The Lightning Network in three sentences:
Two parties without a direct channel can make payments along a route through other nodes; hash time-locked contracts (HTLCs) ensure that the intermediate nodes cannot withhold the funds.
How much a channel can pay depends on the distribution of balances on both sides of the channel. A large payment may fail if no route has enough capacity.
If you run your own Lightning node, you need to keep it online or use a watchtower service to prevent the other party from settling the channel using an old state while you’re offline.
$BTC 77380.78 (-0.52%)
Two parties without a direct channel can make payments along a route through other nodes; hash time-locked contracts (HTLCs) ensure that the intermediate nodes cannot withhold the funds.
How much a channel can pay depends on the distribution of balances on both sides of the channel. A large payment may fail if no route has enough capacity.
If you run your own Lightning node, you need to keep it online or use a watchtower service to prevent the other party from settling the channel using an old state while you’re offline.
$BTC 77380.78 (-0.52%)