Published on: 2015-09-22T08:31:28+00:00
In an email conversation between Rusty Russell and Pierre, the topic of discussion was a flatter design for the Lightning Network. Initially, there were thoughts of having a limited number of specialized supernodes, but both parties agreed on the advantages of having everyone run a node. The idea was to minimize blockchain transactions and locked-up bitcoins by having users set up only a handful of channels with well-connected nodes.However, Pierre raised concerns about the reliability and low latency of having many small nodes constantly appearing and disappearing. He suggested having a limited number of specialized supernodes, which would be strongly typed as mainly sending or receiving money to optimize efficiency. While this could potentially compromise privacy, delaying payments slightly for an increase in privacy was considered a viable trade-off.The conversation also touched upon the issue of joining the Lightning Network, where costs can be high and there is a risk of payments being blocked or communication blockages occurring. In response, Rusty Russell mentioned that these issues could be mitigated by having every participant connected to a few nodes and being clever with routing. He also acknowledged that he had a method that might work for a few million nodes, but it wouldn't scale infinitely.Pierre also brought up the topic of routing in the Lightning Network. There was a consensus that each wallet should be connected to only one node, allowing for multiple paths to a target user. However, this puzzled one of the participants who expected the network topology to be different. Routing was seen as important to reduce the number of hops, making transactions faster and cheaper. There were concerns about payment blocking and communication blockages, highlighting the need for application-level routing on top of IP routing.Overall, the Lightning Network aims to create a network of interconnected payment channels to increase transaction speeds and reduce fees for Bitcoin. The conversation between Rusty Russell and Pierre explored various aspects of the network, including the design, routing, and potential challenges that may arise.
Updated on: 2023-07-31T18:18:14.275503+00:00