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Merge pull request #545 from bitcoincoretech/ch_03

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Chapter: 03_how_ln_works
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Andreas M. Antonopoulos 2020-12-08 09:11:50 -06:00 committed by GitHub
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@ -77,9 +77,12 @@ Beyond all the technical primitives, the Lightning Network protocol is a creativ
As we saw in the previous chapter, Alice used her wallet software to create a payment channel between her and another Lightning Network participant.
A channel is only limited by three things:
First, the time it takes for the internet to transfer the few hundred bytes of data that the protocol requires to move funds from one end of the channel to the other.
Second, the capacity of the channel, meaning the amount of bitcoin that is committed to the channel when it is opened.
Third, the maximum size limit of a Bitcoin transaction also limits the number of incomplete (in progress) routed payments that can be carried simultaneously over a channel.
* First, the time it takes for the internet to transfer the few hundred bytes of data that the protocol requires to move funds from one end of the channel to the other.
* Second, the capacity of the channel, meaning the amount of bitcoin that is committed to the channel when it is opened.
* Third, the maximum size limit of a Bitcoin transaction also limits the number of incomplete (in progress) routed payments that can be carried simultaneously over a channel.
Payment channels have a few very interesting and useful properties:
@ -214,7 +217,7 @@ The way the penalty works is by giving the cheated party an opportunity to claim
[TIP]
====
You might notice that if Alice drains her channel balance almost completely, she could then risk cheating with little risk. Bob's penalty wouldn't be so painful if her channel balance is low. To prevent this, the Lightning protocol requires each channel partner to keep a minimum balance in the channel (called the "reserve") so the always have "skin in the game".
You might notice that if Alice drains her channel balance almost completely, she could then risk cheating with little risk. Bob's penalty wouldn't be so painful if her channel balance is low. To prevent this, the Lightning protocol requires each channel partner to keep a minimum balance in the channel (called the "reserve") so they always have "skin in the game".
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Let us go through the channel construction scenario again, adding a penalty mechanism to protect against cheating: