Zaps just put a signed nostr note inside a lightning invoice so that clients can show that a specific user send some amount of money to some note or profile. clients request lightning invoices via lnurl (an http lightning specification). You could do the same thing for any other fiat or crypto system if you want to, but nostr was mainly build by bitcoiners which is why there is lots of bitcoin tech integrated, but its completely optional.
How do you request your Zaps balance to send it somewhere else (like to a Bitcoin wallet)? Maybe this is a Lightning thing and not a Nostr thing.
I guess I assumed it was based on the private key you generated when you got started on Nostr and if that private key became compromised then the Zaps could go to whoever had the private key.
Perhaps there is a document somewhere that explains this.
There is no "zaps balance". Zaps are just receipts of lightning payments.
The basic idea is that a lightning node will detect when the invoice with a nostr note inside is paid, and then send the receipt to nostr as a nostr note, with the original bolt11 invoice inside with the signature from the user who sent the zap.
It's all described by NIP-57, a spec I put together to support this:
I was working on c-lightning at the time and I thought it would be really cool to replace the "like" button with an instant bitcoin micro-payment. I think it worked out quite well! There are many sites utilizing zaps in all aspects of the protocol, such as a decentralized market for AI job requests (data vending machines), zapgoals and zap fundraisers. All built on this note type. protocol synergy!
I guess what confused me is I've used Nostr clients where everyone has a Zap button. Who is holding onto those lighting receive addresses until they specify where they want the funds to go?
Like if someone Zaps me right now, I haven't specified a place for those Zaps to go. Do I call the Damus staff and they send the total of the micropayments Zapped to me over Nostr to a Bitcoin receive address? I don't think anyone has Zapped me, I'm just trying to wrap my mind around how it works since I was wrong earlier.
Maybe I need to set aside an afternoon and read about how Lighting works, perhaps I just don't get that protocol.
Ok, this makes sense. I must have been using a client that had 'Zap' icons and because I didn't have a Zap balance I just assumed the buttons didn't work because I had no balance.
I didn't realize every single person who downloads a zap-supporting client had to also set up a separate app to handle the micro-transactions and host that app somewhere where it is available 24/7 in case their post gets zapped.
> This is simply not true.
I'm sorry if I'm wrong about this one. How does it work?