How to pay for a VPN with Bitcoin, step by step.

Blog · 19 October 2026 · 5 min

State of things on 19 October 2026: Pevnost is in private beta. The first server, prg1 in Hluboká nad Vltavou (WEDOS data centre), has been live since 18 October; a first short test measured around 300 Mbit/s. Every new account gets two free hours (one trial per connection, one device), then 120 CZK / €5 for 30 days or 1 200 CZK / €50 a year. Pay with Bitcoin on-chain (preferred), by card through Stripe or by bank transfer; Lightning is planned and Monero is coming. Windows app 0.3.1 beta, Android app 0.1.0 beta. Last reviewed 19 October 2026.

Bitcoin is the preferred way to pay for Pevnost: no bank or payment company sits between you and us, and we never need your name. This is how to pay for a VPN with Bitcoin step by step, how long it takes, what to do when something goes wrong, and what the payment reveals. Bitcoin is not anonymous, and we would rather you did not think it was.

What you need

• A Pevnost account. On app.pevnost.net press Create an account. You get a 24-character account ID, with no name, e-mail or password. Save it before you pay: it is the only key to the account and to what you paid for, and we cannot recover it. New accounts get two free hours, so you can test first.
• A Bitcoin wallet that can pay to an address or a QR code, with enough for the price plus the network fee (which goes to miners, not to us).

Step by step

1. Pick the invoice currency and the period. In the payment section of the account page, set Invoice in to EUR or CZK: €5 or 120 CZK for 30 days, €50 or 1 200 CZK for a year. You always pay in BTC at the current rate. Press Pay 30 days with Bitcoin or Pay 1 year with Bitcoin.
2. The checkout on pay.pevnost.net. This is our own BTCPay Server, open-source payment software running on our control server; no third-party payment company sees the invoice. It shows the BTC amount, an address and a QR code. The address is new for every invoice (native SegWit, starting bc1q). The rate is locked for a limited time, shown by the countdown.
3. Pay from your wallet. Scan the QR code, which carries both address and amount, or copy them. Send the whole amount in one transaction, with a fee that targets confirmation within about an hour.
4. Wait for the confirmation. The checkout shows the payment as soon as it sees it and sends you back to the account page. The account is extended once BTCPay marks the invoice settled after the transaction confirms, usually in 10 to 60 minutes, longer with a low fee on a busy network. Reload the page to check. Paid time is added on top of what you have left, including the trial.
5. Connect. Generate a device key and download the configuration, or sign in to our Windows or Android app; see the setup guide.

When something goes wrong

• Underpaid. Exchanges and some wallets deduct the fee from the amount sent. BTCPay marks the invoice partially paid and shows what is missing; send the difference to the same address while the invoice is valid.
• Invoice expired. If you sent nothing, create a new one. If you paid late or a different amount, write to support@pevnost.net with the account ID and invoice ID and we sort it out by hand.
• Stuck unconfirmed. Raise the fee if your wallet supports Replace-by-Fee or CPFP; otherwise wait.

What Bitcoin reveals

• It is a public ledger. Your payment is visible forever: from which addresses, to which, how much, when. No names, but addresses.
• Exchanges know who you are. If you bought the coins on an exchange that verified your identity, it knows the address you withdrew to. Paying straight from there lets the payment be traced to you, on request by authorities or by anyone with chain-analysis tools.
• Wallets link addresses. A payment often combines several of your addresses and sends change to a new one that analysis can usually spot. Coin control lets you choose which coins to spend.
• What we keep. The invoice ID, amount, currency, date and the account ID it was for. As the recipient we can match the public transaction to the invoice. No name, no e-mail, no card gateway, no bank.
• Your IP when you open the checkout. Like any website, the server sees where you connect from. If you mind, open it through the tunnel during your free trial.

Bitcoin keeps your bank out of it and leaves us without your name. It does not hide you from someone who can analyse the chain and knows where you bought the coins. The guide how to pay without giving your name compares every method.

Lightning and Monero

Lightning is planned in the same checkout: no individual on-chain record, near-instant, and a fee that is a fraction of a cent. We switch it on once our channel has enough liquidity; until then the checkout offers on-chain only. Monero is coming: it hides sender, recipient and amount by design, and it is what we will recommend to anyone who wants no traceable link between themselves and an account.

If you would rather not use Bitcoin

Card through Stripe (Stripe sees your card and e-mail, we see only that the account was paid; immediate) or bank transfer with a variable symbol (your name and account number appear on our statement; activated by hand within one working day). Both are fine; they reveal more, and we say so. No payment method, and no VPN, makes anyone anonymous; here is why.