Bitcoin Forum

If I decided to be using lightning network channel, after I have gotten my appropriate wallet for it. How will I now connect my wallet or will the wallet automatically connected main blockchain?

Secondly must recipient also be on lightning network channel before the transaction can take place.?

Every Lightning-compatible wallet has its own Bitcoin wallet. You have to fund it before opening any channels. When you open a channel, some of your coins will be moved to a multi-signature address controlled by you and your channel partner. This involves a Bitcoin transaction.


If the other person has a Lightning node/wallet then you should be able to send a payment, but:

1) if you have a channel with that person then the transaction will be instantaneous and free of charge,
2) if you have a channel with some other person then the transaction will be routed through other nodes, as long as there is a path between you and the payee. You will very likely pay a fee, which is negligible for low-value transactions.

In both cases, the payment might failed due to lack of liquidity; it's a more complex topic. Let me know if you are keeping up so far.

If the other person does not have any Lightning channels, you can do a submarine swap (https://wiki.ion.radar.tech/tech/research/submarine-swap). There are third-party services that will accept your Lightning transaction and send an on-chain transaction to the provided address.

So you haven't decided yet?
If so, you can try it without spending anything using a testnet wallet which you can fund through testnet faucets.
There's a tutorial in Beginners and Help board about setting up an LN Channel in testnet: [Tutorial] How to create Lightning Network Channel (Testnet BTC) (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5212243.0)
In that tutorial, the site where you'll purchase some "virtual coffee" is connected to Lightning network (Bitcoin testnet).
There's also a link below that post to a beginners' guide to Lightning Network which is worth the read if you really want to try LN.

The recipient's invoice looks entirely different than a Bitcoin address/invoice.

It would also be great if you can reply (unlike in your other topics where you just left some questions) with your experience after testing LN yourself  ;)

You can not if I am not wrong.

Because Lightning Network is a second layer solution so it does not connect directly to the layer 1, Bitcoin network.

What you do on Lightning Network is by Lightning Network channels.

LightNing Network Summary (https://lightning.network/lightning-network-summary.pdf)

LightNing Network Wiki (https://lightningwiki.net/index.php/Main_Page)

Correct me if I am wrong. Thank you.

You are connected to the blockchain in terms of creating a channel opening (and closing) transaction that are broadcasted and saved on the blockchain.
It's also required to monitor the mempool for cheating attempts, therefore running a Bitcoin Core node on the same machine is usually required.