Author: Christian Decker 2018-11-13 04:06:23
Published on: 2018-11-13T04:06:23+00:00
In the Lightning-dev mailing list, ZmnSCPxj proposed a method for packet switching in BOLT spec via multi-hop onion packets, identifying "next" by node-id instead of short-channel-id, and onion ephemeral key switching. The proposed packet types include packettype 0 (same as current realm 0), packettype 2 (ephemeral key switch), and packettype 4 (identify next node by node-id). This approach allows for routing payments through multiple channels, even if one channel has no capacity, and can increase anonymity set of rendez-vous routing. It also justifies multiple features having a single feature bit, making it difficult to discriminate nodes with this feature bit enabled. Furthermore, this approach can allow for uncertainty about the destination, by sending an onion with packettype 4 for one node followed by another packettype 4 for the actual recipient. Mapless Lightning nodes could ask a peer to be their pathfinding provider, but there is some uncertainty involved as the destination specified may not be the final destination. Finally, it was noted that there is a minor complication with rendez-vous routing, where spontaneous ephemeral key switches while forwarding a payment are not possible unless the sender or recipient knows the switchover points in their respective parts of the onion.
Updated on: 2023-05-25T15:51:42.333557+00:00