Bitcoin Wallet Electrum Now Supports Lightning, Watchtowers and Submarine Swaps

One of the crucial common Bitcoin wallets, Electrum, now helps Lightning Community funds.

The newest swathe of main adjustments was launched in version 4.0, certainly one of its greatest upgrades because the Bitcoin pockets launched in 2011. (Observe: For the reason that 4.Zero launch, some bug fixes have been added.) Lightning funds are seen as the way forward for Bitcoin as a result of they’re cheaper and would enable many extra customers to make bitcoin cryptocurrency transactions directly. 

This makes Electrum the oldest pockets to have adopted Lightning funds to date.

Lightning assist in Electrum is a very long time coming. Electrum founder Thomas Voegtlin first instructed CoinDesk final summer time that Lightning would make it into the subsequent launch.

“[We] determined to undertake Lightning as a result of we see it as the best way ahead for Bitcoin. Lightning is kind of difficult and never with out its points however finally it’s the most promising at present recognized means of scaling Bitcoin. It additionally permits quick, low-cost and extra personal funds,” pseudonymous Electrum developer SomberNight instructed CoinDesk in an e mail.

Learn extra: What’s Bitcoin’s Lightning Community?

With a view to assist Lightning transactions, the builders truly wrote a completely new implementation of the Lightning protocol “from scratch,” SomberNight stated, as a substitute of utilizing a well-liked implementation, corresponding to Lightning Labs’ LND or Blockstream’s c-lightning. That’s one cause the discharge took so lengthy.

Along with assist for Lightning funds, Electrum 4.0.2 now helps quite a few different improvements with this new launch that might make utilizing Lightning safer and fewer bumpy for customers.

For one, Electrum has carried out its personal Lightning watchtower, an vital element of the Lightning Community, which scans the Bitcoin blockchain as a way to detect and forestall fraud.

Learn extra: Bitcoin Lightning Fraud? Laolu Is Constructing a ‘Watchtower’ to Combat It

Although there are a number of watchtower implementations on the market now, they nonetheless aren’t generally used but throughout the Lightning Community, regardless of being an vital piece. On this means, Electrum’s watchtower assist is a step towards a greater Lightning Community. 

Then, there are “submarine swaps.” Accepting funds remains to be a tough a part of the Lightning Community as a result of customers want what’s known as “incoming capability” to obtain funds, which suggests funds should be positioned in a sure a part of an individual’s Lightning “channel,” which is form of like an account . 

The irony is customers “won’t be able to obtain funds till they spend some cash,” as SomberNight put it.

“To unravel this, we carried out ‘submarine swaps,’ that are atomic exchanges of on-chain and Lightning bitcoins,” SomberNight instructed CoinDesk. In different phrases, submarine swaps makes it attainable to ship regular bitcoin to a Lightning channel, providing a technique for customers to refill their incoming capability.

“Electrum Applied sciences runs a central server that facilitates these swaps, for a charge. This permits customers to purchase incoming capability to have the ability to obtain Lightning funds,” the developer added.

Electrum additionally built-in Lightning with {hardware} assist. As a result of {hardware} wallets retailer bitcoin offline past the attain of hackers they’re thought-about top-of-the-line methods of securing bitcoin.

“You may [now] use Lightning straight along with your {hardware} pockets: Channel-opens and channel-closes can straight pay from and to addresses backed by a {hardware} gadget. Your Lightning steadiness, whereas in channels, is not going to be secured by the {hardware} however all of your on-chain steadiness will probably be, and it’s very handy to have a shared single pockets that you should use to pay each on-chain and Lightning,” SomberNight instructed CoinDesk.

The Electrum staff has been engaged on different options too. Electrum pockets customers can view the complete launch notes right here.