On BitLance, work is organized into milestones. Before a freelancer begins working, the client funds a secure milestone-based Lightning escrow by creating and paying a Lightning invoice directly inside the Messages chat. When the milestone is successfully completed and verified, the client clicks 'Approve and Pay'. This automatically releases the escrowed sats directly to the freelancer's payout Lightning address, with no platform-side deductions from their earnings.

The Lightning Network allows for instant, cross-border payments with near-zero transaction fees. Instead of waiting days for legacy wire transfers or paying high currency conversion fees, employers can run automated global payouts to freelancers worldwide instantly, settling in sats directly to their personal self-custodial wallets.

BitLance is highly developer-friendly: freelancers keep 100% of their agreed earnings—absolutely zero fees are deducted from their payouts. Instead, the client pays a flat 5% platform fee. The escrow invoice generated in the Messages chat itemizes this fee (for example, a 2,500 sat milestone is invoiced as 2,625 sats including the 125 sat fee), which stays behind on payout release.