If you run your own #Bitcoin node, and youโre looking to open some Lightning channels, liquidity triangles are a great way to do it.
What is a liquidity triangle? Read on to find out.
A liquidity triangle is ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ who run their own nodes. It allows for sats to be easily moved in either direction along the channel, so every participant has enough liquidity for inbound and outbound transactions.
When a Lightning channel is opened, all the sats that are locked up in the channel are typically only on one side of the channel. There are ways to open a channel with sats on both sides, but this is seldom done. When all the sats are on a userโs side of the channel, they may ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ up to that many sats to the other side, but they cannot ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ any sats from the other side.
But with liquidity triangles, ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐น๐ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐น๐ to allow for sending ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ receiving, without having to trust the other party to compensate them for the sats they send to their side. Hereโs how it works:
๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ opens a channel with ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐, who opens a channel with ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐, who opens a channel with ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐. Each of their channels have the same number of sats; for this example, letโs say 1M sats each. Then any of the users (letโs say ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐) can send ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด half the amount in the channels, sending ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ the channel with outbound liquidity, and ๐ต๐ฐ the channel with inbound liquidity.
In this example, this would bump 500K sats from ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐โs side of the channel to ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐โs side, 500K sats from ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐โs side of the channel with ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ to ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐โs side, and 500K sats from ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐โs side of the channel with ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ to ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐โs side. In the end, everyone still has the same number of sats on their sides of the channels, but now divided in half in each channel. This allows each of them to send and receive up to 500K sats, freeing them to transact as they wish.
Each of the users will likely be connected to other users with other channels, and ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ด ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด, which will better enable them to use the Lightning Network to send and receive bitcoin instantly, and nearly for free. And other liquidity โshapesโ like squares, pentagons, and others can be created, depending on the number of participants. But triangles are the smallest and simplest.
You can create liquidity triangles and other shapes with your friends (if they run their own nodes), or you can use Lightning Network+โs website, LightningNetwork.plus, to find others to open Lightning channels with.
Liquidity triangles effectively balance Lightning Network channels for ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐, allowing users to both send and receive sats. This method enhances the network's utility and scalability by ensuring participants can transact freely. It exemplifies the ingenuity of the Lightning Network, offering a blueprint for more complex liquidity solutions and underscoring the network's potential for facilitating instant, cost-effective Bitcoin transactions.
Make sure you ๐๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ค, ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐, and ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ this for future reference.
Have you created any liquidity triangles before?
Tell me how it went in the ๐๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐โฌ๏ธ