Strike Integrates Support for BOLT 12 Offers
Strike, a prominent Bitcoin payments platform, has announced its support for BOLT 12 Offers, marking a significant step forward for Bitcoin privacy and user-friendly transactions. BOLT 12 is a cutting-edge protocol on the Bitcoin Lightning Network designed to improve the way users send and receive payments with enhanced privacy and flexibility. In a blog post, Tom Kirkpatrick from Strike outlined the company’s integration of this new feature and what it means for the future of Bitcoin payments.
A Promising Start with BOLT 12
Kirkpatrick emphasized that while the current integration is still basic, it sets the foundation for more advanced features in the future. The company’s goal is to streamline the way Bitcoin is sent using the Lightning Network, which allows faster and cheaper transactions by sending Bitcoin over a network of payment channels. The addition of BOLT 12 Offers enhances this by enabling users to send payments in a more private and versatile manner.
"Whilst we have successfully achieved our goal of enabling BOLT 12 payments from Strike, our initial integration only supports a basic Offer payment flow. However, it paves the way for exciting and more advanced BOLT 12 features over time," wrote Kirkpatrick. He further explained that the integration is fully open source, inviting developers to build on this groundwork and contribute to the continued evolution of the BOLT 12 experience.
How Strike’s Integration Works
The BOLT 12 protocol introduces a unique method of sending payments via "Offers" — reusable payment requests that don't require the user to expose sensitive information. Here’s how Strike implements this technology using Lightning Network Daemon (LND), Lightning Development Kit (LDK), and LNDK to enable payments:
Payment Request: A Strike user scans a BOLT 12 Offer QR code or enters a human-readable DNS address, initiating the payment.
Offer Parsing: LDK is used to parse the Offer and extract the necessary payment details.
Onion Message Construction: LNDK leverages LDK libraries and LND’s gRPC APIs to create onion messages, which securely wrap the invoice request.
Relaying the Onion: LND relays the onion message through various nodes on the Lightning Network until it reaches the specified destination node, where the payment request is revealed.
Blinded Path: The destination node sends back an invoice via a blinded path, ensuring privacy for both the sender and receiver.
Sending the Payment: LNDK initiates the payment process through LND’s APIs.
This integration improves privacy and usability by concealing transaction paths and keeping the details of payments secure while still maintaining the efficiency and low costs of the Lightning Network.
The Future of BOLT 12
Strike's support for BOLT 12 signals a broader movement within the Bitcoin ecosystem toward more sophisticated privacy features and seamless payment experiences. As Kirkpatrick noted, “We’re excited to see the continued evolution of BOLT 12 as more services and node operators upgrade over the coming months and years.”
The introduction of this feature will likely encourage other services to adopt BOLT 12, driving further innovation within the Lightning Network. While Strike's current support is limited to basic functionality, the potential for future developments is promising.
Strike invites users to test this feature by donating to the Human Rights Foundation’s BOLT 12 Offer via their BOLT 12 Lightning address: bolt12@hrf.org. This demonstrates the real-world application of the protocol and encourages more widespread use.
