Author: William Casarin 2020-05-14 17:45:23
Published on: 2020-05-14T17:45:23+00:00
In a post on the Lightning-dev mailing list, Eugene asks whether it is possible to use the Lightning Network for a subscription-based service. The proposed use-case involves a user subscribing to a service by opening a channel with it and setting their node to "trust" invoices from that service. Upon subscription renewal, the service would send an invoice directly to the client's LN node, which would pay it straight away due to the trusting relationship between the two nodes. The user could cancel the subscription at any time by removing the service's LN node public key from the list of "trusted" or by setting limits on the amount and frequency of payments accepted from trusted nodes.The questions raised in response to this proposal are whether it is possible to send invoices using only LN means, and whether automatic machine-to-machine payments can be enabled. Offers on the mailing list suggest that these use cases are already supported by the Lightning Network. It is noted that TLVs may be used to send invoices, and that automatic payments can be facilitated through the use of trusted nodes.
Updated on: 2023-06-03T01:25:50.539263+00:00