Author: The Count

  • What are the incentives around on-chain fees in the Lightning Network?

    The lightning network is a layer 2 scaling solution for Bitcoin. As such, the infrastructure of the network is grounded in layer 1 where fees are critical to assuring transaction settlement. In this article we will explore the incentives around on-chain fees in Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. Fees Encourage Use and Growth The lightning network was…

  • What is the difference between MPP and AMP payment splitting?

    Routing and pathfinding on the Lightning Network is a rapidly evolving area of research. The topology of the network allows for payments to be sent peer-to-peer over connected channels where liquidity can flow. In this article, we’ll cover the differences between Multi-part Payments (MPP) and Atomic Multi-part Payments (AMP). To understand the differences, let’s first…

  • How to add Redundancy to your Lightning Node

    In this guide you will learn how to add redundancy to your lightning network node. Since we’re just talking about hardware, many of these principals also apply to the fields of server administration and IT generally. Redundancy is not the same as backups. Backups, redundancy and watchtowers, as well as good security and privacy practice…

  • What’s the difference between a MAC and an HMAC?

    A message authentication code (MAC) is produced from a message and a secret key by a MAC algorithm. The MAC algorithm is a one-way function. This means it’s impossible to decode the secret from the MAC. This also means that a MAC using the same message and a different secret will look completely different. Why are MACs…

  • Why is it difficult to cancel a Bitcoin transaction?

    Bitcoin offers the highest assurance of transaction finality of any asset known today. It is impossible to undo a transaction with multiple confirmations. However, it can take weeks or even months for a broadcast transaction to confirm if it is not sent with a competitive fee. A signed and broadcast transaction quickly replicates in the…

  • Install charge-lnd and Put Routing Fees on Autopilot

    EDIT 2023: Due to some recent changes in Raspiblitz, this guide no longer works exactly the same. See the comments below for details. In this article, you’ll learn how to automatically manage your channel fees with charge-lnd. The Lightning Network is a free market for routing and liquidity. It’s up to each individual node to…

  • The Bitcoin Network Security Optimization Problem

    Bitcoin will be successfully attacked because its network security is trending down despite rising hash rate. It must suffer an assault (perhaps multiple blows) in order to correctly price the minimum cost of security. Proof-of-work systems with a decreasing issuance schedule are performing a security budget optimization in real-time. Let me explain… Proof-of-Work Incentive Structure…

  • How to Batch Open Lightning Channels and Start Routing for Profit

    If you operate a Lightning Network routing node for profit, one of your biggest costs are channel opening fees. These channel opens are just regular 2-of-2 multisig bitcoin transactions. Exchanges have been batching bitcoin transactions for years to save significantly on network fees. You too can see similar savings by batch opening lightning channels on…

  • Federations on Bitcoin are the Decentralized Future

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