RoboSats: Bitcoin P2P fees, Lightning escrow and fidelity bonds

RoboSats is a bitcoin-for-fiat peer-to-peer marketplace organized around anonymous robot identities and federated trade coordinators. The maker lists terms including price/premium, amount, payment method and acceptable counterparties. The taker chooses an order and locks a Lightning bond, then the seller escrows bitcoin through an appropriate hold invoice. The buyer pays fiat through the agreed external payment service; a coordinator facilitates the crypto payout after payment confirmation. There is no pooled fiat customer account and no centralized venue promising to fill a quote from its own inventory.[1][7][5][8][10]

This structure exposes the trader to risks that do not appear on a pure crypto/crypto order book: bank chargebacks, payment method restrictions, misunderstanding of references, late transfers, and false proof of payment. The coordinator’s competence and fairness are significant because escrow/dispute decisions are not performed by a court. RoboSats’ open-source documentation explicitly cautions users to select a trusted coordinator; a federation of instances improves decentralisation, but it does not eliminate counterparty or mediator trust.[1][7][5][8][10]

The published fee split is unusually explicit: the total platform fee on a trade is 0.2% of traded satoshis, charged 0.025% to whoever made the order and 0.175% to whoever took it, irrespective of buyer or seller identity. This does not include the price premium that the maker offers above or below a reference exchange price. A pair of orders with identical 0.025% maker fees can produce very different all-in BTC purchase economics if one carries a material fiat premium or exposes the payer to bank charges.[2][3][9][8]

The default fidelity bond is 3% of the trade amount and makers can choose a 2–15% requirement. The bond is secured as a Lightning hold invoice; for an honest completion it is released, not an additional 3% permanent trade commission. Nonetheless a user may lose the bond on breach of deadlines or obligations. Lightning routing fees and optional Bitcoin onchain payout charges are separate from the 0.2% platform rate, and a peer-selected payment channel may impose its own bank cost.[2][3][9][8]

The market runs on the Lightning Network, so successful routing, channel liquidity and hold-invoice support matter in addition to a user’s wallet balance. Its documented minimum single trade is 20,000 satoshis and maximum is 4,000,000 satoshis. These are bitcoin-unit size limits, not a statement of the amount of GBP, EUR or another currency a customer can necessarily send using a given payment method. Exchange premium and fiat conversion can change the bank amount to be sent.[4][3][8][9]

Fiat money moves directly between the two peers through the specific channel they agree; the website does not provide a safeguarded fiat balance. A bank transfer marked sent is different from the seller actually receiving irrevocable funds. Users should follow payment instructions and communicate within the trade channel, preserving proof while avoiding identifying information that is unnecessary. Onchain BTC receipt is an optional payout route with its own swap and miner fees; sending ordinary bitcoin to a Lightning invoice or using an incompatible wallet will not work.[4][3][8][9]

RoboSats does not offer a standard hosted multi-asset trading wallet. Its transaction process locks bitcoin through a Lightning hold invoice, and trade coordinators manage settlement/dispute workflows. That escrow is temporary transaction-specific control, not a personal savings product or a segregated investment account. Because fiat transfer is off-system, the coordinator cannot guarantee that a bank payment cannot be reversed after a trade closes. A peer can lose money despite the BTC escrow working exactly as designed.[5][3][10]

The default fidelity bond being held rather than captured is important: completed trades unlock bonds, whereas failure to follow contract conditions can lead to forfeiture. The support guide notes that a coordinator may award only part of a forfeited bond in specific situations, and the outcome is discretionary. A trader should assess coordinator reputation, watch timers, keep their robot token backed up and avoid switching payment channels privately without documenting agreed changes. Losing that token can make the pseudonymous trade identity unrecoverable.[5][3][10]

RoboSats’ low-data model does not equal a promise that buying bitcoin without identity verification is lawful everywhere. The selected bank or payment method may require KYC, transaction monitoring and an authorized purpose; the user remains responsible for their own legal status and tax obligations. The market does not offer national financial licences for all peers simply because the software is open source. The order creator can specify acceptable payment methods and transaction sizes that further limit participation.[3][4][8]

The wallet must have enough satoshis for the bond and compatible hold-invoice support. A buyer without any bitcoin may face an entry barrier, as the official bond guide notes that bondless takers are not available. Robust privacy also requires safe Tor/identity practices outside the website: a peer may reveal unnecessary personal data in the payment reference, and a bank transfer can expose a legal name. This market suits experienced bitcoin users who understand these separate privacy and counterparty boundaries.[3][4][8]

Dispute handling is an operational feature of the P2P transaction, not the same as a government deposit-insurance claim. Where a buyer says they paid but the seller reports no receipt, the coordinator needs the time, payment method, agreed reference and sufficient proof of payment or bank rejection. Where a seller misses escrow or a buyer misses a required invoice, the fidelity bond can be affected. The official bond guide warns that discretionary coordinator judgments determine compensation and that routinely opening a dispute to cancel is inappropriate.[3][6][5]

Users should preserve the trade page while it is open and maintain the robot token. Any request from a supposed coordinator to disclose a seed phrase should be treated as hostile. An independent bank chargeback may occur outside the scope of a completed P2P dispute; keeping the original bank or mobile-money records may be essential. This profile does not report a verified average dispute win rate or promise automatic compensation.[3][6][5]

RoboSats is a federated peer-to-peer trading protocol maintained by open-source participants. Its website and coordinators should not be confused with a single worldwide licensed crypto exchange operator or a universal remittance provider. The official documentation does not establish a matched securities, banking or payment-services authorisation number for each host, peer or fiat settlement path.[1][10][8]

A user’s counterparty is the other trader for the fiat deal, and the payment-services contract belongs to the selected bank or mobile payment institution. Depending on country, privately selling cryptocurrency, providing exchange services professionally or facilitating P2P payments may trigger laws that differ from casual personal transactions. RoboSats documentation can explain mechanics but cannot establish that a specific trade is compliant for both participants in all jurisdictions.[1][10][8]

RoboSats is operated through federated community software and individual trade coordinators. No single incorporated global company was verified as contracting counterparty for all fiat purchases. Readers should check the named coordinator actually hosting their order and the version of the published rules that it operates.[1][10]

Operator

RoboSats federated coordinators (no single universal operator verified)

Exchange model

Decentralised

Service scope

Peer-to-peer bitcoin purchase/sale against externally arranged fiat payment, coordinated with Lightning fidelity bonds and BTC escrow; federated coordinators do not provide a centralized broker order book.

Client types

Retail clients

Pricing publication

Public pricing

Other names

RoboSats Federation

Headquarters

Open-source distributed federation

Pricing scope

Documentation-default 0.2% total trade fee; coordinator terms may differ. The default is apportioned maker 0.025% and taker 0.175%; default fidelity bond 3% (configurable 2–15%) is security held temporarily, not normally a fee. Network and optional onchain swap fees extra.

Funding scope

Onchain or Lightning bitcoin as allowed by coordinator/route; payment between traders takes place using separately agreed fiat channels, not through a RoboSats managed bank balance.

Custody and asset handling

Escrowed bitcoin and fidelity bonds handled through Lightning hold invoices and coordinators. Buyer/seller control external fiat accounts, but the coordinator has trust/operational responsibility for dispute and escrow.

Client eligibility

Participant needs a compatible Lightning wallet, robot token, funded fidelity bond and a peer-offered local payment method. No account-wide country eligibility list, banking permissions or KYC-free guarantee is established.

Support

Trade-specific coordinator communication, dispute route and published learning documentation. Coordinators are independent trust points and outcomes depend on the evidence supplied.

Authorisation and registration scope

Federated P2P open-source protocol; no matched licence to provide financial custody or payment services across all jurisdictions established. Fiat payment providers remain separate.

Exchange metadata checked 26 Oct 2026Source 1Source 2Source 3Source 4Source 5Source 6Source 7Source 8Source 9Source 10

For a trade of 1,000,000 satoshis, the published maker fee is 250 sats and the taker fee is 1,750 sats; together 2,000 sats, or 0.2%. The default 3% fidelity bond would temporarily lock 30,000 sats per applicable commitment rather than charging another 30,000 as a permanent fee. Those numbers exclude any maker price premium, fiat payment cost, Lightning routing or onchain swap payout; a favorable percent headline can still conceal a poor effective exchange rate.[2][3][8][4]

When comparing Robosats with an exchange quoted fee, express all cost elements in the same currency and distinguish irreversible BTC release from potentially reversible fiat settlement. Use the exact order premium and payment mechanism rather than a sitewide advertised price. The correct comparison is between the whole buyer/seller journey, the coordinator and the effective quantity of bitcoin delivered—not just the headline 0.025% maker fee.[2][3][8][4]