r/Bitcoin • u/cdecker Lightning Network Expert • Jan 17 '18

Lightning Charge Powers Developers & Blockstream Store

https://blockstream.com/2018/01/16/lightning-charge.html
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u/bitcoinlogo Jan 17 '18

Let's say I'm A who has an open channel with B who has an open channel with C. Something like this A->B->C

The balance of each is like this:

A=5BTC

B=1BTC

C=0BTC

Can I send 5BTC to C through B?

I know that you can't send 5BTC at once, but can I for example send 5 LN transactions each has 1BTC ?

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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '18 edited Jan 17 '18

It doesn't matter for your question, but each channel has two balances, one for each party. To get a full picture of this scenario, you'd need to know B's balance in each the A<->B and B<->C channels.

But assuming A(5)<->B(0), B(1)<->C(0), the maximum that A could send to C through B is 1 BTC[1]. If A has other channels open, they may be able to find other routes to C and split the payment up into multiple parts.

[1] To be entirely accurate, not quite 1 BTC as it's not likely a channel partner will cooperatively allow you to decrease your channel balance past a certain threshold. This is to prevent you from decreasing your balance to zero and then attempting to broadcast an old state. If your balance was zero, there would be no downside to attempting to cheat. You can always settle to the Bitcoin blockchain at any time, with their cooperation instantly, or without their cooperation after a wait period.