If you are a pleb like me, and you like zapping sats over Lightning, but you are NOT technically savvy, the last few years have been R-O-U-G-H.
I don’t know if anyone remembers, but back in 2020-1, there was huge momentum with self-ran LND nodes, hosted over Umbrel when they initially launched. There were other node-in-one services around as well, like MyNode and a bunch of other ones, all equally good. We were all tinkering and opening channels with each other, there was real buzz and excitement around it. It felt like what ordinals was like a few months ago.
Then, it allegedly turned out LND was not on our side, and had the WEF pulling strings, despite their vehement denial. So, like any responsible pleb, I closed all my channels, removed LND and the whole stack of apps, and gave them the middle finger.
But the problem remained. How to use lightning? I tried running CLN (used to be c-lightning), but back then they did not have any implementation with the node services, so unless you were to spin up your own node and build every piece software from scratch from source, you simply had no choice but to go with wallets like Phoenix. I had never opened github in my life, much less interface with command lines nor compiled anything from source. That was a no-go. So I ran to Phoenix.
Phoenix was not ideal, but at least it was non-custodial. Besides, you did not have to manage channels, a win-win according to my lazy self. ACINQ, the company that runs Eclair and Phoenix, seemed to be advancing the right tech, like incorporating splicing and announcing their intention to have BOLT12, something LND is still dragging their feet about today. CLN eventually launched a GUI app for the node-in-one services. And it looks great, but to this date, it doesn’t have a one-click backup option, which is why I didn’t feel safe putting my corn on there. So yeah, I got really comfortable and complacent.
Well, we all know what happened next. First, Wallet of Satoshi, then Phoenix voluntarily left the US, while all the mixing services got shut down. And this is just the first salvo. Things are only going to get more draconian from here, or has the potential to be. They are coming for everything they can put their chokehold on, including things that need centralized servers like LNURL. It was naive to think we could rely on 3rd party-ran lightning nodes, and the bankers would just take it sitting down.
There is no choice left. Much like the Fellowship of the Ring, which unsuccessfully tried the path South to Rohan, then was equally foiled over the frigid Pass of Caradhras, there was only one option left: The Mines of Linux and the creatures hiding beneath the shadows of the Command Line Interface (CLI).
In Part 2, I will list a compilation of everything you will need to build a node from scratch, compile most everything from source, with step by step instructions from the many wonderful developers and shadowy supercoders out there. I am not saying that any competent monkey could do it, but it's close enough. Remember, Gandalf is victorious, sort of. And once your are done, you can start using BOLT12 right away; it has been fantastic to receive my mining rewards over BOLT 12. So if you are mining with Ocean, you have extra incentives.
To be continued...
it allegedly turned out LND was not on our side, and had the WEF pulling strings, despite their vehement denial. So, like any responsible pleb, I closed all my channels, removed LND and the whole stack of apps, and gave them the middle finger
Ok um...someone made an allegation so you did the "responsible" thing and erased the software you enjoyed? What if I make an allegation that linux is controlled by the wef, are you gonna erase your operating system too? If I allege that the golden gate bridge was funded by the wef are you gonna be "responsible" and jump off it? Seems like a pretty easy way to control you, I'll just watch for whenever you do something I don't like and then I'll allege that the wef wants you to do that
Maybe the next time someone alleges the wef is behind some piece of software you like you'll think twice before uninstalling it. Do a little independent thinking is my recommendation and don't just believe random allegations you find on the internet
There are two easy ways to control someone: if you find out they always do whatever you say, tell them to do X, and watch them do it. And if you find out they always do the opposite, just tell them not to do X, then watch them do it.
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1219 sats \ 1 reply \ @BlokchainB 14 May
Thess purity tests are ridiculous. LND is open source. Bitcoin is an open source movement. LND is not developing closed source software and umbrel and mynode need to kick license fees to run the software on their node in a box.
I am glad you are taking the deeper dive and running another implementation of lightning but the reasoning is misguided. Please remember bitcoins hashing function is created by the NSA. Which it doesn’t get more statist that that. Yet we all use it without reserve.
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100 sats \ 0 replies \ @0fje0 14 May
I am glad you are taking the deeper dive and running another implementation of lightning but the reasoning is misguided.
Thanks for being the voice of reason here. Other well meaning stackers have also pointed out OP's misguided reasoning, but I hope to see more posts about the journey anyway.
(And judged by the number of stackers who have zapped OP's post, I sure don't seem to be the only one.)
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And it looks great, but to this date, it doesn’t have a one-click backup option, which is why I didn’t feel safe putting my corn on there.
To be fair and to the extent of my knowledge, what LND calls backup is more like an emergency recover which can fail since your peers need to cooperate with you to recover your funds.
Maybe someone else can expand on this, it’s been some time since I last read about this.
update: I’m talking about SCB as explained here. I read some controversy around naming it backups since it’s not a backup in the common sense where you can recover from failure without any third party interaction required.
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if im running core lightning on start9 and back up the service, that is not sufficient in your opinion?
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mmm i see what you are talking about i think
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Thanks for sharing your journey and experience. I am new in this journey so learning a lot from you guys.
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14 sats \ 1 reply \ @OT 14 May
You also might want to add more info about LND and the wef. Not sure what you’re in about there
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Rumors about WEF aside, the fact is that they have not been a good actor, and that is not a rumor. Their incentives are not on our side. This is a pretty good breakdown. #119318
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11 sats \ 1 reply \ @xz 14 May
I zapped one more time for managing to make a good analogy between LoR and LN. Really looking forward to reading part II.
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LOTR is great. PART 2 is now out! Cheers
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Part 2 sounds interesting.
I had a look at this a couple of years ago and there was a nice open source stack available.
I wonder if the same stack can be run today, and if there are better alternatives.
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Awesome resource, thanks for digging that up. PART 2 is now out! Cheers
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PART 2 is now out! Cheers
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lol, WEF listed the one legit Lightning implementation on their site and punked you into wasting time on Bolt12... the digital dollar standard for the Federal ECash Act
oh the irony
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is receiving on bolt12 more private?