An open protocol standard for decentralized trade and cooperation via Bitcoin Lightning.
Status: v0.4.0-draft — Active development. Community input welcome. Not yet a finalized standard.
Colabonate Protocol is a Bitcoin-native open protocol that enables decentralized peer-to-peer trade and cooperation — without central platforms, without registration, and without bank accounts.
Anyone with a Lightning wallet can:
- Publish offers and discover services in a decentralized marketplace
- Create trustless trade agreements enforced by Lightning Escrow
- Collaborate on multi-party projects with milestone-based payments
- Build reputation through verifiable, non-transferable credentials
- Participate in community governance via Nostr-based voting
This repository contains the protocol specification and supporting documentation. It is maintained by the Colabonate Foundation and licensed under the MIT License. The positioning papers (whitepaper, ISO 20022 complementary layer) that also live in this repository are licensed separately — see License below.
The goal of this repository: Through open development and community review, reach v1.0.0 — a stable, implementer-ready protocol standard.
| Layer | Technology | Specification |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | LNURL-Auth (LUD-04) + Nostr | identity-protocol.md |
| Identity Verification | Humanode Biomapper (ZK biometric) | identity-protocol.md |
| Transport | Nostr Protocol (NIP-01, NIP-57) | nostr-events.md |
| Marketplace | Nostr Kind 30017 Offers | sell-protocol.md |
| Payments | Lightning / Cashu / ICP (non-custodial) | payment-architecture.md |
| Escrow | ICP Canister (native BTC) + Direct-Pay | escrow-protocol.md · escrow-canister-protocol.md |
| Bookable Resources | NIP-52 Calendar Events (Kinds 31922–31925) | booking-protocol.md |
| Reputation | COL-Points + Nostr Reviews | reputation-protocol.md |
| Governance | Nostr Votes + DAO Codex | dao-codex.md |
Bitcoin-only: No EVM, no Ethereum, no altcoins. See ADR 007.
docs/
├── protocols/ ← Protocol specifications
│ ├── core/ ← Core specs: events, escrow, ticket system
│ ├── identity/ | Identity and verification protocols
│ ├── workflows/ | Buyer, seller, cooperation, dispute flows
│ └── governance/ | DAO Codex, economics
All protocol specifications live in docs/protocols/. Their individual maturity status (Draft vs Stable) is tracked within the documents themselves and in the global status table.
See SPECIFICATION_STATUS.md for the current status of every document.
To build a Colabonate-compatible client, read in this order:
- Vision — Why this protocol exists and what it is not
- Protocol Spec v1 — Technical overview
- Roles — Initiator, Partner, Mediator, Arbitrator, Observer
- Nostr Events — All event kinds (30017–30026 + NIP-57) with full schemas
- Ticket System — The central interaction object
- Escrow Protocol — Non-custodial payment & escrow paths
- Escrow Canister Protocol — ICP native-Bitcoin escrow (Path 2)
- Booking Protocol — Bookable resources, time-based offers (NIP-52)
- Glossary — Canonical term definitions
Full status table: SPECIFICATION_STATUS.md
| Area | Documents | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Core | vision, roles, ticket-system, nostr-events, escrow | Draft |
| Identity | identity-protocol | Draft |
| Payments | payment-architecture | Draft |
| Workflows | buy-protocol, sell-protocol | Draft (Phase 1 core flow) |
| Governance | dao-codex, economic-protocol, dao-creation-protocol | Draft |
No document has yet reached Stable status. This is the goal of our current open development phase.
This protocol is developed in the open. You can follow and participate via:
- GitHub Issues — Open questions, spec proposals, bug reports
- GitHub Projects — Milestone-based roadmap (v0.1 → v0.2 → v1.0)
- Discussions — Design conversations and implementation feedback
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
spec-proposal |
Proposed addition or change to a specification |
open-question |
Unresolved design decision blocking progress |
needs-research |
Requires external research or expert input |
editorial |
Typo, clarity, or formatting fix |
adr-needed |
Decision large enough to warrant an ADR |
good-first-issue |
Well-defined, limited scope — good entry point |
Colabonate uses a three-entity model (DFINITY-inspired):
| Entity | Role | Protocol Relation |
|---|---|---|
| Colabonate Foundation | Maintains protocol, holds IP | This repository |
| Colabonate DAO | Community governance | dao-codex.md |
| Colabonate GmbH | Commercial services | Separate repository |
This repository is maintained by the Colabonate Foundation and freely available for any implementation under the MIT License.
Contributions to the protocol specification are welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request.
How to contribute:
| Contribution type | Path |
|---|---|
| Fix a typo / clarification | Open a PR with label editorial |
| Propose a spec change | Open an Issue with label spec-proposal first |
| Raise an open question | Open an Issue with label open-question |
Key rules:
- Bitcoin-only terminology (no EVM terms) — see Glossary
- English only
- No implementation code in this repository
| Content | License |
|---|---|
Protocol documentation (docs/protocols/) |
MIT License |
Positioning papers — whitepaper, ISO 20022 complementary layer (colabonate_whitepaper_*, Colabonate_ISO20022_Complementary_Layer_*) |
CC BY-ND 4.0 |
The Colabonate Protocol specification is freely available for use, adaptation, and implementation under the terms of the MIT License, to encourage adoption as an open standard.
The positioning papers are licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0 (no derivatives) instead — their wording is the basis of a prior-art / defensive-publication claim, so their text must stay unmodified and unredistributed-under-another-name to keep that evidentiary value intact.
| Link | |
|---|---|
| 🌐 Website | colabonate.com |
| 🐙 GitHub | github.com/Colabonate |
| 💬 Discussions | GitHub Discussions |
| 🤝 Open Collective | opencollective.com/colabonate |
| 🎬 YouTube | youtube.com/@colabonate |
| 🐦 X / Twitter | x.com/Colabonate |
| instagram.com/colabonate | |
| 🎁 Patreon | patreon.com/c/Colabonate |
Colabonate Protocol — Decentralized. Open. Bitcoin-only. Maintained by the Colabonate Foundation · github.com/Colabonate