The Bitcoin LN Protocol BOLT12 - Current status and next steps \ stacker news ~bitcoin

What is BOLT12

Bitcoin Lightning Network protocol BOLT12 is a proposed upgrade to the existing BOLT11 protocol, designed to enable re-usable payment requests, increased receiver privacy, and better censorship resistance.

Background:

BOLT11 was the previous version of the protocol, which has been widely used since its inception. . BOLT12 aims to address some of the shortcomings of BOLT11 and provide a more streamlined experience for users.

Current Adoption:

While BOLT12 is still in the development phase, there have been some early adopters and testers who have already implemented the new protocol:

Phoenix Wallet

From version 2.3.1 (Jul 3, 2024), Phoenix Wallet has introduced support for BOLT12, a Lightning Network specification that aims to improve payment requests and receiver privacy. Offers are the Lightning equivalent to a Bitcoin address: it's a reusable, static payment request that can be used for donation use cases, or to easily pay/get paid by your friends. Since BOLT12 is not yet well supported, Phoenix keep displaying a BOLT11 invoice by default.

From version 2.3.3 (Jul 11, 2024) the wallet supports paying BIP353 DNS addresses. It allows users to have a user@domain email-like handle, which are much easier to share with friends or on social networks than a BOLT12 offer

This wallet uses very innovative features and is, IMO, best in class of all the non custodial Lighting Network wallets, from the ones new to the technology to the most advanced.

I always run the “mass adoption test” with a small sample of my family and friends that are not tech savvy and this wallet passed with flying colors, after the installation and without my assistance they managed to use the wallet to receive and send sats.

Zeus Wallet

ZEUS Wallet is a mobile Bitcoin wallet and * node management * app that offers full functionalities of a Bitcoin Lightning wallet. It enables users to make Bitcoin payments and manage their Lightning nodes from their mobile device

This wallet does not pass the “mass adoption test” , the test users were not comfortable with the user interface neither understood most of the settings.

For the advance users that manage their own nodes, this mobile wallet is best in class.

Adoption summary: The widespread adoption is still awaited, as many users and merchants are yet to upgrade to the new protocol.

PROS & CONS

Pros:

Re-usable payment requests
Increased receiver privacy
Better censorship resistance

Cons:

Complexity of implementation
Compatibility with older nodes and applications which could lead fragmentation

Next Steps:

Many developers are working to improve and implement the protocol ensuring a smooth transition. As the protocol is refined and tested, it is expected to become more widely adopted.

Here the web addresses of few projects actively working on BOLT12:

For updates, specs or to get involved with BOLT12, bookmark the main website:

https://www.bolt12.org

What are your thoughts about BOLT12?

Did I missed any wallet that has implemented it already?

Which one is your favorite wallet, custodial or non custodial, supporting BIP353 DNS addresses?

594 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 22 Oct

For me personally BOLT12 doesn't solve any "urgent" problem in LN or a feature that I need.

I was using LN from its infancy with all kind of nodes, wallets, suites etc and tested almost all LN wallets possible or non-released.

I really think we should focus more on fixing REAL urgent problems in Bitcoin and especially in LN before adding unnecessary new features like BOLT12. At this stage BOLT12 is just a fancy marketing campaign and I don't know why is so pushed everywhere, because is NOT really need it.

Blinded paths (recently added to LND) are even more powerful than BOLT12. If I am a public merchant, I already use LNURL that works just fine. My node is already public so what's the point in hiding it?

What am I doing with the sats after I receive them, that is another story and I explain it in this guide.

But being a public receiver is pointless to hide behind a meaningless BOLT12.

For being a drug dealer, doing private trades, that's another story and they already have endless ways to do it, with disposable PRIVATE nodes.

As a normal payer, I don't really need to use BOLT12. For example, I am paying my beers to a bar. They have their own node towards I open a channel. So what's the point in hiding his node when I already know him and I want to use that p2p channel to pay for my beers? Is pointless. Even a LNURL/LN Address is more suitable for this case and not complicate things more.

So no, for me BOLT12 is useless in this moment. And btw, you mentioned Zeus as wallet. WRONG.

Zeus is not a simple wallet. Is a node management app for remote nodes (CLN, LND) and embedded nodes (LND).
To use Zeus with BOLT12 you MUST run a remote CLN node. Thing that many noobs do not know (or are misinformed by posts like these) and just start Zeus in embedded node mode.

321 sats \ 0 replies \ @eespn 22 Oct

Agree, specially with the "mass adoption test", good insight, will try that myself.

Phoenix is hands down the best in class for self custodial LN wallets, its simplicity is what is needed for mass adoption, geeks wallets are good for testing, nothing more, non technical people will just scare away

Zeus, which in its web site defines itself as "an open-source, self-custodial Bitcoin wallet that gives you full control over how you make payments." is for geeks, I played extensively with it, but will never recommend it to anyone that is not technical.

BOLT12 is definitely a step in the right direction, no web server and onion messages for end-to-end-encrypted connections between nodes, hopefully the adoption will speed up.