Author: ZmnSCPxj 2021-02-12 00:51:52
Published on: 2021-02-12T00:51:52+00:00
In a conversation between Andres and ZmnSCPxj, they discussed the potential hindrance of a proposed escrow system on user experience in certain scenarios. ZmnSCPxj noted that existing systems like Bisq have the same problem, where a buyer of Bitcoin must have a small amount of Bitcoin to offer as stake that can be revoked in case they attempt to defraud the counterparty. However, not all P2P exchanges work like this, such as localcryptos, hodlhodl, and localbitcoins. ZmnSCPxj also suggested that having an initial stake is only an issue for initial onboarding and that parents could provide children with the necessary initial stake to start transacting over such a system. Andres then asked if the proposed system is doable without PTLCs (with simple HTLCs) unless it's done like suggested. ZmnSCPxj confirmed that it is another reason why PTLCs are needed quickly. An alternative would be to have dual-hash HTLCs, which would be helpful in other escrow-related cases including escrow-facilitated cross-currency swaps. However, dual-hash HTLCs are not supported by the current LN spec, and PTLCs are overall superior. Therefore, if there is a need to change the LN spec anyway, it's better to go with PTLCs since they enable a lot more, and we probably want to support that in the future anyway.
Updated on: 2023-06-02T18:55:21.971239+00:00