Bitcoin, Milkweed and Direct Seed Trade
Bitcoin makes it possible to exchange value directly. Seeds make it possible to distribute habitat, resilience and future growth.
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Grow Milkweed Plants is exploring how these two networks can work together: a decentralized monetary network and a distributed community of growers, collectors and habitat builders.
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On this page you can learn how Bitcoin works, see how we use Bitcoin and the Lightning Network in a real seed business, purchase seeds with sats and learn about our 21% Seed-Share Program.
Important: We accept botanical seeds. We will never ask for your Bitcoin wallet seed phrase, recovery words or private keys.
Learn About Bitcoin
Bitcoin in 90 seconds
Bitcoin is a digital monetary network that allows people to send and receive value without requiring a bank or payment-card company to approve each transaction.
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The network maintains a public record called the blockchain. Independent computers called nodes verify that transactions follow Bitcoin’s rules. Miners use proof of work to order valid transactions into blocks and protect the history of the ledger. No single company owns the network or can unilaterally change its rules.
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The monetary unit is bitcoin, abbreviated BTC. One bitcoin can be divided into 100,000,000 smaller units called satoshis, or sats. This makes it possible to use bitcoin for purchases of many different sizes—including packets of seeds.
Why does Bitcoin matter?
Bitcoin combines several properties that previously did not exist together in one form of money:
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A predictable maximum supply of 21 million bitcoin.
Direct payments across the internet.
Public rules that anyone can independently verify.
The ability to hold funds using your own wallet and keys.
A network that is not limited to banking hours or national borders.
Final settlement that does not depend on a card company’s chargeback system.
Bitcoin does not remove every risk or intermediary automatically. The outcome depends on the wallet, exchange, payment service and custody arrangement a person chooses. Using Bitcoin responsibly begins with understanding those choices.
Bitcoin and the Lightning Network.
Bitcoin’s blockchain is the settlement layer. The Lightning Network is a payment layer built using bitcoin.
An on-chain Bitcoin transaction is recorded directly in the blockchain. It is useful for final settlement and larger transfers, but the sender normally waits for block confirmations and pays an on-chain network fee.
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A Lightning payment moves through payment channels. It can settle in seconds and is well suited to smaller purchases. Lightning fees are usually small, but they are not always zero. A successful payment also depends on available routes and channel liquidity.