2026-11-21 –, Momentum - Hack Zone Stage
Most children first learn about money in a currency that quietly loses value before they're old enough to spend it. Lightning Piggy offers a different first lesson.
We'll bring pre-assembled piggy banks for you to set up yourself: scan a QR code to join Wi-Fi, scan another to pair your own wallet over LNbits or Nostr Wallet Connect, then watch the balance tick upward as real sats land on the screen. No typing, no config files.
For anyone who'd rather start from parts, DIY kits will also be available to purchase — bolts, screws and all — and we'll be on hand to help you build yours.
Along the way: what custody looks like at kitchen-table level, how a chore or an allowance becomes a visible, growing balance, and how the whole thing can run on your own hardware with no accounts, subscriptions or tracking.
Learn more about the project by visiting https://www.lightningpiggy.com
Lightning Piggy is a physical, open-source piggy bank: an ESP32 device with a colour touchscreen that displays a QR code anyone can scan to send satoshis over the Lightning Network. When a payment arrives, the balance moves on screen in real time. Seeing your savings tick upward because you did your chores does more to teach the nature of value than any classroom can.
This is a hands-on session, not a slide deck. We'll have pre-assembled devices in the room and you'll set one up yourself, start to finish:
Pairing. The device has a built-in camera, so joining Wi-Fi and connecting a wallet is a matter of scanning QR codes. No typing, no config files.
Custody. You'll connect the piggy to a wallet over LNbits or Nostr Wallet Connect, and we'll talk through what each option means in practice. Self-custody is the recommended route — point it at your own LNbits instance or your own node. Teaching ownership is the whole point.
Sats flowing. Add a Lightning address and the piggy can receive from anywhere: a one-off gift, a weekly allowance, a tip.
Beyond the nursery. A watch-only mode takes an XPUB or any Bitcoin address, turning the device into a cold-storage dashboard. The same hardware works as a tip jar on a café counter or a live display of a home miner's payouts.
The device runs MicroPythonOS, a fully open-source operating system, and that choice is deliberate: the curious kid who starts by saving sats can grow into the teenager who opens the code and ships a feature. We'll show where that code lives and how to get started with it.
DIY kits will also be available to purchase for anyone who'd rather assemble their own, and we'll help you put it together.
Who it's for: families, educators, and anyone who wants Lightning running on hardware they control. No prior Lightning experience needed. Bring a phone, and a few sats if you'd like to send some during the session.
Everything is free and open-source. No subscriptions, no accounts, no ads, no tracking.
Lightning Piggy
Jake has a background in business administration, economics, and information management. He has worked in traditional online payments and, more recently, in privacy and information security.
He is one of the founders of Lightning Piggy, is active in Bitcoin Runners, and has started two Danish community projects: Nostr.dk and ENOGTYVE, the Danish community fork of twentyone.world. He is an unapologetic LNbits fanboy and is closing in on his 30th Bitcoin conference.