diff --git a/lib/notifier.js b/lib/notifier.js
index 20bb6024..61c74a23 100644
--- a/lib/notifier.js
+++ b/lib/notifier.js
@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@
 var R = require('ramda')
 
 var db = null
+var getBalance = null
 
-function init (_db) {
+function init (_db, _getBalance) {
   db = _db
+  getBalance = _getBalance
 }
 
 function toInt10 (str) { return parseInt(str, 10) }
@@ -18,6 +20,15 @@ function sameState (a, b) {
   return a.note.sessionId === b.note.sessionId && a.note.state === b.note.state
 }
 
+function checkBalance () {
+  var LOW_BALANCE_THRESHOLD = 10
+  if (getBalance() < LOW_BALANCE_THRESHOLD) {
+    return console.log('Bitcoin balance is low [ALERT]')
+  }
+
+  console.log('Bitcoin balance ok [OK]')
+}
+
 function checkPing (deviceEvents) {
   var sortedEvents = R.sortBy(R.compose(toInt10, R.prop('device_time')), R.map(jsonParse, deviceEvents))
   var lastEvent = R.last(sortedEvents)
@@ -67,14 +78,17 @@ function checkStatus () {
   - Fetch devices from devices table
   - Fetch all machine_events into memory
   - For each device, verify the following:
-    - stuck on screen
+    v stuck on screen
       - last screen is >5m stale and is not idle screen
       - report stuck on screen and name of screen
     - not scanning qr codes?
     - low bitcoins -- need a separate strategy, but server has this info
       - var fiatBalance = plugins.fiatBalance();
-    - machine isn't pinging server
+    v machine isn't pinging server
+    - jam checking, need report from l-m
 */
+  checkBalance()
+
   db.devices(function (err, devices) {
     if (err) return console.error(err)
 
@@ -97,9 +111,13 @@ function checkStatus () {
 
 var _db = require('./postgresql_interface')
 var connectionString = 'postgres://lamassu:lamassu@localhost/lamassu'
-_db.init(connectionString)
 
-init(_db)
+var _getBalance = function () {
+  return 12
+}
+
+_db.init(connectionString)
+init(_db, _getBalance)
 
 checkStatus()