Anyone knows if there is already any service of "proxy" online LN wallet?
I mean, something that would work like this:
- I send, for example, 0.1BTC to their wallet (my deposit address) same as I do with an exchange.
- Now I have a 0.1BTC balance with them (not your keys, not your BTC... I know)
- Then, the service would let me send LN payments which they would route via their LN node and already established channels on my behalf and substract the amount (plus a fee, presumably) from my balance.
- A plus would also be the possibility of creating LN invoices and receiving payments in the same way above and an easy to use mobile phone APP.
Anyone?
Custodial Wallets are a thing now, yes. And somewhat controversial among the purists. I think they are inevitable at least until Neutrino
It's great news because last time I asked a few months ago it seemed that it didn't exist yet.
I understand why purists may have something to say, but IMHO custodial LN wallets do make even much more sense than regular custodial wallets. I have not much of a problem in letting a third party the custody of my small change and use them for convenience. It is the whole of my stash what I want to directly control and custody. <- Notice how this is the complete opposite of how the current banking system + cash works.
Of course LN neutrino would be a great offering for the ones who would prefer that intermediate solution.
This is looking very good.
As long as it doesn't lead to some kind of 51% type attack with one mega payments monolith in there
I am a firm believer in free market competition. LN services can be offered with very little entry barriers (unlike ie mining). Also it is conceived to be decentralised from its beginning.
If it ended somehow being much less decentralised, then that would be the markets "speaking".
That being said, if LN had massive success I would predict something like half of the market shared by a few (probably tens) of bigger players and the rest by thousands of minions. I am speculating of course.
For being able to scale *MASSIVELY*, channel reuse/sharing would be needed. One user one node would not scale nowhere near as well, even if everyone will have the choice to run its own full fledged LN node for paying their own coffee. Also there is no real need to settle in the blockchain after every single couple of cents payment... even if you have, again, the choice to do it.