Tunnel⚡️Sats provides scripts for lightning nodes enabling hybrid mode (Clearnet & Tor) and offers paid VPN servers on various continents for fixed terms. Our secured and LN-only configured VPNs support port-forwarding to connect with other lightning nodes.

How Tunnel⚡️Sats works Select a preferred region, timeframe and pay the invoice via lightning to receive a WireGuard configuration file. Please follow the detailed installation instructions described on the TunnelSats guide and faq pages.

The lightning network functions in rapid growing speed as infrastructure for payments across the globe between merchants, creators, consumers, institutions and investors alike. Hence the key pillars of sustained growth are their nodes, by providing reliable, liquid, discoverable, trustless and fast connection points between those parties. For fast communication establishing clearnet connections between nodes is inevitable.

The effort of creating a valuable “clearnet over VPN” node - which we laid out here and here - is quite high and intense because it touches several disciplines not every node runner is comfortable with. Required knowledge of the command line, firewall handling, network details, trust in and choosing of a suitable VPN provider that offers all the features we need and cares about privacy and security and, of course, the configuration of the lightning node itself makes it easy to just “leave it as is”. Therefore we came to the conclusion that this process has to be simplified a lot. In the last few weeks we put together all the pieces that we think provide the best of both worlds to make it as easy as possible to go hybrid.

Although thinking this is a suitable way of providing a “hybrid service”, we want to emphasize to carefully read through the guide below, make an educated decision by yourself if you want to go clearnet over VPN.