@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ More detailed definitions of these and many other terms can be found in the <<gl
Throughout this book you will see "Bitcoin" with the first letter capitalized, which refers to the _Bitcoin System_ and is a proper noun. You will also see "bitcoin", with a lower-case _b_, which refers the currency unit.
====
=== What is the Lightning Network?
The Lightning Network is a network that operates as "second layer" protocol on top of Bitcoin and other blockchains. The Lightning Network enables fast, secure, private, trustless, and permissionless payments. Here are some of the features of the LN:
Lightning wallets can be installed on a variety of devices, including laptops, servers, and mobile devices. To run an LN node and a Bitcoin node, you will need to use a server or desktop computer, as mobile devices and laptops are usually not powerful enough in terms of capacity, processing, battery life, and connectivity.
In <<lnwallet-examples>> we see some examples of currently popular LN node and wallet applications for different types of devices.
@ -241,7 +240,6 @@ Alice presses the plus symbol and is presented with four possible ways to open a
A "node URI" is a Universal Resource Identifier (URI) that identifies a specific LN node. Alice can either paste such a URI from her clipboard, or scan a QR code containing that same information. An example of a node URI is shown as a QR code in <<node-URI-QR>> and below it as a text string:
@ -125,7 +125,6 @@ The amount of bitcoin sent to the multisignature address forms an upper limit on
Two channel partners will never be able to conduct larger payments on that channel than the channel capacity.
While the Bitcoin network can see that funds have been committed to a channel using a funding transaction, it is unable to determine how those funds are distributed between the two channel partners.
[Note]
====
You will often hear that people complain about bitcoin being locked to the Lightning Network which can't move freely.
@ -137,7 +136,6 @@ If a channel partner should not respond, one will always have the chance to fall
Due to the potentially high fees and confirmation times, bitcoin on the Bitcoin Network are way more rigid and harder to move than bitcoin on the Lightning Network.
====
===== Example of a poor channel opening procedure
Alice wants to open a payment channel with Mallory but she is not yet fully aware of the Lightning Network Protocol.
She creates a new private and corresponding public key and talks to Mallory who does the same and sends her public key to Alice.
@ -280,7 +278,6 @@ In that case the fees of the commitment transaction are again paid by the partne
Also all the routing attempts will have to be resolved just as in the force close.
While this method could be fully executed faster than the good and the bad way to close the channel, it is obviously never recommended to engage in this channel closing protocol.
=== Invoices
An alternative structure for the subsections of the invoice section (while covering the same topics) could be: (creating, decoding, paying as 3 sub chapters)
@ -341,7 +338,6 @@ In our case the reward is that she can send and receive payments of bitcoin on t
Alice decides that the reward is enough for her to take on the fee risk.
Since Bob can directly close the channel, which costs fees paid by Alice, she will need to have a little trust in Bob.
=== Comparison with Bitcoin
While the Lightning Network is built on top of Bitcoin, and inherits many of it's features and properties, there are important differences that users of both need to be aware of.
Umar Bolatov
4 years ago