[Lightning-dev] SPSP: Simple Protocol for Spontaneous Payments

[Olaoluwa Osuntokun]

Yep, check out this issue for an outline for an implementation within lnd:
https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/issues/132

This is also documented in the "brain storm" wiki on the RFC repo:
https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lightning-rfc/wiki/Brainstorming#passing-a-transfer-secret-in-the-onion


-- Laolu

On Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 12:57 PM CJP <cjp at ultimatestunts.nl> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Currently, in Lightning, you need to get an invoice from the receiver
> to be able to send a payment. But what if you want to do a payment
> spontaneously, e.g. as a gift? I just realized this use case can be met
> in quite a simple way.
>
> You simply route the payment to the receiver's Lightning node (so you
> do need to know the node ID). The routing message to the receiver's
> node is of a special form, and includes the preimage. It might also
> contain some (small!) other data: maybe the hash of a signed
> description?
>
> Anyway, if the receiver's node recognizes this routing message format,
> it can then use the preimage to finish the transaction. It may also
> cancel the transaction instead, if the node owner doesn't want to
> receive unsolicited money.
>
> The fun thing is, none of the intermediate nodes can use the preimage
> to steal funds, since the routing data is encrypted.
>
> I do realize that spontaneous payments can also be done with a "payment
> to self" that just happens to give a very large fee to a particular
> intermediate node. The new protocol has the advantages that it doesn't
> need the second half of the route (back to self), it is clear to the
> receiving node that this is in fact intended as a payment, and you may
> be able to include a small message.
>
> CJP
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lightning-dev mailing list
> Lightning-dev at lists.linuxfoundation.org
> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/lightning-dev
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/lightning-dev/attachments/20180627/eb5215a3/attachment.html>