Author: Thomas Hartman 2020-10-04 14:07:05
Published on: 2020-10-04T14:07:05+00:00
In a Bitcoin-dev mailing list, ZmnSCPxj discussed the possibility of a company having only one big to-network channel for Lightning usage and how it could still work even in the worst-case scenario. The assumption that a company cannot front up funds to give inbound balance is not reasonable according to ZmnSCPxj. He explained that a company needs to have at least the salary of its entire employee base available at every payday. ZmnSCPxj reduced the discussion to a single new hire throat-cutter which meant a company with only one new hire. In this scenario, on the first payday of the employee, the company must have at least the promised salary in its treasury. If the company had been receiving payments for its services on the big channel, the 0.042 BTC would be in that channel. An offchain-to-onchain swap service like Boltz or Loop can then be used to put the money on-chain, and a new channel to the new employee can be created to pay the promised salary. ZmnSCPxj emphasized that none of the company's funds are locked up, only the funds of its employee. As the company operates, it will receive money in its big to-network channel, and the rate at which it receives money for services rendered has to be larger than 0.042/2weeks on average, otherwise, it won't earn enough to pay its employee by the next payday. In this case, the employee salary of the previous payday is not locked either, and the employee can spend the funds "locked" in the to-employee channel, sending out to the rest of the network. ZmnSCPxj explained that a business manager should reserve some funds for a rainy day when business is a little slow, meaning some funds would still be available to put into the to-network big channel for other expenses, even as employees use capacity there to spend their salary. It all balances out, and the company only needs to keep enough in its channels to cover continuous operational expenses, and employee salaries are operational expenses. Suppose a company wants to hire another employee; it would only do that if business is booming or if it has accumulated enough money in its treasury to justify hiring another employee. ZmnSCPxj concluded that this scenario would work regardless of whether a company has one employee or one million.
Updated on: 2023-06-14T15:50:40.266443+00:00