The Lightning Network – Bitcoin on steroids.
“Bitcoin’s Lightning Network is the most advanced payment network ever created.” – Anthony Pompliano
Bitcoin with Lightning Speed
Bitcoin is stable and secure, but slow and resource-intensive, critics say. Fair enough, but Bitcoin also has a creative community who wants to build on it to make it better. Stacks is a Layer 1 example of that, a standalone-Blockchain connected to the Bitcoin Blockchain, enabling smart contracts on Bitcoin. Lightning is a so-called Layer 2 network – not a standalone blockchain but rather a protocol layer on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, enabling off-chain transactions like payments, secured by bitcoin. The Lightning Network is a scaling solution for Bitcoin (Wikipedia).
As a second layer peer-to-peer network, the Lightning Network allows Bitcoin payments „off-chain“. Payments on Lightning are secure, cheap, fast and private. (Mastering the Lightning Network).
By running nodes on the Lightning Network, MetaStack is actively supporting the capacity and decentralisation of the network and Bitcoin adoption.
How does Lightning work and what are the benefits?
On Lightning, nodes (a node is basically just a computer or server) connect to each other by opening payment channels. These channels have a certain capacity in Bitcoin, enabling users to route payments instantly through them. Each Lightning node is connected to different peers, creating a global network of payment channels. This routing process is a major difference to regular bitcoin payments, which are „sent“ and broadcasted on the Bitcoin blockchain.
As the network grows, it will be possible to process millions of transactions per second on Bitcoin, fully decentralised and at very low costs, due to the off-chain settlement. This makes Bitcoin scalable, even beyond payments, as theoretically any type of data can be routed through a network of Lightning channels (Benefits of the Lightning Network).
The Metastack Lightning Policy
Role
+ Payment hub
+ Liquidity provider
Lightning Channel Policy
+ Minimum channel size: 2_500_000 sats
+ We recommend channels > 2_500_000 sats, smaller channels hinder efficient routing and reduce Terminal Web Stats.
+ Wumbo activated
+ Hybrid Node (Clearnet/Tor)
+ Inactive channels (>1 month) will get closed
Uptime
+ 24/7
Offline routing nodes are causing payment failures and this greatly affects the reputation of the routing node (justifiably).
Lightning Fee Policy
With regards to https://c-otto.de/ we believe that the fee rate can be used to guide payments and thereby balance our channels.
+ base fee: 0 (to allow micro transactions)
+ ppm fee:
1.) 0-54% inbound: 8-68 ppm
2.) 55%-89% inbound: 68-848 ppm
3.) 90%-99% inbound: 1948 ppm
4.) Outbound < 50k sats: channel disabled (on our side)
High fees at a low outbound to cover on-chain tx fees and to avoid failed routing attempts.
To manage our fees we use charge-lnd and for sure – manual adjustments.
Connection
Clearnet038ec8cd65fb69e147c2bd6de83f2ba57e312764cbeac2f594ae68d6b9c174f019@65.21.136.215:9735
Tor038ec8cd65fb69e147c2bd6de83f2ba57e312764cbeac2f594ae68d6b9c174f019@hxlvvynqvvz3f5u3dfhtsyxzeqttivnw2awas3rxniu5uvoqrlvrvgid.onion:9735
About MetaStack
MetaStack Data GmbH was founded by 3 blockchain enthusiasts in Vienna, Austria in 2021. We have been familiar with the blockchain space for a long time and decided to put our knowledge to practical use – in order to help building a better internet infrastructure for all of us.
We build and operate nodes on the Stacks blockchain, as we believe it makes sense to utilize the power of bitcoin and make it more accessible for developers and users. On Proof-of-Stake blockchains like Ethereum (Beacon Chain) we run validators to support the network.
Chris
Software Engineering
After a couple of years in the industry, Chris followed his passion and co-founded MetaStack Data GmbH in order to focus on his passion, blockchain technology.
Peter
Project Management and Technical Support
As a project manager, Peter knows it is important to focus on the right problems and find high-potential solutions. Now he sees this potential in Blockchain infrastructure services.
Michael
Project Management
As an Entrepreneur and Investor, Michael has been familiar with the Blockchain space for a long time. Now it is time to build.