Hi Everyone, let’s start some conversations on here. I think it is more interesting than just posting links.

I have a question. Regarding the lightning network, my understanding is that every time a transaction goes across a channel it locks up the BTC in that direction for each channel. My confusion is that this sounds like it will lock up a lot of BTC.

For example, let’s say we send 1BTC through 5 channels to get to the payee. That is 1 BTC for each channel, so 5 BTC would then be stuck in one orientation and a transaction of equivalent size would have to come through in the other direction to clear it up. But if BTC is more often moving in one direction over the other, how does this resolve without constantly having to reconcile it with the main blockchain?

Is there a trick or some other solution I am missing here? Or will these bottlenecks always form?

  • PopularUsername@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    Thanks for the link, is a nice resource, I’ll continue reading it. Still not sure if that would reset the channels though, btc can’t move from one channel to another, just within a single channel. When they refer to settling they use it to describe both the entire transaction as well as individual hops, so what they mean by settle doesn’t necessarily mean that the channels have reverted to their former state, only that everyone in the transaction has been made whole.

    • 0x0F@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      oh, do you mean the channel balance? lightning node operators have to occasionally rebalance their channels, usually by moving funds from a “full” channel to an empty one. channels dont revert cause thatd undo the transaction x3

      • PopularUsername@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        I see, okay that makes sense. So in cases where the traffic always goes in one direction, the fees for using that channel must be high enough to compensate for rebalancing the funds on-chain.