Author: Lloyd Fournier 2020-12-02 05:02:17
Published on: 2020-12-02T05:02:17+00:00
Loop attacks in Lightning Network do not require actual loops in payment paths, but rather control of both the start and end points by a single entity, which can be achieved through owning multiple nodes with small numbers of channels each. Stake certificates are proposed as a solution to make running nodes more expensive and prevent loop attacks. However, the existing Lightning Network already proves the point-to-point property without additional cryptographic proof, which is sufficient to prevent loop attacks. Instead, the focus should be on mitigating the effects of incompetence-based non-attacks, such as accidental node failures causing payments to be locked up for long periods. A proposal is made to use chaumian e-cash design and anonymous credentials for securing UTXOs and payments. In this proposal, the owners of LN UTXOs can request tokens from any node in the network, which are used for making payments and proving that the UTXO has enough funds to support the payment. If the payment fails, the token is deleted, and if it succeeds, it is renewed on the spot. This approach avoids complicated zero-knowledge proofs and instead follows a more well-trodden path of anonymous credentials and ecash.
Updated on: 2023-06-03T03:01:18.155778+00:00