Author: ZmnSCPxj 2019-08-14 23:41:59
Published on: 2019-08-14T23:41:59+00:00
A proposal for automated inbound liquidity with invoices has been suggested for full Lightning Network nodes. The problem of waiting for inbound liquidity is solved by embedding the node URI of the invoice creator along with the amount to be routed. When a wallet sees an invoice and URI, it auto-opens a channel and pushes the payment. This is only for routing nodes and not all LN nodes. Bob does not need to establish the channel but can push the information down the line until a node dedicated to routing is found. Certain specifics need to be flushed out such as the size of Bob's channel. Routing nodes who provide this service can charge a premium. Bob, as a liquidity provider, will not cheat against himself so instant payments can be made. The beauty behind this proposal is that it hides everything from the end-user. Good investment in future accessibility over the Lightning Network is achieved by creating a channel to a high-uptime node on the network, using submarine swaps (i.e. pay offchain funds to buy onchain funds). This provides control over what nodes you make channels with and would be a good investment in your future accessibility over the Lightning Network. This requires on-chain funds, which presumably a new business or merchant will have before starting their business. Until confirmed deeply, the channel opening can still be cancelled by double-spending and it would be foolhardy to deliver the product until the channel is deeply confirmed to be opened. Push_msat has the drawback of not providing proof-of-payment, thus an intermediate hop node may be unable to claim funds. It is recommended to simply make a normal HTLC payment (that provides proof-of-payment) after the channel is deeply confirmed. ZmnSCPxj believes `push_msat` was a mistake and there should eventually be an implementation by some kind of auto-system. A lot of infrastructure is yet to be written.
Updated on: 2023-06-02T19:57:23.413868+00:00