Create inbound liquidity
To create inbound liquidity on an existing channel (to be able to receive payments) can simply pay a merchant accepting Lightning and receive the product or receive the sats back on-chain.
To pay for various gift cards with lightning check out Bitrefill (referral link).
- Dual funded channels
- Core Lightning dual funded channels on the protocol level
- Manual coordination on LND with Balance of Satoshis
- Buy inbound channels
- Comparison table of lightning channel markets
- Amboss Magma
- Blocktank from Synonym
- Voltage Flow
- Lightning Pool
- Microlancer.io
- Sats4Likes
- Thor: Lightning Channel-Opening Service by Bitrefill.com
- LNBIG.com
- Coincept.com
- Yalls.org
- lnd-routing
- Ask for incoming channels
- lightningnetwork.plus
- LightningTo.me
- Join a community
- Swap out - trustless
- Lightning Loop
- Boltz.exchange
- Swap out - trusted
- deezy.io
- Bitfinex
- FixedFloat
- ZigZag.io
- No longer available ChainMarket
- Send to a mobile wallet
- Self-custodial wallets
- Custodial wallets
- More links
Dual funded channels¶
Core Lightning dual funded channels on the protocol level¶
Manual coordination on LND with Balance of Satoshis¶
- github.com/alexbosworth/balanceofsatoshis
- [Guide needed]
Buy inbound channels¶
Comparison table of lightning channel markets¶
Amboss Magma¶
- lightning liquidity marketplace
Blocktank from Synonym¶
https://x.com/Synonym_to/status/1747615808010752199 can also works through Bitfinex, video here
Voltage Flow¶
- Buy a sidecar channel through Voltage Flow from Lightning Pool
- blog.voltage.cloud/introducing-flow/
Lightning Pool¶
- Buy incoming channels on a permissionless marketplace: https://pool.lightning.engineering/
- Usage notes: pool.md
Microlancer.io¶
- Pay for incoming channels.
Sats4Likes¶
- Post an advert and pay satoshis for incoming channels.
Thor: Lightning Channel-Opening Service by Bitrefill.com¶
- Pay with Lightning for an inbound channel of up to 16 000 000 satoshis.
LNBIG.com¶
- Buy incoming channels from https://twitter.com/lnbig_com
Coincept.com¶
Yalls.org¶
lnd-routing¶
Ask for incoming channels¶
lightningnetwork.plus¶
- Claim your node on LN+ and join a channel swap for free
LightningTo.me¶
- Opens a channel for free funded with 2 000 000 satoshis. Need to have 10 channels open already to use this service.
Add their node as a peer if connecting from behind Tor:
$ lncli connect 03bb88ccc444534da7b5b64b4f7b15e1eccb18e102db0e400d4b9cfe93763aa26d@138.68.14.104:9735
Join a community¶
Swap out - trustless¶
Pay with Lightning and receive onchain.
Lightning Loop¶
Lightning Loop is a non-custodial service offered by Lightning Labs to bridge on-chain and off-chain Bitcoin using submarine swaps.
In the current iteration of the Loop software, two swap types are supported:
- Loop Out: off-chain to on-chain. The Loop client sends funds paid on Lightning to a Bitcoin address.
- Loop In: on-chain to off-chain. The Loop client sends funds paid on-chain to a Lightning channel.
- Max swap amount: 4 200 000 sats
- Example usage for lowest cost (leads to longer confirmation time (estimation for 25 blocks) and higher failure rate (max routing fee 500 sats) - adjust the numbers accordingly):
loop out --conf_target 25 --max_swap_routing_fee 500 4200000 [optional external address]
loop out [command options] amt [addr]
# --channel value the 8-byte compact channel ID of the channel to loop out (default: 0)
# --addr value the optional address that the looped out funds should be sent to, if let blank the funds will go to lnd's wallet
# --amt value the amount in satoshis to loop out (default: 0)
# --conf_target value the number of blocks from the swap initiation height that the on-chain HTLC should be swept within (default: 6)
# --max_swap_routing_fee value the max off-chain swap routing fee in satoshis, if let blank a default max fee will be used (default: 0)
# --fast Indicate you want to swap immediately, paying potentially a higher fee. If not set the swap server might choose to wait up to 30 minutes before publishing the swap HTLC on-chain, to save on chain fees. Not setting this flag might result in a lower swap fee.
https://lightning.engineering/loopapi
Boltz.exchange¶
Fee: 0.5% both ways
Swap out - trusted¶
deezy.io¶
Swap instantly to get inbound liquidity.
-
Get the terms for testnet:
-
Pay the returned invoice to make a testnet swap:
Bitfinex¶
A non-KYC (if not used for fiat) exchange supporting Lightning deposits (free) and withdrawals (100 sats). Withdrawal onchain costs a fixed 40000 sats. Find it's nodes at https://ln.bitfinex.com/
FixedFloat¶
Lightning cryptocurrency exchange Fee: 0.5 - 1% both ways
ZigZag.io¶
An exchange that accepts Lightning payments. Max 4M sats Commission ~ 2%
No longer available ChainMarket¶
A Lightning to onchain swap market with batched transactions. Fee: 0.5%
Send to a mobile wallet¶
Most can send to an onchain address afterwards for a fee (swap out).
Self-custodial wallets¶
Run a separate LN node on your phone or desktop where you can move some funds, so remote balance/ inbound liquidity is created
A mobile wallet which creates a 1 million sats incoming channel automatically, so funds can be moved over in minutes after setting up.
Sending the funds out to a bitcoin address on-chain costs 0.5% with Boltz
Easy to use mobile wallet from Acinq.
A non-custodial open-source Lightning Wallet for Android and iOS with a focus on usability and user experience.
The Open Bitcoin Wallet (OBW) is an Android Bitcoin and Lightning wallet, a fork of Simple Bitcoin Wallet focused on providing a pleasant and simple experience with advanced features.
An easy-to-use cross platform ochain wallet capable of swapping in an out to lightning.
Custodial wallets¶
Pay yourself via LN and benefit from the inbound liquidity created.
The drawback is that you don't control the keys of your custodial wallet.
Examples: * Blink * Wallet of Satoshi * Alby
More links¶
- github.com/bitcoin-software/ln-liquidity
List of exchange services to make coin swaps LN <-> onchain & more - https://cointastical.medium.com/exchanges-with-support-for-bitcoin-lightning-network-payments-739829bcb7bc
Exchanges with support for bitcoin Lightning network ⚡ payments