Hansetag
One open standard for accepting bitcoin at the till.
Stela connects point-of-sale systems to bitcoin settlement providers through one common API. Open. Non-custodial. Governed by consensus.
Every pairing is a bespoke integration.
Each point-of-sale system speaks its own dialect. Each settlement provider does too. Wire one POS to one provider and you have built one integration. Wire it properly, for every POS and every provider, and the build grows by multiplication, not addition.
Three steps, the same on every till.
Pair
The merchant links their till to their chosen settlement provider using a credential the provider issues. Hansetag never sees it and never holds it.
Pay
The customer pays a standard Lightning invoice from any wallet. The rate is shown before they pay, every time.
Settle
The provider settles the way the merchant has chosen: convert to AUD, part-convert, or keep the bitcoin. Payments are final.
Same three steps, regardless of which POS or which provider is on either end.
The merchant chooses where settlement happens.
Stela does not prefer one route over the other. Both speak the same API to the till.
Exchange
A bitcoin exchange settles the sale: conversion to AUD, scheduled payouts, and the usual reconciliation a merchant already expects from a payment provider.
Self-custody
The merchant runs their own settlement server, such as BTCPay Server, and keeps the bitcoin. No provider sits between the till and the merchant's own node.
Not in the payment path, on purpose.
- Never holds funds
- Never sees customer or merchant data
- Never sits in the payment path
- Never charges per transaction
- No memberships
- No dues, no exclusivity
What the Hanseatic Hansetag learned, applied here.
The League's own assembly, the Hansetag, was where independent merchant cities agreed common trade rules by consensus. It declined when open rules became privileges and consensus gave way to authority. These principles are the guardrail against repeating that.
Open licence
Anyone may implement the spec, without asking permission first.
Certification is proof, not permission
Passing conformance tests proves compatibility. It is not a gate to build.
No exclusivity
No POS or provider gets preferred access to the standard.
Governs the text only
Hansetag stewards the specification, not the businesses that implement it.
Rough consensus and running code
Decisions are settled by working implementations, not by vote of title.
Forkable by design
If the Hansetag ever repeats the League's mistake, the standard can be forked away from it.
Stela is being drafted.
The specification will be published openly.