RoboSats

• Name: RoboSats
• URL: https://robosats.com/
• Category: peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange / privacy-preserving fiat-Bitcoin coordination layer / Lightning hold-invoice escrow infrastructure
• Tags: bitcoin-ecosystem
• Summary: RoboSats is better cataloged as a privacy-preserving peer-to-peer exchange coordination layer than as a typical exchange app. Its primary-source footprint combines disposable robot identities with no registration, Tor-only access, PGP-encrypted peer chat, Lightning hold-invoice bonds and escrow mechanics, a coordinator/federation architecture, and a fully open-source codebase. That makes RoboSats look less like a conventional marketplace operator and more like an opinionated privacy-and-settlement protocol for coordinating fiat-for-Bitcoin trades with minimized custody and trust.
• What it does:
  • Lets users exchange Bitcoin for national currencies or perform peer-to-peer swaps using a Lightning wallet and a Tor-enabled browser
  • Generates a disposable robot avatar from a private random token instead of requiring email, phone number, or persistent username registration
  • Uses Lightning hold invoices for maker bonds, taker bonds, and trade settlement so peers can coordinate trades with reduced custody and cheating risk
  • Provides private peer chat secured with per-robot PGP keys so users can coordinate the fiat leg of a trade directly with the counterparty
  • Operates today through coordinator nodes and documents a federation direction in which multiple coordinators can support a shared order-book network
  • Publishes the code openly and points users to both Android and desktop access paths, while strongly steering privacy-sensitive usage toward Tor and onion endpoints
• Key claims:
  • The Learn RoboSats homepage says exchanging peer-to-peer has “never been faster,” that Lightning hold invoices serve as “bonds & escrows,” that the service is “Absolutely Private,” “KYC-free,” and “Tor-only,” and that the project is “Open Source”
  • The quick-start guide says users only need “a Lightning Wallet and a TOR-enabled browser” to start using RoboSats
  • The privacy guide says there is “No registration at all,” each robot has PGP keys for end-to-end encrypted communication, RoboSats is “Tor Network Only,” and users are encouraged to use “one identity → one trade” so trades cannot be easily linked together
  • The trade-pipeline guide says makers and takers both lock small hold invoices as bonds, the seller posts traded sats with a hold invoice, the buyer pays fiat, and bonds are returned automatically if both sides comply while cheaters can lose them
  • The Lightning guide says RoboSats uses an “experimental coordinator node” today and that an “upcoming federation upgrade” would allow anyone to become a coordinator in a decentralized but unified order book
  • The main GitHub repository says RoboSats is “a simple and private way to exchange bitcoin for national currencies,” uses Lightning hold invoices to “minimize custody and trust requirements,” and warns that clearnet access is “not recommended” for actual trading because privacy cannot be guaranteed there
• Whitepaper: No canonical standalone RoboSats whitepaper or litepaper surfaced in this pass. The clearest current sources of truth were the official Learn RoboSats docs and the main GitHub repository; see ../whitepapers/robosats-primary-sources-2026-05-01.md.
• Sources:
  • https://robosats.com/
  • https://learn.robosats.org/
  • https://learn.robosats.org/docs/quick-start/
  • https://learn.robosats.org/docs/private/
  • https://learn.robosats.org/docs/trade-pipeline/
  • https://learn.robosats.org/docs/lightning/
  • https://github.com/RoboSats/robosats

Internal linkages

• Stronger general P2P-Bitcoin-marketplace anchor: bisq

• Mobile-first non-custodial marketplace contrast with broader local-payment-method coverage and less Tor-first posture: peach-bitcoin

• Last reviewed: 2026-06-02 UTC