BOLT 12: The Future of Lightning Network Payments
Source: bolt12
BOLT 12 is a proposed upgrade to the Lightning Network, promising to revolutionize how users handle Bitcoin transactions. It introduces reusable payment requests, increased receiver privacy, and enhanced censorship resistance. Here’s a closer look at what BOLT 12 can offer.
Reusable Payment Requests
BOLT 12 allows for reusable payment requests, eliminating the need for creating new QR codes for each transaction. This is particularly beneficial for scenarios like tipping, where users can simply scan a static QR code to make payments. For instance, musicians can place a QR code on their tip jar and receive Bitcoin tips effortlessly after gigs.
Receiver Privacy
One of BOLT 12’s significant advantages is its ability to enhance receiver privacy through route blinding. This feature ensures that payments are discreet and secure, protecting the anonymity of users, such as developers who contribute to open-source projects and prefer to keep their identities compartmentalized.
Social Integration
BOLT 12 facilitates social integration by allowing content creators to accept payments directly. By publishing a payment code on social media profiles, creators can receive payments without relying on intermediaries. This self-custodial method is particularly appealing for those who want to maintain control over their funds.
Auto-withdrawals
BOLT 12 supports auto-withdrawals, enabling users to set up automatic deposits into self-custodial wallets. This feature is ideal for individuals who prefer to keep their Bitcoin off exchanges, ensuring greater control and security over their assets.
Censorship Resistance
In environments where censorship is a concern, BOLT 12 provides a robust solution. Using onion messaging, it hides users' IP addresses, allowing activists and other at-risk groups to receive donations securely without fear of being blocked by payment services.
Integration and Usage
Developers can integrate BOLT 12 using various tools and nodes:
LND: Although LND does not yet support BOLT 12, it can be experimented with alongside LNDK.
Core Lightning: Enable experimental features with
--enable-experimental-featuresor--enable-experimental-offers.Eclair: Use the
payofferRPC command or the Tip Jar plugin to generate offers.Lightning Dev Kit (LDK): Offers methods to create and pay offers, detailed in their blog posts.
BOLT 12 in Action
Ocean Mining: Miners can submit BOLT 12 offers to receive payouts over Lightning, improving transparency and efficiency in payment processing.
Zeus Wallet: Integrates with Twelve Cash, allowing Core Lightning users to create BOLT 12 offers and use @twelve.cash usernames.
Human Readable Address: This BIP enables Bitcoin payment info in DNS records, simplifying payments with user-friendly addresses.
Twelve Cash: Implements Human Readable Payments BIP, offering an API and web interface for creating and validating usernames.
Clams Remote: A tool for managing Core Lightning nodes, supporting the creation and payment of BOLT 12 offers.
ROYGBIV: A Core Lightning plugin that splits payments into multiple receipts automatically upon receiving a BOLT 12 offer.
Ride the Lightning (RTL): A UI for lightning node management that allows the creation of BOLT 12 offers.
Get Involved
To help make BOLT 12 the new standard for Bitcoin payments, developers and users can get involved through platforms like Discord and GitHub.
Links for Involvement and Tools:
