Author: Robert Olsson 2018-07-29 13:43:14
Published on: 2018-07-29T13:43:14+00:00
The lack of channel capacity information in the channel_announcement message makes it difficult for mobile and light wallets to determine the capacity of channels. This can result in lower routing success rates, particularly for larger payments. The only way to determine channel capacity is to check the blockchain, which is a dependency-laden process that many routing tools cannot handle. To address this issue, one user suggested appending an htlc_maximum_msat value to the channel_update message, which would show capacity minus fees. This would be a simple 8-byte fix with significant advantages and possibilities. Older implementations could handle the added 8 bytes, but simply not read the last 8 bytes. Implementations that look up information on the blockchain could easily discard messages that exceeded channel capacity. Privacy concerns could also be addressed by making the revealing of local balances optional.
Updated on: 2023-05-25T01:53:29.926303+00:00