[Lightning-dev] Proposal: Automated Inbound Liquidity With Invoices

ZmnSCPxj ZmnSCPxj at protonmail.com
Wed Aug 14 07:03:50 UTC 2019


Good morning Ecurrencyhodler,

> Hi ZmnSCPxj! 
>
> Submarine swaps are a great current solution, but we still have to wait for confirmations.

So would `push_msat`; until confirmed deeply the channel opening can still be cancelled by double-spending and it would be foolhardy to deliver the product until the channel is deeply confirmed to be opened.
At least this way, you can perform the preparation in parallel to your other startup operations for starting your business before actual launch of your merchant website.

>
> >Further, while it involves fees, it does give you control over what nodes you make channels with, and would be a good investment in your future accessibility over the Lightning Network.
>
> What disadvantages do you see over this proposal and say something like autopilot?  Or do you just prefer manual channel management overall?

This should eventually be implementable by some kind of auto-system.
It is still early days and a lot of infrastructure is yet to be written.

Regards,
ZmnSCPxj

>
> On Tue, Aug 13, 2019 at 6:27 PM ZmnSCPxj <ZmnSCPxj at protonmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Good morning Ecurrencyhodler,
> >
> > A current and practical way to set up incoming liquidity would be to take some onchain funds, create a channel to a high-uptime node on the network (just run an autopilot), then use a submarine swap (i.e. pay offchain funds to buy onchain funds).
> > Then you can reuse the same onchain funds over and over to make more liquidity until the submarine swap provider runs out of onchain funds or you have sufficient liquidity or your money has been drained by the fees involved.
> >
> > While this requires onchain funds, presumably as a new business or merchant you will have capital in some form before starting your business.
> > The most sensible way to store and transport financial capital is, of course, Bitcoin, thus you already have what is needed to start this, you simply have to do it before you perform other operations.
> > Further, while it involves fees, it does give you control over what nodes you make channels with, and would be a good investment in your future accessibility over the Lightning Network.
> >
> > Regards,
> > ZmnSCPxj
> >
> > Sent with ProtonMail Secure Email.
> >
> > ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
> > On Monday, August 12, 2019 11:42 AM, Ecurrencyhodler Blockchains <ecurrencyhodler at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Hi. I'd like to propose a way for instant inbound liquidity to be automated via invoices and would appreciate your feedback.  It's similar to Thor's instant channel but this proposal would only be valuable if it becomes a standard across all lightning implementations and wallets.  It won't work if it's limited to just one Lightning wallet.
> > >
> > > Proposal: Automated Inbound Liquidity With Invoices
> > >
> > > For Who: Full Lightning Network nodes
> > >
> > > Problem: Waiting for inbound liquidity as channel establishes when you first come online and want to receive a LN payment.
> > >
> > > Solution: Embedding the node uri of the invoice creator, along with amount to be routed.
> > >
> > > Scenario: 
> > >
> > > 1.  Bob wants to send me 100,000 sats.
> > > 2.  My node just came online and has 0 inbound liquidity.
> > > 3.  I create an invoice for 100,000 sats.  My LN node recognizes I have 0 inbound liquidity so my wallet also embeds my URI in the invoice.
> > > 4.  Bob’s wallet sees an invoice + uri.  Maybe even tries to route.  When it doesn’t see anything, it auto opens a channel + pushes 100,000 sat payment.
> > > 5.  I now own and can spend 100,000 sats instantly.
> > >
> > > Considerations:
> > >
> > > -   This auto establishing of channels and pushing payments isn’t for all LN nodes.  Just routing nodes.
> > > -   Bob doesn’t need to be the one to establish the channel.  He can push the information down the line until a node dedicated to routing is found.  The routing node can then be the one to establish the channel with me.
> > > -   Certain specifics need to be flushed out such as the size of Bob’s channel.  Right now I think Bob can manually set the size of the channels to be established on his end.  Should be smaller channels at first.  If the person gets paid again, just establish another channel towards the same node if there isn't enough capacity.
> > > -   Routing nodes who provide this service can charge a premium.
> > > -   Bob, as a liquidity provider, won't cheat against himself so I can make LN payments instantly.
> > > -   The beauty behind this proposal is that I can receive a payment instantly, I can send payments instantly, and that it hides everything from me as an end user.
> > > -   Can possibly be extended to neutrino LN wallets if they are public.




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