The Lightning Network FAQ

[Timelord2067]

I would appreciate some help.

I have a Zap wallet which has been inactive for quite a while ^{(and yes, it has synced thanks for asking)}.  Previously, I had shifted all funds with the exception of four channels - two of which came back to life, so I was able to close them and remove the funds.  The last two channels ironically, were the first two channels I tried to close.  One each connecting to BC.GAME and node204.fra.mempool.space

My connections are two these two nodes:

https://1ml.com/node/02c197ffa4c2aa4105dd4c4b7279ba1b9061b22910ebbfa759b0001bed9ee48a16
https://1ml.com/node/02b6b1640fe029e304c216951af9fbefdb23b0bdc9baaf327540d31b6107841fdf (but they aren't shown on 1ML)

In the past, I have messaged BC.GAME (before the recent dramas unfolded), but received no reply.  Is mempool.space having issues?

I've been looking at Zeus android wallet and have made channels with the exception of a mempool.space channel which, although it connected successfully, has remained offline since. An investigation on 1ml.com shows that mempool.space has a multitude of nodes most with just one connection each, so I'm guessing it's not just my connection that they are having issues with.

On the Zap wallet - when I click "force channel close" I am given the option of slow, medium or fast closure, however after that, nothing happens - even when the Tx fee has been 1vB and I select the "fastest" i.e. most expensive TX fee I've watched blocks come and go all the while the TX fee is 1 sat vB, yet nothings happens.  If I then shut Zap down and restart it, the "shut down in progress" message vanishes and I am back to having two offline channels that I can't close.

How I can force the channels to close when the in app feature doesn't appear to work?

[Cricktor]

~~~

A cooperative channel closure doesn't take long, especially when your channel partner node is online and thus can respond to the channel close quickly. So, after a few on-chain confirmations of the channel balance finalizing transaction, it's finished.

A force-close is different, as far as I remember (never had to do a force-close myself) from learning about LN, the defaults are that force-closure settling can take up to two weeks. There are reasons why this should take longer time than a cooperative closure.

Imagine your channel partner is unintentionally offline. Your force-close settles the final channel balance proportions based on your nodes last view of the channel balance. This is hopefully the same as the view of the channel balance of your partner node otherwise you risk a penalty strike and loose all balance should you try to play foul.

There's an intentional delay so that offline node partners have a chance to come back online and verify that your channel-closure balance is fair and the correct state of the channel balance distribution between the channel partners.


Why ZAP seems to "forget" the force-close is beyond me. I have no experience with ZAP wallet so far.

[Timelord2o67]

Why ZAP seems to "forget" the force-close is beyond me. I have no experience with ZAP wallet so far.

I can't recall ever having the Zap wallet open for that long, but I'll give it a go.

So far, the Zeus app seems to be doing what I want it to do. (Even if it seems there's a lot of inactive nodes out there).

Will update as I hear anything.