5 upvotes, 0 direct replies (showing 0)
View submission: ⚡ Lightning Network Megathread ⚡
Ok so when C collects the payment it means B can collect his payment. But what if C never collects? Does that mean the A->B payment is locked up forever?
No, it times out. Of course, C will usually tell you if it can't make the payment, and fails immediately.
> you have to wait for the blockchain timeouts to get your money unstuck
How so exactly? Does this mean that if a node goes down at the wrong time I need to close the channel and let everything resolve that way?
No, if a node goes down at the wrong time, the adjacent node will have to close the channel with it; each payment has a timeout, and if a node is unresponsive you have to drop onchain to enforce that timeout.
> if they don't succeed or fail with time to spare, the node adjacent to them will close the channel
Hmm - I'm not sure I'd be happy with my channels being closed because some 3rd party payment doesn't get routed. I guess this means that you'd want to take precautions about who you open channels with in the first place. Would this be a centralisation pressure?
No, you'd only close your channel because your counterparty is unresponsive (second party). No third party can make you close it.
If nodes are very unreliable, that will cause centralization pressure. But more importantly, it will make the network unusable...
There's nothing here!