A minimal escrow bot for Telegram that accepts BTC to a generated deposit address and releases to the seller when the buyer issues a release command.

• Generates a unique P2WPKH deposit address per escrow (BIP84)
• Tracks confirmed deposits via Esplora (mempool.space by default)
• Buyer-only release command sweeps all confirmed UTXOs to the seller
• Testnet by default; supports mainnet with NETWORK=mainnet

1. Create a bot via BotFather and copy the token.
2. Copy the environment variables to a local .env file and fill in values:

# .env
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=YOUR_TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN
NETWORK=testnet
# ESPLORA_URL=https://mempool.space/testnet/api
# FEE_RATE_SATVBYTE=10
MIN_CONFIRMATIONS=1
MONITOR_INTERVAL_MS=30000
# SEED_MNEMONIC="... 24 words ..."

3. Install dependencies and start the bot:

npm install
npm start

On first start the bot creates a BIP39 mnemonic and stores it under data/ using node-persist. To migrate to another machine, copy the data/ folder or set SEED_MNEMONIC in .env.

• /newescrow <seller_btc_address>: Creates a new escrow and returns the deposit address.
• /status <escrow_id>: Shows status and confirmed funded amount (sats).
• /release <escrow_id>: Buyer releases funds to seller. Broadcasts a sweep transaction.

• Confirmations: Esplora confirmed implies ≥ 1 confirmation. You can adjust polling via MONITOR_INTERVAL_MS.
• Fees: Uses Esplora recommended fees, or override with FEE_RATE_SATVBYTE.
• Network: Test with NETWORK=testnet. For mainnet, set NETWORK=mainnet.
• Security: This is a minimal demo. For production, add authentication, admin controls, multi-sig, dispute flow, and robust error handling.

MIT