Can the rules of the Lightning Network be updated easily? How does it use the consensus of Bitcoin? What are other implementations (Lit, Raiden)? What are the options for channel funding & creation? What is the benefit of commitment schemes? What are hashed timelocked contracts (HTLCs)? How does the mutual guarantee against cheating work? What prevents malicious use of the revocation key to steal coins?

CORRECTION: At 3:14, I incorrectly said that Poon-Dryja payment channels were the original specification for payment channels. Spillman (uni-directional) payment channels were proposed three years earlier through mailing list discussions. Poon-Dryja (bi-directional) payment channels are the design currently recommended in the BOLT specification: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Payment_channels

These questions are from the MOOC 9.6 session, the March and May monthly Patreon Q&A sessions, which took place on March 23rd, March 31st, and May 26th 2018 respectively. Andreas is a teaching fellow with the University of Nicosia. The first course in their Master of Science in Digital Currency degree, DFIN-511: Introduction to Digital Currencies, is offered for free as an open enrollment MOOC course to anyone interested in learning about the fundamental principles.

If you want early-access to talks and a chance to participate in the monthly live Q&As with Andreas, become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/aantonop

RELATED:
Bitcoin, Lightning, and Streaming Money – https://youtu.be/gF_ZQ_eijPs
The Internet of Money: Five Years Later – https://youtu.be/6xIq0FdmsIA
The Lightning Network – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPQwGV1aLnTurL4wU_y3jOhBi9rrpsYyi
Advanced Bitcoin Scripting, Part 1: Transactions and Multisig – https://youtu.be/8FeAXjkmDcQ
Advanced Bitcoin Scripting, Part 2: SegWit, Consensus, and Trustware – https://youtu.be/pQbeBduVQ4I
The Lightning Network – https://youtu.be/vPnO9ExJ50A
Lightning’s security model – https://youtu.be/_GNsT_ufkec
Misconceptions about the Lightning Network – https://youtu.be/c4TjfaLgzj4
Eltoo, and the early days of Lightning – https://youtu.be/o6eFZ5aI9N0
Lightning Network scaling – https://youtu.be/4KiWkwo48k0
Lightning Network interoperability – https://youtu.be/1HYMWcJHGXc
Atomic swaps – https://youtu.be/fNFBA2UmUmg
Running nodes and payment channels – https://youtu.be/ndcfBfE_yoY
What is Segregated Witness (SegWit)? – https://youtu.be/dtOjjB4mD8k
SegWit and fork research – https://youtu.be/OorLoi01KEE

Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and respected figures in bitcoin.

Follow on Twitter: @aantonop https://twitter.com/aantonop
Website: https://antonopoulos.com/

He is the author of two books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin; “The Internet of Money,” a book about why bitcoin matters.

THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v1: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Internet-Money-collection-Andreas-Antonopoulos/dp/1537000454/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

[NEW] THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v2: https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Money-Andreas-M-Antonopoulos/dp/194791006X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

MASTERING BITCOIN: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Bitcoin-Unlocking-Digital-Cryptocurrencies/dp/1449374042

[NEW] MASTERING BITCOIN, 2nd Edition: https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitcoin-Programming-Open-Blockchain/dp/1491954388

Translations of MASTERING BITCOIN: https://bitcoinbook.info/translations-of-mastering-bitcoin/

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19 COMMENTS

  1. is there a way for the malicious party to stall, or mess up the transaction intentionally, tricking the honest party to close out the transaction, allowing the malicious party to take the funds?

  2. 2 questions about the lightning network:
    1- is there a risk that the consensus rules of the basic layer changes and the pre signed closing channels transactions are not valid anymore? In that case both parts of the channel would have to agree to sign a new transaction and maybe one of them would ask for part of the funds they are not entitled to
    2- how does Alice and Bob change signed transactions simultaneously? How does Alice can't receive Bob's pre signed transaction and refuses to send hers?

  3. Here is a question that I would love to hear your thoughts on, and hopefully there are more people interested to poke your brain on this one! So if you never read this, hopefully some one wants to post this question to your Q&A on patreon!

    Question:
    "
    If Bitcoin becomes widely adopted in the future, could a debate be started over code changes to introduce inflation?
    For example: They could convince a lot of people that we need inflation because a lot of coins are hoarded by a small group of people. Other arguments could be made ofcourse, and I fear a lot of people could easily be convinced by this.

    Do you think it is likely that this will happen eventually, and what do you think the outcome would be?
    "

    Sorry if the question is long, but this is something I think about a lot. Perhaps right now we have a fixed supply, but what if the majority of the world gets convinced that we need to change that in the future…

  4. Hey Andreas, With onchain fees hovering around 1sat/byte for months now, wouldn't it be good if wallets switch to sat/tx instead? Or atleast allowing fees of less then 1sat/byte (and round it up or something)? Or wouldn't that possible? I think it is more user friendly in general and let us explore how low onchain fees can go.

  5. I know barely anything about lightning. Is it possible that, in the example, Alice isn't connected or available at the time Bob wants to cheat amd steal coins so that Alice was never aware of Bob's doings and can't use the time headstart she had om Bob to avoid the cheating? I ask because in bitcoin, you don't need to be online to receive money in a transaction. Does lighting require that?

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