Yes. Blink is a custodial Lightning wallet, so Blink users can pay any Lightning invoice, and a business that accepts Lightning through the Amboss Payments API can receive from them directly. Blink launched in 2020 in El Zonte, El Salvador and was renamed from the Bitcoin Beach Wallet in 2023, per Bitcoin Magazine's report on the rebrand, so accepting Lightning lets you receive from its users with no per-platform work.
Does Blink support Lightning?
Yes, for both sending and receiving. Blink is built around Lightning, and every user can claim a Lightning address in the form [email protected] to receive. To pay you, a Blink user opens the app, scans the Lightning invoice your checkout displays, and confirms the send. This is the heart of Blink wallet Lightning support.
| Capability | Blink over Lightning |
|---|---|
| Send over Lightning | Yes, by scanning or pasting an invoice |
| Receive over Lightning | Yes, including a [email protected] address |
| Merchant tools | Lightning address, LNURL paycode, cash register |
| Origin | Formerly Bitcoin Beach Wallet, El Zonte, 2020 |
| Custody | Custodial (Blink holds balances), open source |
| Blink-to-Blink fee | None |
The Blink open source repository describes the wallet directly:
Blink (Bitcoin Beach Wallet) is an open source custodial Lightning wallet for community building and everyday payments.
A Blink Lightning address is for the user to receive, not a way for them to pay you. As the Blink Lightning address help page notes, "You can share your Lightning Address to receive Lightning payments from other compatible wallets." To pay you, the Blink user sends to the invoice you present.
How do you receive payments from Blink users?
You accept Lightning once and every Blink user can pay you. The flow is four steps:
- Integrate the Amboss Payments API and create a Lightning invoice for the order amount.
- Display the invoice at checkout as a QR code or a copyable string.
- The Blink user scans or pastes it and confirms the payment in the app.
- The payment routes over Lightning and settles to you in seconds.
The payer never chooses a network and never needs an account with you. Live Lightning capacity and routing data are published on the Amboss Space Lightning explorer.
How do you integrate Blink receiving into checkout?
Receiving from Blink is the standard Lightning receive flow: create an invoice, then confirm settlement. The invoice format is defined by the BOLT 11 payment-encoding specification, so one integration accepts Blink, Strike, Cash App, and every other Lightning sender.
The Amboss Payments API is GraphQL. A single create_receive mutation returns the BOLT 11 invoice you show the customer:
mutation CreateReceive {
payment {
transaction {
create_receive(
input: {
wallet_id: "your-wallet-id"
amount: "50000"
description: "Order #1234"
}
) {
status
payment_request
payment_hash
}
}
}
}
Send it to the https://rails.amboss.tech/graphql endpoint with your x-api-key. The payment_request field is the lnbc... string you render as a QR code, and you confirm settlement with the payment.completed webhook, as documented in the Amboss Payments API documentation. Lightning settles atomically, so there is no pending state that reverses a week later.
Where does Amboss Payments fit?
Lightning is an open standard, so the same integration receives from a community wallet like Blink and from a large exchange the same way. Blink itself frames the rail in plain terms on its merchant tools page:
Like an email address for receiving bitcoin.
Amboss Payments provides that integration as a managed API on the Lightning Network, with no node to run. To talk through volume, settlement timing, or pricing, contact the Amboss team.