Maypoles: Lightning Striking Twice

Clara Shikhelman

Paper 2023/1964

Maypoles: Lightning Striking Twice

Clara Shikhelman

Abstract

The Lightning Network (LN) is a second layer solution built on top of Bitcoin, aimed to solve Bitcoin's long transaction waiting times and high transaction fees. Empirical and theoretical studies show that the LN is tending towards the hub and spoke network topology. In this topology most of the nodes, the spokes, open a single channel to one of the few well-connected nodes, the hubs. This topology is known to be prone to failures, attacks, and privacy issues. In this work we introduce the Maypoles protocol in which most nodes open two channels instead of one. We show that this protocol benefits the network significantly by enhancing its stability, privacy, and resilience to attacks. We also examine the economic incentives of nodes to take part in Maypoles.

Metadata

Available format(s): PDF
Category: Applications
Publication info: Preprint.
Keywords: Bitcoin Lightning Network Topology Payment Channel Network
Contact author(s): clara shikhelman @ gmail com
History: 2023-12-31: approved; 2023-12-27: received; See all versions
Short URL: https://ia.cr/2023/1964
License: CC BY

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2023/1964,
      author = {Clara Shikhelman},
      title = {Maypoles: Lightning Striking Twice},
      howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2023/1964},
      year = {2023},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/1964}
}