FreeRange Mobile
24 Sep
Guides, News

Buy a Private Second Line with Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies

FreeRangeMobile
FreeRange gives you the ability to add a secondary line to your phone without the need for a sim card. The secondary line can be used for phone calls and SMS as long as your phone is connected to a mobile data network or Wi-Fi.
FreeRange is the perfect solution for bitcoiners looking to seperate their personal phone number from their bitcoin services. Use FreeRange mobile for your services that require SMS 2FA and avoid the dreaded sim-swap attack vector.
Purchase a FreeRange Mobile Topup Now!
*Coincards is not partnered or affiliated with FreeRange Mobile and makes no gaurantees on its software. This tutorial is strictly for information purposes.*

HOW COINCARDS WORKS:

Ordering from Coincards is Quick and Easy!
01.

Select An Amount and Add to Cart

02.

Complete Your Payment

03.

Receive your Gift Code and Redeem!

FreeRange Mobile - Setup and Topup / Number Creation:

In this Demo, we are going to assume you have already purchased a FreeRange top-up code from Coincards.com.

*Note – Although only purchasable in CAD, these vouchers can be used to purchase USA phone numbers and therefore is perfect for ALL customers.*

Start off by downloading the FreeRange Mobile app from either Google Play or the App Store. Once installed, open the app and select I have a code to redeem. Enter the Code that Coincards.com emailed to you upon payment of your purchase and Submit Code. You will also be asked for an email address. We suggest using an email address not associated with you, such as a ProtonMail address.
Once you have entered your code and email, you now can pick a new number. For this demo, we allowed FreeRange to pick one for us by clicking I don’t care, pick for me! FreeRange will assign your phone number and ask to confirm your email address associated with the number, use the one you just entered as they will send a confirmation code later on. Click Create Account, then click Let’s Go to finish the setup process.
FreeRange mobile will email you a 4 digit passcode, this is needed to activate your account. Check your email and Enter The Passcode then hit the Verify button. Your account setup will finalize and your number will be created. You will be asked to confirm your code redemption.
Finally, you will need to agree to the End User License Agreement. Once you click Agree, you will be brought to the main app where you can now make Phone Calls, Send SMS Messages and check your account days remaining.
Congrats, you are now using your private second line!
27 Aug
Guides

Connect to Coincards using Joule Lightning Browser Extension!

Looking to connect to Coincards using the Joule Lightning Browser Extension? Our node is operational and has plenty of liquidity for both inbound and outbound transactions making it one of the best nodes to connect to when getting started!

Use Joule Lightning Browser Extension to quickly connect your own full node to ours and manage channels!

Download Joule Lightning Browser Extension
*Coincards is not partnered or affiliated with Joule and makes no gaurantees on its software. This tutorial is strictly for information purposes.*

Pay with Lightning in under 60 Seconds:

HOW COINCARDS WORKS:

Ordering from Coincards is Quick and Easy!
01.

Select An Amount and Add to Cart

02.

Complete Your Payment

03.

Receive your Gift Code and Redeem!

Joule - Spending on Coincards:

Using Coincards.com with the Joule’s Lightning Browser Extension is an extremely easy way to control your own node through your browser. We’ve written this quick how-to guide to get you started!
We’re going to start off by assuming you are A) running your own full node, B) have the Joule Browser Extension installed in your browser and C) you have successfully funded it and opened a channel with Coincards.

From there, start off by visiting Coincards.com and selecting the country you want to shop from.

Next, Browse our vast selection of products or use the top bar to search for a particular product. In this demo, we will search for an Amazon.com gift card in the USA region.
Once your cart has everything you need, head on over to our checkout page!
Coincards.com checkout and payments are powered by our own BTCPay Server instance.

After hitting the Proceed to BTCPay button, you will be redirected to our payment screen which defaults to on-chain BTC. For this tutorial, we want to use an off-chain lightning transaction.

Select the “Bitcoin” option and a dropdown will appear. Select “Bitcoin (Lightning)” from the menu. You will now have a BOLT11 invoice.

Click the “Copy” tab on the invoice and select the “BOLT11 Invoice” text to copy to your device.

Open your Joule Lightning Browser Extension up and click the Send button.
Clicking on the Send button will bring you to the Send Payments screen. This is where you can now paste the invoice details which will then automatically fulfill the payment details and automatically fulfill the memo with your Coincards order.

Click the Send button to complete the payment!

Switch back to your Coincards.com screen and you will now see your invoice has been paid and accounted for.
Success! Your order is now completed and your order should be instantly processed with an email in your inbox!

Select your country to get started:

Canada

United States of America

Joule Lightning Browser Extension - Install and Setup:

Joule Lightning Browser Extension is a way to Connect to your existing LND node (Like BTCPay or Zap Desktop) and does NOT include a way to function on its own. For this tutorial, we will be connecting to our previously created Zap Desktop wallet.

Joule Lightning Browser Extension is available as an extension for Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Brave browsers.

In this tutorial, we are installing the extension to Google Chrome through the Extension Store.

After you’ve installed the extension, Start by clicking the Get Started button. You will first be asked what type of node you have. Here are your options:

  • Local Node (For those running their own node and software on their own home machine)
  • Remote Node (For those running their own node and software, on another remote location)
  • Lightning App (For the official Lightning Labs app)
  • Zap Desktop (If you have previously installed Zap Desktop, you can select this)
  • BTCPay Server (If you are running an instance of BTCPay Server, you can select this)

For this tutorial, we have selected Zap Desktop, so Joule will ask us to upload our Macaroon files. Once the files are uploaded, Joule will ask us to confirm the nodes alias, version and chain as well as to set a password that will be asked for with each lightning transaction. *Note, Zap Desktop should be opened and active to be connected to*

Once you’ve setup your password, Joule Lightning Browser Extension will show your current channels and status of your node!

Your node is now usable in your browser for quick and easy lightning transactions!

Joule Lightning Browser Extension - Opening a channel:

Opening channels with Joule Lightning Browser Extension is easy, however you must know the full public key AND host of the node you are opening a channel to. Opening a channel allows you to directly spend your nodes funds in a simple 1-1 connection.
Start by ensuring you have available funds on your node. If you do not, you will need to send BTC to your node by selecting the Deposit button within Joule extension which will present you with an on-chain BTC address for funding.
Once your node has available funds, select the Menu icon in the top right corner of the Joule Lightning Browser Extension and select Open channel.

Copy and paste the entire connection node string, including the public key AND hostname. Set the amount of BTC you wish to commit to this channel and press Open Channel.

For Coincards node:
02233a3b30d7c8b08542eefe66978e45d2962ed21e857ce33ea1452b5b90173d77@54.39.133.223:9735

Your channel opening transaction will now be broadcast to the network and will become available within about an hour based on confirmation times. You will also have the ability to see your transaction in real time on the block explorer by selecting View Transaction.
19 Aug
Guides

Connect to Coincards using Zap Desktop Lightning Wallet!

Looking to connect to Coincards using the Zap Desktop lightning wallet? Our node is operational and has plenty of liquidity for both inbound and outbound transactions making it one of the best nodes to connect to when getting started!

Use Zap Desktop for quick and easy Lightning Network integration!

Download Zap Desktop
*Coincards is not partnered or affiliated with Zap Wallet and makes no gaurantees on its software. This tutorial is strictly for information purposes.*

HOW COINCARDS WORKS:

Ordering from Coincards is Quick and Easy!
01.

Select An Amount and Add to Cart

02.

Complete Your Payment

03.

Receive your Gift Code and Redeem!

Zap Desktop - Spending on Coincards:

Using Coincards.com with the Zap’s Desktop wallet is super easy. We’ve written this quick how-to guide to get you started!
We’re going to start off by assuming you have Zap Desktop installed on your mobile device and you have successfully funded it and opened a channel with Coincards.

From there, start off by visiting Coincards.com and selecting the country you want to shop from.

Next, Browse our vast selection of products or use the top bar to search for a particular product. In this demo, we will search for an Amazon.com gift card in the USA region.
Once your cart has everything you need, head on over to our checkout page!
Coincards.com checkout and payments are powered by our own BTCPay Server instance.

After hitting the Proceed to BTCPay button, you will be redirected to our payment screen which defaults to on-chain BTC. For this tutorial, we want to use an off-chain lightning transaction.

Select the “Bitcoin” option and a dropdown will appear. Select “Bitcoin (Lightning)” from the menu. You will now have a BOLT11 invoice.

Click the “Copy” tab on the invoice and select the “BOLT11 Invoice” text to copy to your device.

Open your Zap Desktop Wallet up and click the Pay button.
Clicking on the Pay button will bring you to the Send Satoshis screen. This is where you can now paste the invoice details which will then automatically fulfill the payment details and automatically fulfill the memo with your Coincards order.

Click the Send #### Satoshis button to complete the payment!

Switch back to your Coincards.com screen and you will now see your invoice has been paid and accounted for.
Success! Your order is now completed and your order should be instantly processed with an email in your inbox!

Select your country to get started:

Canada

United States of America

Zap Desktop - Install and Setup:

Zap Desktop comes with the ability to Create a new wallet, Connect to your existing node (Like BTCPay), or Recover a wallet. For this tutorial, we will Create a new wallet.

Zap Desktop will create your wallet using the BIP39 standard keywords for a 24-word seed phrase. Write these words down in a safe and secure place as they will be needed to recover your wallet should you ever need to.

Zap will ask you to confirm your seed phrase with three random words and then also ask you to secure your wallet file with a password.

Zap will also ask you for a backup location. For this tutorial, we will choose locally backedup, but we won’t get into details of backing up your channels on Google or Dropbox.
Once all steps are done, Zap wallet will be created! Your wallet needs to start by downloading the latest data from the blockchain. This might take a few minutes, but your wallet will now show an address available for you to start funding your wallet on-chain!

Zap Desktop - Funding Your Lightning Wallet and Opening a Channel:

On Zap Desktop, you must fund your lightning node and open an outbound channel in order to start spending. We are going to run through the basics of connecting to the Coincards lightning node after funding your wallet.
To get started open your Zap desktop wallet and select the QR code image, next to your balance.
This will open a up your on-chain wallets address and QR code where you can send your on-chain funds to.
Once your on-chain funds have been received by your wallet, its now time to open a channel through an on-chain transaction.

Click the Channels link in the Zap desktop wallet and Create – Open new channel.

Zap will suggest a few services that have become larger centralized nodes that facilitate funds, however we want to keep things as decentralized and direct as possible so we suggest opening a connection to Coincards directly. When asked to Search the network, simply copy and paste the following address into your Zap Desktop wallet

02233a3b30d7c8b08542eefe66978e45d2962ed21e857ce33ea1452b5b90173d77@54.39.133.223:9735

Once you paste the Coincards node info into the search bar, Zap will automatically identify our nodes public key and allow you to open a channel. Select the amount of funds, you would like to commit to the channel, but make sure to leave enough funds to pay for the transaction fee.

Once opened, Zap will return you to the main page and show a list of all valid open channels connected to your Zap Desktop wallet. Your most recently opened channel will need 3 confirmations before its usable.

When your channel opening transaction has reached 3 on-chain confirmations your channel will now become valid and can be used for off-chain transactions.

You are now ready to spend!

19 Aug
Guides

Connect to Coincards using BlueWallet!

Looking to connect to Coincards using BlueWallet? Our node is operational and has plenty of liquidity for both inbound and outbound transactions making it one of the best nodes to connect to when getting started!

Use BlueWallet for quick and easy Lightning Network integration! 

* Coincards is not partnered or affiliated with BlueWallet and makes no gaurantees on its software. This tutorial is strictly for information purposes.*

HOW COINCARDS WORKS:

Ordering from Coincards is Quick and Easy!
01.

Select An Amount and Add to Cart

02.

Complete Your Payment

03.

Receive your Gift Code and Redeem!

BlueWallet - Spending on Coincards:

Using Coincards.com with the BlueWallet lightning wallet is super easy. We’ve written this quick how-to guide to get you started!
We’re going to start off by assuming you have BlueWallet installed on your mobile device and you have successfully funded it. From there, start off by visiting Coincards.com and selecting the country you want to shop from.
Next, Browse our vast selection of products and add products you want to your cart. Once your cart has everything you need, head on over to our checkout page!
Coincards.com checkout and payments are powered by our own BTCPay Server instance.

After hitting the Proceed to BTCPay button, you will be redirected to our payment screen which defaults to on-chain BTC. For this tutorial, we want to use an off-chain lightning transaction.

Select the “Bitcoin” option and a dropdown will appear. Select “Bitcoin (Lightning)” from the menu. You will now have a BOLT11 invoice.

Click the “Copy” tab on the invoice and select the “BOLT11 Invoice” text to copy to your device.

Open your BlueWallet app up. If you copied the address from your invoice in the previous step, BlueWallet will automatically ask you if you’d to pay the invoice on your clipboard.

Click OK to paste the Coincards BOLT11 invoice!

BlueWallet will also confirm the amount and let you know exactly what Invoice ID you are paying. If you don’t see “Paid to Coincards.com” check the invoice again.

Click the “Pay” button to pay your lightning invoice!

Switch back to your Coincards.com screen and you will now see your invoice has been paid and accounted for.
Success! Your order is now completed and your order should be instantly processed with an email in your inbox!

Select your country to get started:

Canada

United States of America

BlueWallet - Install and Setup:

BlueWallet has made installation very easy! Open up your freshly installed up and select the “Create a wallet” button. We suggest starting with a BTC on-chain wallet first as you will most likely need this to fund your Lightning wallet. We also suggest using BIP84 Bech32 as your address choice.

*Ensure you write your 24 word seed, as this will be needed for backup purposes should you ever lose this wallet*

Once your on-chain wallet has been created, you are only a few clicks away from creating your off-chain lightning wallet. Simply click the “+” button under the wallets screen and select “Lightning” then press the “Create” button.

Your new lightning wallet is now ready to receive funds!

BlueWallet - Funding Your Lightning Wallet:

On BlueWallet, you can use custodial Lightning wallets (or choose to run your own node), that allows you to seamlessly use the Lightning Network for payments, without the need to open channels, be online, provide liquidity or operate and mantain a node.
To get started using the custodial channels, you will need to load funds into your wallet. You can do this by either:
1. Receiving funds from a lightning wallet
2. Sending funds to the offchain BTC wallet, then doing a “Refill”.
*At the time of writing this tutorial, this function does not seem to work so we are unable to verify/provide instructions*
16 Aug
Guides

The Lightning Network is here. Connect to Coincards!

Looking to connect? Our lightning network node is operational and has plenty of liquidity for both inbound and outbound transactions making it one of the best nodes to connect to when getting started!
Node Connection Details:
02233a3b30d7c8b08542eefe66978e45d2962ed21e857ce33ea1452b5b90173d77@54.39.133.223:9735

What is the Lightning Network:

The Lightning Network is often referred to as a second layer technology built on bitcoin. It is a decentralized network of nodes running specialized open-source lightning clients.

The Lightning Network allows bi-directional payment channels that allows users off-chain ownership and transfer of bitcoin. This is without the need for trusted third parties or the need to broadcast a transaction for each transfer.

Channels are opened via an on-chain transaction, and are also closed via an on-chain transaction. Value transfer between parties is instantaneous as soon as the channels have been opened but do not require further transactions to be broadcast to the on-chain network.

Payments can also flow through multiple channels, finding an optimal route to your recipient if it exists, meaning you don’t always need to open a new channel with who you intend to send funds to as long as the route to that party has sufficient funds.

With Coincards, this means that once you have funded a channel with us or if you have channels open with others who have channels funded with us, you can purchase any product and have your order payment completed instantly, allowing much faster delivery (Usually instant) on all gift cards!

Wallet Tutorials:

Coincards will be creating wallet tutorials for each of the major or most used wallets on the market. These tutorials are meant as a general guideline for how to use the lightning network to pay for goods on Coincards.com websites.
Regular Bitcoin Wallet Lightning Wallet Options
Project Website Open Source Android iOS Desktop Private Key Control Bech32 Receiving Address Segwit-Compatible Address Can connect to own node Requires own node Can open/close channels Can receive funds without Channel

BlueWallet

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Eclair Mobile

(Coming Soon)

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Joule Browser Extension

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Zap Desktop

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