ok i must start with the first fatal flaw.
LN CAN infact work without bitcoin. LN's function allows it to peg to different blockchains.
Agreed. I assumed we were talking about LN on the Bitcoin network, but indeed, it can be applied broader.
when one group want to say LN is bitcoin2.0 and muddy the water confusing what LN can and cant do. limiting the scope to what LN can do only when talking about bitcoin, makes them ignore what LN actually is, just to make LN fit their narrative.
oh and its not "about LN on the bitcoin network" its the LN network bridging to a network.
LND does not function on the bitcoin network.
EG LND requires a blockchain full node that bridges to LN or a LN lite cellphone app just works on the LN network without touching a blockchain network
LN has no network wide audit/consensus that checks that all nodes/channels are all connected to the bitcoin network.
some LN users right now only have channels/nodes pegged to litecoin
True. But as far as I know, those LTC-LN-nodes won't interact with a BTC-LN-node, so even though they all use some form of LN, they won't mix up transactions.
the peer connection aspect of nodes.. is separate to channel forming.
LN peers(nodes) can connect together and have different blockchain bridged channels. .. its why atomic swaps is a feature
many devs and LN users have lost funds. even with "punishment" clauses attached.
LN is still experimental, right? People have lost on-chain Bitcoin too, and I have no doubt people have lost their coins through LN. However, for future growth, I'm more interested if this can be improved up to the point where the chance of losing coins becomes small enough to be acceptable. Let's face it: people lose their physical wallet with cash too.
yes losing private keys, data loss/computer crashes. hackers, are all standard risks of all blockchains and all crypto. including LN.. but LN has flaws ontop of standard risk. where even the devs making LN have lost value, not due to standard risk reasons
EG when i get a confirmed payment on bitcoin.. the sender is not going to punish me somehow and double spend my coin. nor can he. yet these smart contracts add in new clauses that allow delays in confirmation to invoke punishments (much like fiat chargeback scamming is a bane of merchants lives, so will these punishment clauses become)
watchtowers.. ok now you are creating bank managers.
so now people have to trust their channel partner to not cheat. and then trust a bank manager to watch that the partner has not cheated.
I must say I like this system: if you don't trust the existing watchtowers, you can run your own. It's like creating your own bank managers! And if enough people do that, there will be enough watchtowers to rule out being offline when you need one.
meanwhile on bitcoin even offline someone can pay me. no need for me to sign for it. no need to watch or hire a bank to watch to make sure the sender doesnt refund himself. its mine. done. clear. end of story
LN is different and riskier and the LN PR people need to make people aware of the risks instead of just saying its bitcoin 2.0 and has same security as bitcoin
soo much to do just to hope cheating does not happen.
I agree with you here! I (still) don't understand all the technical details of LN, but from what I've seen, it is indeed complicated. Much more complicated than signing a simple on-chain Bitcoin transaction. But, and that's why I like LN: when implemented and used correctly, it has the potential to make
secure transactions
abundant.
this is what i mean by needing to explain the risks. you loosely wrote:
when implemented and used correctly, it has the potential to make
secure transactions
abundantbut even that is sweeping the risks under the carpet. like its not a big deal and pretends to be "secure".
there are more flaws then you might think. or more flaws than others had bothered to make you aware of
so much trust is needed to risk not having to watch 24/7
This, however, I don't agree with. For example: rebooting your LN node and being offline for a while isn't enough for your channel partner to broadcast an old channel state and steal your funds.
with honest partners. no big deal. but we all know from all the bitcoin scams mentioned on this forum. you cant trust someone not to want to take their funds out if they see an opportunity to garner more then they deserve.
again going offline thinking partner wont do it, requires trust
meanwhile, on bitcoin. when someone sends me value. its confirmed. finito. its mine, no takesy backsy's, no third party watchtower, no co-signer needed. no punishment. its just mine. done
Agreed.
But: say you sell coffee, and say you accept many small amounts of Bitcoin per day. Consolidating your funds will be expensive because all those small inputs increase your transaction size. LN doesn't have that problem, and I haven't even started yet about limited blockspace.
For me, it's quite simple: if you buy a car with Bitcoin, pay on-chain. If you buy a coffee, use LN. Both have their pros and cons depending on the situation.
For receiving: If I receive a payment worth $1000, I prefer Bitcoin on-chain. But if I receive 1000 payments of $1 each, I prefer Bitcoin LN.
i dont have a problem with LN being advertised as a nice service for micro payments.. the issue is when its described as bitcoins solution to everyones every day payment needs. when its described as bitcoin2.0. when its described as the replacement to not need to scale bitcoin or widen its 'limited blockspace'
seeing as you brought it up. ill just quickly say
the limited blockspace is not limited due to any technical reason. its limited by commercial politics reason, of creating a demand for a altnet that can fill a niche
when setting up a channel you have to put keys in even if you are just watching balance. those keys are needed actively all the time. even if you are not buying anything for yourself and instead just routing..
Agreed. Do you mean the risk of having your node compromised and your keys stolen? That is indeed a risk because you can't use cold storage in LN. My workaround is to lower the risk: I don't LN for large amounts.
1. lightning network is not the bitcoin network. they are separate networks that do different things
agree[ *] disagree[ *]
Assuming we're talking about LN on the Bitcoin network, I ticked both boxes. I agree, because LN and Bitcoin indeed use different networks, and are meant for different circumstances. But I also disagree, because the transactions are linked and LN-payments can eventually be settled on-chain.
first its not LN on the bitcoin network. its just LN. whereby you want to restrict it to become LN bridged to the bitcoin network, to fit a limited scope narrative.
again once you understand that atomic swaps and connecting nodes is separate comms than creating channels, it may become clearer for you
2. LN promises (payments inside LN) are denominated in picocoin(11decimal) also known as msat/millisat
agree [ *] disagree[ ]
I agree on the msat.
I ignore the pico, that would be 10-12, not 10-11. actually in the LN code it does mention pico. they just use pico-1 as the measure of mast, but the pico is very much wrote in the code
5. LN is not tethered to only function on the bitcoin network
agree[ *] disagree[ *]
I ticked both again: it depends on the implementation. If I install a simple Bitcoin LN wallet, it won't work on any other chains. But it can be implemented, just like Bitcoin Core can be adjusted for many different altcoins.
LN when peers connect. .. is a separate thing and a precursor to funding a channel
you cant obviously already have a channel where you already have funds locked in a partnered multisig, just to be able to establish you are a bitcoin only bridge, to then connect to a peer to then create a channel to then fund into the partnered multisig .. thats a paradox
6.LN wont work without bitcoin
agree[ *] disagree[ ]
Assuming we're talking about LN on the Bitcoin network, I agree. There is no LN Bitcoin without on-chain channel opening and closing. And that's a huge threat to LN if on-chain fees rise.
i will respect you may not know about the peer connect process is separate to the channel establishing process. so ill just mention paradox again. and also mention atomic swap and also LTC bridge
lightning network can work without bitcoin even when partnering with users that have bitcoin channels
maybe by admitting to this you might be able to explain the positives of such, like highlighting atomic swaps
LN is its own network. there is no litecoin LN network and LN bitcoin network. thats just a user interface error in thinking. not a separation at code level that prevents such communication between peers.
This is new to me. But (I think) my earlier point stands: my Bitcoin LN wallet can't transact with for example a Litecoin LN wallet, because the transactions needed for on-chain settlement aren't compatible, hence the transaction on the LN-side can't be accepted.
thats more about the limitation of your wallet. not the limitation of LN. its much like saying you have a SPV wallet and so now you believe that the bitcoin network doesnt do blockchain archiving, because your wallet doesnt do it.
much like many that are already thinking that 'pruned nodes' are still full nodes and archiving data to provide new peers with IBD is not part of the decentralisation feature of bitcoin
i understand your wallet doesnt do atomic swaps, nor any decent node interrogation of channels.. nor able to handle other blockchains.. but thats not to say the lightning network cant/doesnt
Does it make sense to limit this topic to the discussion about LN in relation to Bitcoin, and forget about the possibility of using LN on altcoin networks (at least for now)
nah, lets not play into the game of making LN sound like its bitcoin 2.0 by only talking about a limited scope.
again LN peer connection does not require channel establishment first to 'fix' users to a specific bridged blockchain (the paradox)
1. lightning network is not the bitcoin network. they are separate networks that do different things
Yes, they're separate networks obviously, but they do the same thing. They allow you to transact bitcoins. The transaction structure and the contracts are different, but the purpose remains same.
LN allows the payment promise of millisats. the bitcoin network allows the confirmed immutable settlement of sats
i know at GUI level you cant tell the difference. but at code level there is a difference.
much like you wish to argue that binance sidechain is not real bitcoins.
I notice a small but crucial step missed out. Devs can create and release code. There's no 'automatic update' in any Bitcoin client I've ever used.
did you forget previous talking points where by you have said that bitcoin doesnt require USERS to upgrade clients 'because backward compatibility'.. remember where you script hymn sheet 'bitcoin doesnt need you it can move on without you'
It can move on without you. No one single person can block or filibuster a proposal if the majority agree. We don't need your individual approval. It's about collective approval.
its not about collective approval anymore..
"backward compatibility" made it so, by not requiring users to upgrade..
But why would you oppose that? It gives you more freedom, not less. And again, your only counter proposal would be to tell devs what they can't code. We've established that notion is unworkable.
its not about saying what people cant code.
its about what they do in their PR campaigns promising one thing but giving another. overhyping something as being something else.
As we've already established, they can't upgrade the network unilaterally. But beyond that, yes. I will state it clearly and with emphasis because it's empirically true:
Any developer can create any code they want. No one can stop that in an open-source source environment.
You might take issue with that statement, but can you provide any evidence to the contrary?
Further, I feel it's one of the most vitally important features of crypto and I'm baffled as to why anyone would want the opposite.
i guess you forgot the other implementations that got treated as opposition and told to fork off.. oh wait it was you telling them to fork off. because you wanted core to be the sole brand of reference client.
and no dont try referring to very old mindset before your switcheroo..
i used to respect you in the days of 2015 and before.. but you have switched over to sound more like a centraliser and altnet fan in recent years
Apologies, but I didn't ask about my mindset or what I've said. I asked you to provide evidence to the contrary. Do you have any? I'd love to see it. If not, kindly concede the point. You cannot prevent devs coding what they want. There isn't a way to do that unless you are suggesting we make Bitcoin closed-source and put you in charge of the code repository. Is that what you are proposing?
i guess your still forgetting the other implementations..
maybe "REKT bitcoinXT" campaign.. remember now?
how about bitcoinclassic
how about bitcoinunlimited
how about all the topics where everyone says bitcoin-core is THE reference client.
how about the rhetoric where all bip submissions and stuff has to go through their approval process
[moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]