Author: Anthony Towns 2021-10-11 06:29:51
Published on: 2021-10-11T06:29:51+00:00
In a recent email thread, Anthony Towns discussed the layering of transactions in Lightning Network. He identified four types of transactions: funding transaction, balance transaction, inflight transactions, and layered transactions. However, he also pointed out that the layering system may not be foolproof.Towns argued that if Alice forwarded a payment to Bob with timeout T, the only way she can ensure that she can either reclaim the funds or know the preimage by time T is to close the channel on-chain at time T-to_self_delay. If Alice waits beyond this point, Bob could post the inflight transaction at T+x and then immediately post the layered transaction (4) revealing the preimage. This would prevent Alice from claiming the refund.This potential issue highlights the need for a robust and secure layering system in Lightning Network. It also emphasizes the importance of considering all possible scenarios when designing a complex payment network such as Lightning.
Updated on: 2023-05-23T16:18:57.357353+00:00