mili

bitcoin

Lightning Network: Protocol Maturity and Adoption

realtrader

# Introduction
You can buy bitcoin (BTC) on centralized exchanges, and peer to peer (p2p).

A lot of people prefer p2p BTC buying solutions over exchanges because:
- **more private**: there is no central entity who knows about all of your transaction history, and can decide to share it with anyone without your consent. 
- **more control**: There is no central entity who can decide to freeze your account, can decide that you are not allowed to do something with your own money, or even to just get back.

There are multiple peer-to-peer BTC buying solutions, such as Bisq, Robosats, hodlhodl. Every solution has its own benefits.

# Benefits of Robosats:
1. Uses the tor network: enhances privacy 
1. Uses anonym identity for trade, and you can generate a new one for every order/transaction: enhances privacy
1. Uses lightning network (you can get BTC either on-chain or on lightning): makes bonds* easier, transactions cheaper, and lightning can also enhance your privacy
1. Uses Tor browser, so can be used on a phone, and even has an application version.

bonds*: they are payment guarantees to eliminate bad behavior. In case of bad behavior, the bonds can be lost.

# Why I use Robosats over Bisq and hodlhodl:
- Robosats is the only lightning network solution, other solutions require BTC on chain that is more costly
- hodlhodl uses clear web (no tor): less privacy
- hodlhodl and Bisq use the same identity for all trades: less privacy
- Bisq is a desktop app, can't be used on a phone: less portability

# How does Robosats work:
1. You create an order with a FIAT price, FIAT transaction methods, the premium you prefer to pay above market price, and the % of bond you require.
1. You lock up the bond on the lightning network.
1. You wait for someone to take your order.
1. He locks up his bond.
1. He puts his BTC in escrow*.
1. A chat will pop up, where you can discuss with the seller, how he needs the fiat payment.
1. You pay the FIAT money to the seller with the agreed transaction method.
1. He releases the BTC from escrow to your on-chain or lightning address.

escrow*: During these transactions the sellers have to deposit their BTC into an escrow, that makes sure for the BTC buyer, that the seller has the BTC. The BTC can only be released by the seller, but he can only send it to the buyer, or with a problem resolution, it can be released back to him. This escrow makes sure, that the BTC is available, can be sent to the buyer's address when the buyer sent the equivalent amount of fiat to the seller, and the seller can't behave badly.

# Fees
- Premium: this is not really a fee, but you pay it as an extra over market price
- There is a trade fee, which is 0.025% from total sats amount
- If you use on-chain to get paid, then you will have the following fees as well:
  - Swap fee: 1.02% from total sats amount
    - This is the fee to swap sats from lightning-network to on-chain
  - Mining fee: depends on the `sats/vB` you set (does not depend on total sats amount)

The total sats amount is `FIAT / BTC market price`, because the premium goes to the seller.

# Payment methods
The usual payment methods are bank transfers, gift cards, and even cash is possible, but then you have to meet the seller. As p2p BTC buying is about control and privacy, it is better to try to use more private payment solutions. 

## Privacy
One of the most private payment solutions is cash, but for that, you need to meet in real life. This can be inconvenient. 

The other most private solution would be buying gift cards in a shop with cash also. The disadvantage of this is, that your money is locked in a gift card, and if noone takes it, either it is stucked in the gift card, or you have to use the gift card.

The second most private is buying gift cards online, but in this case, the gift card is already traceable to your account. But still you are not giving your bank account to anyone, and the gift card seller has to be contacted to make the tracing possible. In some cases, your account name will be shared when you redeem some gift cards. But you can setup a new account with a fake name, and then only that will be shared. But when you use your bank card with that account to buy the gift card, then you can also be connected to the account. But still it will require more work for traceability.

The least private solution is using a bank account, because then you have to share your bank details.

## Disposability
The second thing to consider for selecting a payment method is disposability. If you buy BTC regularly with your bank account, and it won't be preferred, then your bank can either deny these transactions, or lock your whole account. This can have bad consequences for you.

So if you prefer to use your bank account, it is advised to use a separate bank account for this, not your main one. In this case, if anything happens, your main account is not effected. You can use an older bank account you don't use, or create a new one with Revolut, Wise, etc. Usually it is advisable to select a new bank account that supports fast wire transfers, because people usually go for those orders.

## Salability
The third and most important thing is, that you need buyers/sellers for your orders. You can select any type of private solution, but if no one is willing to use it, you won't be able to stack your sats.

Depends on the location, but usually bank transfers are the most salable, but the least private. People prefer it, because then they get FIAT directly, that they can spend on anything. Gift cards can only be spent in the shop the card is from. Also cash is less preferred, because can't be done over the internet.

# Frequently Asked Questions
### What prevents the BTC seller from stealing my FIAT?
They have to lock the BTC they sell in escrow before you send your FIAT, and then they can only release it. Or if there is a mutual agreement, they can get it back. Until they don't lock it, the chat won't open up, and you can't send your FIAT.

### What BTC price is used for transactions?
The market price is used, and the premium is added on top of the market price you set. This means, you don't specify a specific market price, but a premium that you are willing to pay over any market price. 

### How to get BTC on-chain instead of on lightning?
When your order is taken, and the seller locked his bond and escrow, you can either give a lightning invoice that the seller will pay, or a BTC address where the on-chain BTC will arrive. In case of on-chain BTC, you can even define the mining fee.

### Why would sellers sell BTC on p2p?
They are incentivized to do so with the premium that buyers are willing to pay for p2p or non-KYC BTC.

### How much time does it take to buy BTC on Robosats?
It depends on your order. If you use commonly used payment method and set a reasonable premium, then it can be really fast. But if either you select a not popular payment solution or too low premium, it can take even a day or more to find someone for your order. 

For the premium, you can check the suggested premium on the chart view.

For the payment methods, you can check the currently available BTC sell orders, because you want a BTC seller to match your buy order.

### Why does it make sense to put out your own order?
Usually BTC sellers are creating orders with higher premium because their goal is to sell their BTC for more profit. Buyers are the opposite of this, and want to get cheaper sats. Due to this, sellers are creating orders with higher than necessary premium, in case someone buys them, but in the mean time orders with meaningful premiums are also getting accepted. So if you don't want to pay too high premium, you most probably have to create your own order.

Robosats Beginners Guide

CodePsychology

tech


![pix](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Google_Pixel_7_Pro_back_%28Hazel%29.svg)

### What is Graphene?  

Graphene is an operating system (OS) based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Graphene improves the security of AOSP code by improving sandboxing and exploit mitigations, while providing  more extensive permission options than stock open source android.  It is probably a good idea to do your homework before switching to Graphene, since there is a lot to learn, and the user experience is not as smooth and intuitive as you would find on a typical android phone. 

For me, the security and privacy was reason enough to switch, but it is also a way to help free me from big tech. 

### Getting Ready

I have been gradually de-googling my life for a few years now, so I was somewhat prepared to switch to graphene. I replaced gmail, google drive, google calendar, and google contacts with protonmail equivalents. I replaced the google search engine with duck duck go, and replaced google chrome with a bunch of different browsers. I have set for myself the ambitous goal of never using the Google Play Store again. This will be difficult, and I may have to abandon this notion. We'll see.

You may not have started the process of weaning yourself off of Google and or Apple. If that's the case, your transition may be harder.

You may also intend to use google apps and use the Google Play Store. Graphene has a sandboxed mirror of the Google Play Store in its app repository. I will explain what this means and the best way to use it later.

### Choosing A Phone

I call this section "Choosing A Phone", but there is really not much choice. You need to get yourself an unlocked Google Pixel. If you're buying a new device, I advise that you buy it directly from Google. I made the mistake of getting an "unlocked" phone from a retailer. What they meant was "carrier unlocked", which means you can choose any wireless service. I struggled for a while with this type phone before realizing my phone was not really unlocked.  The phone needs the ability to have its bootloader unlocked. 
Why does Graphene only support Google Pixel phones? Well, one reason is that the factory phone permits its bootloader to be unlocked. Most other major manufacturers have locked down their devices. Also, the Pixel has hardware-backed keystores, verified boot, attestation, and input-output memory management units (IOMMUs). What this means, in plain english, is that the phone is capable of sandboxing components like the GPU and radios.

### Preparing your Phone

I chose a Pixel 7. Since it's new, I figured that it would get updates for many years. I also like the sturdy build quality.
From here on, you should refer to this excellent [guide]( https://grapheneos.org/install/web), which will help you unlock your bootloader and flash the Graphene OS. Just keep these few points in mind:
- When you follow the directions to enable developer options, be sure to enable usb debugging AND OEM unlocking.
- After struggling for a very long time attempting to unlock my bootloader on both a Ubuntu laptop and a Windows 11 laptop, I easily was able to use the web installer to unlock on a Macbook. I link [here](https://stacker.news/items/194904) to a discussion thread I started on *Stacker News* which documents my struggles and the help I received. @03365d6a53 was particularly generous with his time and suggestions. If using Ubuntu, avoid the Flatpak installs of browsers, because the sandboxing will likely prevent a USB connection. 
Also, if attempting to unlock the bootloader using Ubuntu, you may need to install  `sudo apt install adb` in addition to following the other instructions you find on the page. 
- Overall, I found the Ubuntu installation to be simpler than Windows 11, but many people claim to have had more success using Windows than any linux distro.

Once you have unlocked the bootloader, the rest of the process is a breeze. The windows installer makes it easy. You can also choose the CLI install option. Instructions are available on the page I linked. 

### Graphene OS First Impressions

Coming from a Samsung Galaxy, I immediately noticed the spare, functional look of the home screen. I appreciated the absence of any bloatware. In my case, I do not have wireless service set up yet.  I am still considering my options.  
Since I’m heavily immersed in the ProtonMail ecosystem right now, the first thing I did after creating my pin and setting up wifi was grab the ProtonMail PWA by using the default Vanadium browser. Next, I installed the Fdroid app. From there, I downloaded the Proton VPN.
Next I downloaded the Stacker News PWA, of course. 
Graphene has its own apps. These are the apps in the native repository:

- **Auditor**

	According to its description, the Auditor App “uses hardware-based security features to validate the identity of a device along with authenticity and integrity of the operating system. It will verify that the device is running the stock operating system with the bootloader locked and that no tampering with the operating system has occurred." This can be done because Pixel phones allow this “attestation”, which I talked about earlier.
- **Camera**
	The Graphene Camera App is designed for privacy and security. It is called “Secure Camera” in the Google Play Store. It has security features like a dedicated QR scanning mode without Network and Media/Storage permissions, and the optional stripping of EXIF metadata from photos and videos.
- **PDF Viewer**
	The PDF Viewer allows the viewing of pdfs in a sandbox that requires no permissions. 	
- **Vanadium Browser**
	The Vanadium Browser is basically a stripped down chromium browser with added security enhancements.
- **Mirrored Google Play Services**
	The Google Play Services Mirror App is a sandboxed version of the Play store, which removes permissions. I describe this function in greater detail elsewhere.

I was using Vanadium as my browser, which seemed fine at first.  I quickly realized that I had gotten used to Brave’s natural ad blocking, so I hunted around for a browser alternative. I downloaded Mull from Fdroid. That seemed okay. I intend to try Mullvad VPN with its browser, and see how that goes. I will likely go back to Brave eventually. 

Keep in mind that there is an alternative to Fdroid if you’re looking to download open source apps. It’s called Obtanium, and this [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFz57zNR_M0) explains it.
As for me, I’m going the tedious route of downloading apps directly from github. The first app I added in this way was the Phoenix wallet.

### What About Google Apps?
As I said earlier, I’m going to try to avoid using Google Apps from this point forward. If you decide that you want to continue to use Google Apps, Graphene allows you to do this in a safe, fully sandboxed way.  When android ships in a typical phone, all the Google apps are given special privileged status right from the start.  This allows them to bypass the default android sandbox, which prevents apps from interacting with each other without permission. Google Apps are free to interact and collect data. In essence, they are spy apps. 

Graphene gives Google apps no special privileges. You can use them on Graphene through the mirror, but those apps are sandboxed. 

Graphene also allows the setting up of multiple users on the phone. These users have their own environments, cut off from each other. You could create a profile called something like “Google User” who has normal play store access.  This [video](
https://youtu.be/20C0FD7mGDY) gives you all the information you need. 

### Help From The Stacker News Community

I received a tremendous amount of help on Stacker News when getting started, so I’m just going to include some of the tips and insights and link to the user, in case you want to show your appreciation:
 1.@03365d6a53 provided some great ideas for those not wanting to use the device to make cellular phone calls. I learned from him that if you have airplane mode on, Graphene does not ping your IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) and location to nearby cell towers. He recommends putting an anonymous data sim in a VPN dongle, such as the Mudi GL 750 with Blue Merle software. @final provides a more in depth explanation [here](https://stacker.news/items/198353/r/siggy47) @final is also an expert in this area. You would be well advised to ask them for advice. @final may also be posting a guide soon which will provide much more in depth information than the basic stuff I have included here.
 
2. @03365d6a53 also provided a list of apps that he likes:
- Simplex Chat
- Mullvad VPN
- Amethyst Nostr client (I use this app too, and it’s working great on Graphene)
- K9 Mail
- Element
- Obtanium
- Aurora (I don’t intend to go this route)
- BitWarden
- Organic Maps
- BTC Maps

3. I was not enjoying the stock keyboard, so @final recommended FlorisBoard, which is available on Fdroid. I like it a lot so far, but one suggeston: Turn off the sound. The loud click each time you press a key will drive you and everyone around you crazy.  
4. @039a43f343 recommended this [link](https://gitlab.com/fdroid/wiki/-/wikis/List-of-F-Droid-repositories),  which is a directory of Fdroid repositories.

### Conclusion. 
I am very new to Graphene.  I have a lot to learn. Getting my Pixel set up as a daily driver is going to take some work. Still, I am optimistic. I’m not going to rush it. I am keeping my old Galaxy around too, so my transition will be gradual.
If you decide to make the change, I hope this short guide is useful.



A Basic Guide To Making The Switch To  Graphene OS

siggy47

Submarine swaps are a specific kind of atomic swap that allow moving sats between layers without counterparty risk.

> An atomic swap is a pair of transactions on different systems where one of them cannot happen if the other does not take place as well.

There are two types of swaps:

- Normal swaps, also known as *swap in*, which is the exchange of coins from on-chain to lightning (🔗 -> ⚡️).
- Reverse swaps or *swap out*, which is the exchange of coins from lightning to on-chain (⚡️ -> 🔗).

These operations are typically performed to rebalance channels, move funds to cold storage and to break the link of KYCed sats.

### Swapping in practice

Let's see a simplified example of how this works. 

Alice and Bob would like to perform a submarine swap. Alice will send funds on-chain (swapping in) and Bob will send funds on lightning (swapping out).

They start by exchanging their public keys with each other. Then, Alice builds a contract to lock the funds with a  preimage that she holds and two unlocking conditions:

1. The funds can be redeemed by using Bob's signature and the preimage. 
2. After x blocks, the funds can be redeemed by using Alice's signature.

> A preimage is a 32-byte random secret used to settle lightning payments.

Both parties are able to generate and verify this contract.

Alice now creates the on-chain transaction and broadcasts it to lock the coins with the contract, knowing that she will either receive sats via lightning or, if the trade fails, be able to unlock the coins after x blocks.

After the transaction has confirmed, Alice uses the same preimage to create a Lightning Network invoice and shares it with Bob.

Bob can verify the contract and safely pay the invoice because in order for Alice to claim the payment, she has to publicize the preimage, effectively giving Bob the possibility to unlock the on-chain funds from the contract by using the preimage and his signature.

> It's important that Bob redeems the funds before the contract allows Alice to redeem the on-chain funds.

Once Alice claims the lightning payment and shares the preimage, Bob takes out the funds from the contract and the trade is complete, none of them had to trust the other at any point in time.

### Services comparison

Now, if we want to do this ourselves, there are many services that let you perform this trade with them. Below is a list of the most popular ones and the fees they charge. 

> Miner/routing fees are not included.

| Name | 🔗 -> ⚡️ | ⚡️ -> 🔗 | Open source | Tor support |
| ------- | ---------- | ----------- | ---------- | ------------- |
| [Blink](https://blink.sv/) | 0.3 | 0.7 | [🗸](https://github.com/GaloyMoney/galoy-mobile) | ☓ |
| [Boltz](https://boltz.exchange) | 0.2 | 0.4 | [🗸](https://github.com/BoltzExchange) | [🗸](http://boltzzzbnus4m7mta3cxmflnps4fp7dueu2tgurstbvrbt6xswzcocyd.onion/) |
| [Breeze](https://breez.technology) | 0.75 (2,000 sats min fee) | 0.5 | [🗸](https://github.com/breez) | 🗸 |
| [coinos](https://coinos.io/) | 0.1 | 0.1 | [🗸](https://github.com/coinos) | [🗸](http://vm7h454g5hiy2nt3u5o7evtz3vigtypo2mkyausakvdkbmd7wpyhx5qd.onion/) |
| [Deezy](https://deezy.io) | - | 0.15 | [🗸](https://github.com/dannydeezy/deezy-auto-swap) | ☓ |
| [Diamond hands](https://swap.diamondhands.technology) | -0.15 | 0.2 | [🗸](https://github.com/diamondhands-dev) | ☓ |
| [Electrum](https://electrum.org) | ☓ | 0.5 | [🗸](https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum) | 🗸 |
| [FixedFloat](https://fixedfloat.com/) | 0.5/1 | 0.5/1 | ☓ | ☓ |
| [HodlHodl](https://hodlhodl.com) (trade) | 0.3 + premium | 0.3 + premium | [🗸](https://gitlab.com/hodlhodl-public) | ☓ |
| Loop | Variable (0.1 to 1) | Variable (0.1 to 1) | [🗸](https://github.com/lightninglabs/loop) | 🗸 |
| [Muun](https://muun.com) | Variable | 0.25 | [🗸](https://github.com/muun) | ☓ |
| [myloopoutbot](https://t.me/myloopoutbot) | - | 0.125 | ☓ | 🗸 (telegram over tor) |
| [Phoenix](https://phoenix.acinq.co) | 1 (3,000 sats min fee) | 0 | [🗸](https://github.com/ACINQ/phoenix) | 🗸 |
| [Robosats](https://unsafe.robosats.com/) (trade) | 0.025/0.175 + premium | 0.025/0.175 + premium | [🗸](https://github.com/Reckless-Satoshi/robosats) | [🗸](http://robosats6tkf3eva7x2voqso3a5wcorsnw34jveyxfqi2fu7oyheasid.onion/) |
| [Robosats](https://unsafe.robosats.com/) (swap) | - | Variable (from 1 to 10) | [🗸](https://github.com/Reckless-Satoshi/robosats) | [🗸](http://robosats6tkf3eva7x2voqso3a5wcorsnw34jveyxfqi2fu7oyheasid.onion/) |
| [WoS](https://www.walletofsatoshi.com/) | 0.5 | 0.5 + 26,000 sats | ☓ | ☓ |
| [ZigZag](https://zigzag.io) | - | 3 | [🗸](https://github.com/bitlum) | ☓ |

### Important notes

- In **Robosats**, the order maker pays a fee of 0.025% and the taker 0.175%. The built-in swap fee can be checked at the coordinator summary. The flow of the trade is not exactly as explained above, but similar in practice.
- Opening channels in **Phoenix** is expensive (1% fee) so I would suggest that you set up a big enough one and delay the rebalancing as much as possible. Also, don't forget to disable on-the-fly channel creation since it may open unnecessary channels and charge you 1% for each one opened when the sender can't find a route or he uses MPP.
- **Loop** requires to run both a Bitcoin and a Lightning node. The Loop client is open source but the server you do the swap with is proprietary, you have to perform it with Lightning Labs, which charges a fee for it. This fee depends on current on-chain fees and it's represented in satoshis, meaning that the higher the amount you swap, the lower percentage you will pay.

	There's also a prepayment of 30,000 sats that you have to do before starting the loop out, it's counted towards your swap but will be forfeited if you do not send the rest of the funds. It prevents denial of service attacks and covers the cost of failed swaps. Learn more [here](https://blog.lightning.engineering/technical/posts/2019/04/15/loop-out-in-depth.html).
- Funds sent to a **Muun** wallet are forced to be routed through a [node](https://amboss.space/node/038f8f113c580048d847d6949371726653e02b928196bad310e3eda39ff61723f6) with a 2500ppm (0.25%) fee. This attack is called [fee siphoning](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/pqjcvo/stealing_sats_from_the_lightning_network/?rdt=36872).

	On the other hand, swapping in is the equivalent of doing two on-chain transactions, since when you deposit funds they are not really in the Lightning Network, you have to send the funds out of the Muun wallet to complete the swap. So in this case the fee is for the miners, and will depend on the network congestion and the amount that you send (higher amount, lower % fee).
- **Deezy** requires an access token to swap, must be requested through email or telegram. Swapping in is supported in the [API documentation](https://docs.deezy.io/#tag/Swap-(BTC-to-LN)) but it's not an option in the UI (only buying channels). The swap out fee can be checked [here](https://api.deezy.io/v1/swap/info), no information on how to check the swap in fee.
- **Electrum** and **Breeze** swaps are powered by Boltz. However, they charge 0.1% more than Boltz itself.
- **Diamond hands** is a Boltz's fork.
- **Blink** is the new name of the **Bitcoin Beach Wallet**. The first swap out costs 2,000 sats, the rest 0.7%.

### Which one is the best?

The answer will depend on your use case and preferences. But in my case, after having tried most of the services, I would lean towards private, non-custodial, fully open-source and inexpensive ones like: 

- **Robosats** (trade): cheapest way of swapping if the premium is chosen wisely. I have seen orders with premiums above 0.5% (benefiting the maker) which make absolutely no sense and are a waste of their time. A better number would be near 0, allowing both parties to benefit from the trade. 

    Probably in the range of -0.08 to 0 for *swap out* orders (remember, the on-chain fee is paid by the counterparty) and -0.05 to 0.05 for *swap in* orders.
- **Loop**: swap monitoring, miner and routing fees adjustments. Really affordable when swapping large amounts.
- **Boltz**: good reputation, beginner-friendly and simplest solution. Doesn't support Taproot.

There are also other worth mentioning options that do not offer as much privacy as the ones mentioned above, but that are still pretty good:

- **coinos**: one of the lowest fees, Tor support and extremely simple to create a new account. Custodial, but if you are using it just to swap it doesn't really matter.
- **Phoenix**: inital setup is expensive but then you enjoy swap outs without fees (apart from miner ones). A really convenient alternative if you are looking to be swapping out multiple times and for an extended period of time.

If you are swapping non-KYC sats, these two are fair pick. However, please take into account that using wallets lowers your privacy and is not recommended for breaking the link of KYCed sats.

This is because all your transactions are performed under the same identity, they store the xpub and all your movements in their databases. Even if the provider doesn't know who is the account owner, it has got information about where the funds came from and where they were sent. 

> With **coinos**, you could evade this by creating a new account for every swap.

Submarine Swaps Guide

aftermath

My lightning network channel to Kraken is starting to gain traction, and I'm starting to see the rewards for my efforts. With each transaction, I'm earning Satoshis in fees, slowly but surely. I'm excited to see what the future holds for this channel, and I'm hopeful that I can continue to increase my earnings over time. As more people use my channel to send payments to Kraken, I'm sure the fees I earn will continue to grow. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of my hard work, and I'm sure I'll be able to reap the rewards of my lightning network channel in the near future.

After more than one year my lightning network efforts are paying off

ViennaCalling


RoboSats has made the **swap** trades more visible. From now on you can easily convert LN-BTC to BTC and vice versa. And this is how it works:

##### Offers → I want to swap.

![Swap](https://nostr.build/i/nostr.build_dd3ae775ff5489d8ee4ceacd7ebe15b2c18a4cdd19ec07d0ef25f12ee354aa67.png)

**SWAP IN** means
* You send On-chain BTC
* You receive Lightning BTC

**SWAP OUT** means
* You send Lightning BTC
* You receive On-chain BTC

In the settings you can specify whether you would like to start with swaps or with fiat trades.

##### Fees
In general, RoboSats swap transaction costs are lower (~0.1%, mining fee included) than on e.g. https://boltz.exchange (~0.4% + mining fee).

*Let's swaaaaaap.*