/r/TheLightningNetwork

Photograph via snooOG

Welcome Bitcoiners! Discuss and learn about the Lightning Network for Bitcoin! Check out the sidebar resources. Origin of Liquidity Triangles and the Reddit Megahub.

The Lightning Network is a proposed solution to allow Bitcoin to scale. It enables off-chain payments, greatly increasing network capacity as well as reducing fees substantially. /r/TheLightningNetwork is a space to discuss anything and everything related to LN!

/r/TheLightningNetwork

8,705 Subscribers

3

Penalty channel closing in high fee environment

Can someone comment or link me to some resource.. Penalty channel closing transaction published but transaction fees at that time (let's say) are ~2000 sats/byte or basically too high for tx to be mined in the required time? What is it 500 blocks? What happens?

1 Comment
2024/07/05
17:47 UTC

4

Lightning Invoice Decoder Tool now on amboss.space!

⚡We've added a Lightning invoice decoder to Amboss Space!

Invoice decoders deliver insights about payment requests that can come in the form of an invoice, an LNURL, or a Lightning Address.

To demonstrate the insights you can derive, we've prepared a thread of wallet invoices! https://m.primal.net/IflK.png

Starting simple, here an invoice from BitcoinJungleCR, a custodial lightning wallet: https://amboss.space/lightning-decoder?request=lnbc26530n1pnxr0krpp5fzk3u3h46zwu2h9c020kkagaez33fhfgwtk4e0hkdvtg56pk6tvsdqqcqzpuxqyz5vqsp5gtp6m6xc8663lth4a07mrf434u0ryzusdzhafc44ukl6ahyw6w0q9qyyssq0dzfdugg4d9sykwmk3t4vcecwqwxtd5qr2zaj4dnldmm52rsvaq93ecddzdxlpzsqt06qexnruerznzh22u50v79ajtun8c75k9gkyqpxx7wna

Similar setups include: zbd, walletofsatoshi , and Strike

This is a BOLT11 invoice where it pays to a single node destination. Routing Node Operators will use the Payee Pubkey information to discover new nodes to connect to so that the network can have a variety of routes to pay BTC Jungle CR reliably.

https://amboss.space/node/03797da684da0b6de8a813f9d7ebb0412c5d7504619b3fa5255861b991a7f86960

Next up in complexity, a BOLT11 invoice from Breez, a self-custodial lightning wallet: https://amboss.space/lightning-decoder?request=lnbc140270n1pnxr0sppp5rzurtshg5e6dk9zgewt3p3jm8t33t9vspq55u6huu2yxvew6v76qdrgyp7q5nmjv9hxwefq2dhxz6m9yp7zqcnjv4jh5w309ac8ymmxd9kx2hmfd4skweflv9hxjmtpds74xmnpddjjvcm0d3hhy020wfskuem9cqzzsxqrrssrzjqvgptfurj3528snx6e3dtwepafxw5fpzdymw9pj20jj09sunnqmwpapyqqqqqqz3rsqqqqlgqqqqqqgq9qsp5ck43qflj7v764wzwmu68nw4u8a7nc2sxh3jg25u5x43epza4fzyq9qyyssq0t9pjqz9fkyk0cgfp7salwgs42urzvkdnk8cscucmxm3xeuuw8ypu6ypwdn5adcq73wuq8y820aevtgnledpfclytq7jnfxr6p8tjgspcpvw3x

If you check the Payee Pubkey of the Breez invoice, you'll reach a page that says "Unable to find this node". This isn't a error; this reveals that @Breez_Tech is using "private" node destinations.

To help the lightning payment reach the destination, it will require Route Hints! https://m.primal.net/IflV.png

In the Routing Info is a Pubkey, revealing a well-connected 28 BTC capacity node that will convey the payment to the "private" node destination. https://amboss.space/node/031015a7839468a3c266d662d5bb21ea4cea24226936e2864a7ca4f2c3939836e0?section=General Services with similar setups include: MuunWallet (uses a swap service), ElectrumWallet (yes they do lightning!)

"Private node" here only means unannounced to the network (like not listed in the phone book), not a guarantee of privacy.

There are many reasons to use private nodes in practice and most of them are operational: load balancing, payment reliability, failover protection, etc.

Even more complex, we have @CashApp invoices, which include 2 separate paths to reach a private node destination. https://amboss.space/lightning-decoder?request=lnbc1pnxrdk6dqdgdshx6pqg9c8qpp59d8cvaf5209myfkn9wk67ywa5exyt230gjpkjs7dh0yxzczaqk4ssp5e8e6wehwurw4zdfs6lkj5s9my702vpxjs26zfyv3vmrw00x64k0q9qrsgqcqpcxqy8ayqrzjqv06k0m23t593pngl0jt7n9wznp64fqngvctz7vts8nq4tukvtljqz3rvvqq88sqqsqqqqqqqqqqqqqq9grzjqtsjy9p55gdceevp36fvdmrkxqvzfhy8ak2tgc5zgtjtra9xlaz97pmylyqqt0gqquqqqqqqqqqqqqqq9gwmef3kht3jvnnft2yqagtdr6qsp0mw00mcs334wmjakjxf7m0suy3dm0cjcr9vd03c500225tf4suxu9ufrsqrl2p3k748ctvlygm3cpcr888n

Instead of only one potential path to pay, there are now two which can be attempted. This allows one of the public nodes to undergo maintenance while the other remains online to ensure higher payment reliability.

Makes sense when you have 50 million potential users!

Okay now it gets crazy complex: Fedi Bravo includes not only two separate routing paths, but there are multiple hops in the second path! https://amboss.space/lightning-decoder?request=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

Look how long the invoice string is! That is a lot of data to pack into an invoice, which can also make the invoices more difficult to scan as QR codes or be unable to fit into a tweet.

Setups like this one are fascinating, but each decision is a tradeoff.

In the 2-hop path, the first stop is LQWDTech followed by "Henwen 🐷", which was also used in the 1-hop path.

This must make Henwen one of the "Gateways" into the ecash Federation. https://amboss.space/node/0364913d18a19c671bb36dd04d6ad5be0fe8f2894314c36a9db3f03c2d414907e1 https://amboss.space/node/02f0c7b731ca40a285d7c12aa1c5c7c7caa4598d3d6d34904c3714cd0d47852640

Mind blower time. Let's talk about Aqua invoices. https://amboss.space/lightning-decoder?request=lnbc10u1pnx8q58sp5cvup8kkedrjfam0yqvhtydml82fg9tmpep8nxcqhm0s8jvppac9spp52zywkv3exryqemtuphutpfrmh6qz09epvln74y0mjn3sg3fzyqrqdpz2djkuepqw3hjqnpdgf2yxgrpv3j8yetnwvxqyp2xqcqz95rzjqgjw2dner5zaawm3q3tj30wgu8k56gsg9seprne6hyr7kj4v3gmpxzzxeyqq28qqqqqqqqqqqqqqq9gq2y9qxpqysgqwks76mx5zmy2gyvzlrqdpwqdru3m0rnrdm7nek7xh9398upyhfxsy8txfhm07hmvzdw7sajstv2zt75hjdhhsktyfx6edz4jhtm5cdqpx69erp

Aqua invoices only include a single route hint, but the route hint is to a private node!

The payee pubkey is a public node, Boltz, which swaps between the lightning network and Liquid_BTC.

Boltz is using "magic routing hints" allowing Liquid to Liquid payments within an LN invoice. This invoice isn't actually used to send a lightning payment; it's using an invoice as a communication tool for a Liquid transaction. https://docs.boltz.exchange/v/api/magic-routing-hints

What else would you like to know about invoices? What other insights can you gain from this tool?

4 Comments
2024/06/10
18:34 UTC

5

Looking for simplest solution possible for accepting Lightning donations on an information blog website

Greetings All!

I am currently readying an information-based blog site for which I want to provide the option to accept small Lightning donations something akin to the "Buy me a coffee" option you see on many sites.

I just need something ultra-simple where people can just zip me a few sats if they feel the site has been useful to them and I want to know the cheapest and, more importantly, easiest to implement solution that will actually work.

Firstly, pardon my ignorance if this is a stupid question as I am still quite new to Lightning, but if I just provide a link/QR code to the receive address displayed on my Phoenix wallet on the site, would that work, or would it send a message saying the invoice is already paid if more than one person used it?

I saw another poster talking about OpenNode, but as my site is not an E-commerce site I want to avoid having to set up WooCommerce or the like unless I need to.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

32 Comments
2024/06/09
08:34 UTC

2

Endless wait for swap-in on Phoenix wallet

I need some help from some of you clever lads and lasses on here. Last Friday (5/31) I sent an on-chain payment to fund my Phoenix lightning wallet (I am a beginner with Lightning). I read before that there can be problems with the swap-in to Lightning if the amount is too small, so I sent 2 million sats (which is not an insignificant amount to me at least). As of now, the amount is still shown as incoming with a "sleep" mark. I know the swap-in can fail if the max fee is too low, so this is set to 20,000 sats which I would have thought would be sufficient.

In Phoenix, I see under "Mempool" message like "Fees are currently estimated at around 9,928 sat" but the swap-in never occurs.

The one response I have gotten from Phoenix email support so far was as follows:

Can you go to Settings > Wallet Info > Swap-in wallet ? If the deposit has confirmed, but is not swapped, you should have a "swap-in attempt" message with a failure regarding due to high fees. It will give you the exact fee that was expected by the network.Note that the message in your screenshot is an estimation and can be off.Also, make sure you're running Phoenix v2.2.4 (see Settings > About to know your version).<<

I checked this and there are no "swap-in attempt" messages. I also confirmed I am running v2.2.4.

Can anyone help me figure out what might be going on? Is it possible the estimated fees are off and are constantly above 20,000 sats? I thought if this was the case I would at least have swap-in messages.

I would be really grateful for your help as Phoenix support have stopped answering my emails.

2 Comments
2024/06/05
23:22 UTC

14

Just got my first lightning payment!

I recently integrated opennode on my site to accept lightning payments. I didn't think anyone would actually use it, but I was wrong! Got $1.50 worth of sats already! I've been using Stripe for my other payments and it's crazy how much they take out of each transaction. Most of my sales are micro payments. I end up losing almost 15% with Stripe and with Opennode it's just a flat fee of 1%. Really hoping that I can get more lightning users!

If anyone is using AI regularly (GPT/Claude/Gemini/etc...) and doesn't want to have multiple monthly subscriptions, feel free to try my site. You just pay for the API usage which ends up being super cheap in comparison to a 20 dollar monthly fee. The site is novlisky.io

Thanks!

7 Comments
2024/05/22
15:05 UTC

10

Bitcoin Layer 2 Systems Compared | Tuscany Lightning Conference Panel via PlanBNetwork

5 Comments
2024/04/11
15:46 UTC

8

The State of Lightning Wallets & Bitcoin | Tuscany Lightning Conference Panel via PlanBNetwork

0 Comments
2024/04/09
16:11 UTC

7

Cornelius node will be down for ~24 hours. Channel partners: don't panic.

Having a scheduled 24-hour power outage due to 100mph winds here in Colorado. Cornelius will be back up after that.

Channel partners, thanks for your patience!

0 Comments
2024/04/06
19:33 UTC

9

The Paradox of Bitcoin

For those of us who’ve been stacking bitcoin for some time, we can’t help but wonder if BTC will ever be the true “Money” that we all hoped it would be:

  • Yes there will ONLY be 21 million BTC (now even less with all those “lost” over the years).
  • Yes you don’t need an intermediary to transact.
  • Yes you don’t need to trust nor be trusted; and you don’t need to ask or give permission to send and receive BTC.
  • Yes your BTC will never be censored nor controlled, especially, if it’s in your cold wallet.
  • Yes it cannot be hijacked by a bad operator considering that it’s too decentralized and doing so would require a highly coordinated and expensive proposition that even a state-sponsored actor would find it technically impossible considering the thousands of nodes spread globally that one needs to forcibly take over and control.
  • Yes there’s Lightning Network that now allows peer to peer exchanges one can now earn sats just by playing video games and answering poll surveys while paying for a cup of coffee in a Lightning Network-enabled local cafe.

But when the narrative remains that you HODL BITCOIN and should NOT spend it? What’s the point. Then what? A NEW form of Money (not sats) will arise? One sitting on Bitcoin or based on it’s value that will be the new Medium of Exchange and the Unit of Account? Is this really the end goal? That BITCOIN is the new asset class that will never be debased but, at the same, will just be a Store of Value? PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND.

26 Comments
2024/04/06
06:10 UTC

10

The State of Lightning & Bitcoin | Tuscany Lightning Conference via Plan B Network

0 Comments
2024/04/05
13:43 UTC

4

Bitcoin transfer from Kraken to Binance on lighting network. Do I need to worry about liquidity management?

Appreciate the answers.

2 Comments
2024/03/27
11:51 UTC

1

Kraken to Phoenix lightning help!

Hi all, just needing a really basic walk through of how to send Bitcoin from Kraken to Phoenix wallet. Having some difficulties! Tha ms in advance.

2 Comments
2024/03/21
23:20 UTC

11

Do I need to keep Phoenix wallet opened to receive a tx?

I recently used a swap service and they couldn't pay my invoice (Phoenix), they claimed I should have left the wallet opened until the transaction was received, maybe that's the case with other wallets (that run an actual node). Can someone please clarify the UX of Phoenix in this case?

6 Comments
2024/03/20
16:39 UTC

5

Navigating Regulation for Lightning Companies - Reflex Beta Announcement - rpo.dev

I'm so proud of the team at @ambosstech for their tireless work to help lightning companies navigate regulatory purgatory.

After countless interviews, we found that regulation was one of the biggest pain points for lightning companies and startups, but rarely discussed publicly.

Business pain points are very different than the predominant anti-gov bitcoiner views, but are no less important to contribute to a robust and thriving Bitcoin ecosystem. Both regulated and unregulated approaches are essential.

Sign ups for the Reflex beta are now live at https://rpo.dev

Feel free to reach out with any questions.

0 Comments
2024/02/26
22:10 UTC

53

9 years since the LN Whitepaper! Still collecting sh*tcoiner tears.

14 Comments
2024/02/26
18:18 UTC

4

Bitcoind + LND + ElectrumX full node build-out reachability questions.

I'm getting a 16GB (orange) Pi5 to do a full node build out. I've checked my router and it seems to be routing IPv6 as well IPv4. I plan on trying to make the following services reachable:

IPv4 / IPv6 / Tor

  • Small web landing page
  • Bitcoind node (mainnet / testnet)
  • LND node (mainnet / testnet)
  • ElectrumX (or Fulcrum) server (mainnet / testnet)
  • LND Watchtower (for LND channels)
  • Electrum Watchtower (for Electrum-LN channels)

I2P / CJDNS

  • Small web landing page
  • Bitcoind node (mainnet / testnet)

So I do have port forwarding enabled so I can people can punch through my router in IPv4. Not sure if my old router will forward IPv6. But I don't have a static IP so I'll be using a dynamic DNS service to update my DNS records whenever my router cycles. This usually only causes a few minutes interruption for my webserver, but wasn't sure about the other services.

I'm pretty sure that Tor, I2P and CJDNS are all resilient to transient IPs. My questions are as follows:

  1. Can LND be configured to use my FQDN instead of my IP for "gossip" and node availability advertising?
  2. Since my LN node uses one node-id for IPv4, IPv6, and Tor, will my channel partners try these others networks if my FQDN works, but IPv4 address changes?
  3. Is there a config switch (externalip) that I could set to FQDN instead of IP address that would be honored by my partner channels and partner bitcoind nodes?
  4. Do watchtowers need to be told to watch mainnet -vs- testnet? I saw no switch for that in Electrum or LND.
  5. When ISPs issue a new lease, do they usually keep the same IPv6 address, or do both generally change when the DHCP lease expires?
  6. If my router sucks, which are some recommendations for CJDNS capabilities as well as the capability to port-forward through IPv6 instead of just IPv4?
  7. Will transient IPv4 leases cause headaches on my Watchtowers as well?
  8. Will all these products run on an arm64?
3 Comments
2024/02/17
04:49 UTC

7

Which lightning wallet can I give to a complete newbie and send him $30 worth of sats without having to explain to him about "inbound liquidity"

16 Comments
2024/02/11
19:20 UTC

17

Lightning Bot

One of the pivotal aspects in Lightning node management is undeniably monitoring. This is the reason I initiated the development of a bot to automate the retrieval of pertinent information from a node.

Additionally, this bot can be utilized to receive notifications regarding the node's heartbeat.

Any feedback and/or contributions from this community are highly appreciated! You can review the project here: https://github.com/stackzoo/voltbot

1 Comment
2024/01/08
09:40 UTC

3

Accepting BTC payments in woocommerce?

Is there a good way to accept BTC payments via woocommerce without access to a VPS? Ideally via lightning?

All the options I've found are either:

  1. Have a VPS with BTCPayServer running in the background
  2. Use a third-party plugin or service, Coinbase is usually suggested but their woocommerce plugin was end-of-lifed several years ago

It seems weird to me that there's no support for what is undoubtedly one of the largest if not the largest self-hosted ecommerce platform.

I'm fine keeping the money in BTC or having an auto cash out to fiat

8 Comments
2023/12/22
19:49 UTC

Back To Top