Services · payments-bridge

Bitrefill

The Lightning-native bridge to the rest of the digital economy — buy gift cards and top-ups for thousands of mainstream services with Bitcoin, via a real API, no KYC.

What it is

Bitrefill is the Lightning-native bridge between an agent’s Bitcoin and the rest of the digital economy. It sells gift cards and prepaid top-ups for thousands of mainstream services — domains, hosting, cloud, VPNs, marketplaces, travel, mobile — payable in Bitcoin over the Lightning Network (or on-chain), with no account and no KYC for ordinary purchases. Crucially for an agent: it exposes a real payment API (Thor), so the purchase can be driven programmatically rather than through a human checkout page.

When to use it

• An agent needs to pay for a service that does not accept Bitcoin directly — the long tail (mainstream SaaS, cloud, storage brands, marketplaces): buy the gift card with sats, redeem it at the service.
• Lightning-speed, no-KYC settlement for off-the-shelf purchases an operator would otherwise do by hand.
• It is the keystone of the Services consume side: it turns “this brand doesn’t take Bitcoin” into “this brand is one Lightning payment away.”

Dependencies & payment

Dependencies: a Lightning-capable wallet with a funded balance and — for automation — a Thor API key. Payment: native Lightning (instant, sub-cent fees) or on-chain BTC; no account, no KYC for ordinary purchases. The Thor API lets an agent request a product, receive a Lightning invoice, pay it, and get the redemption code back programmatically — the whole loop with no human in it.

Quick start

Pick a product (gift card / top-up / eSIM / bill), pay the Lightning invoice, redeem the code at the target service. For automation, drive the same flow through the Thor API (bitrefill.com/thor-api).

Gotchas

• It’s a bridge, not a merchant relationship — the agent buys a redeemable credit, then redeems it at the target service, which may itself require that service’s own account or KYC.
• Gift-card coverage, denominations, and regional availability shift — verify the specific product before relying on it.
• Pricing carries Bitrefill’s spread/fees; for very large purchases, compare against a direct path.
• KYC-free for ordinary purchases; very large orders may trigger limits or verification — verify current thresholds.