Do we really want users to solve an NP-hard problem when they wish to find a cheap way of paying each other on the Lightning Network?

Author: Orfeas Stefanos Thyfronitis Litos 2021-08-31 09:59:11
Published on: 2021-08-31T09:59:11+00:00

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Summary:

A discussion on the Lightning Network (LN) has been taking place, with Anthony Towns suggesting that it is not ideal for users to solve an NP-hard problem when trying to find a cheap way of paying each other. In response, Orfeas expresses concern over relying on constantly finding new heuristics to approximate a solution to this NP-hard problem. This approach could lead to nonconstructive disagreement between LN developers in the future, ultimately leading to suboptimal performance and loss of decentralization for node operators. Orfeas argues that this approach is more suitable for Debian rather than LN, which is decentralized and where nodes can be private.

Updated on: 2023-06-03T05:38:47.587313+00:00