The preimage could only be produced by paying the invoice.

correlation_hashorder metadata
payment_hashspecific invoice
preimageproof of payment

Together: Payer paid Payee for Order. Proven.

Use Cases

PACT enables trustless commerce across industries

Ticketing

Event tickets, conference passes, reservations

Digital Goods

Downloads, access codes, digital content

P2P Marketplaces

Direct buyer-seller transactions

Donations with Proof

Verifiable donation receipts

Affiliate Attribution

Prove referral led to payment

Invoice Settlement

B2B payment verification