How atomic multipath can de-risk large bitcoin payments

Software engineer Tobi Ojuolape has published a method to make very large payments using Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. He recommends upgrading Lightning nodes to support atomic multipath payments (AMP).

This new specification will split a large payment, routing the entire amount through multiple channels. However, the transaction will remain atomic, in other words “indivisible and irreducible.”

An atomic transaction is all-or-nothing, guaranteeing that either all money settles, or nothing settles. Atomicity prevents the sender from losing any part of their bitcoin if a particular route fails.

Ojuolape’s AMP proposal is unexpected because The Lightning Network primarily handles small payments. Historically, research on large Lightning payments has been neglected.

A brief introduction to Bitcoin’s Lightning Network

Lightning is the most popular scaling layer for Bitcoin. Scaling layers use the base blockchain (layer 1), but also contain additional functionality. Collectively, scaling layers are known as “Layer 2s”.

• Lightning requires opening and funding a payment channel on the blockchain that can then manage off-chain transactions.
• Lightning nodes connect to each other, forming a mesh network with varying amounts of liquidity between all participants.
• Coins are routed over the network and each node charges a very small fee to route payments.
• The end result is a cheaper, faster routing of bitcoin payments.
• Trade-offs include security and decentralization, as Lightning transactions are not guaranteed by Bitcoin’s blockchain until users exit the network and settle on-chain.

Atomicity: How to securely send large payments via Lightning

Again, most Bitcoiners may view a technology to send a large payment via Lightning as counterintuitive. Why, they would ask, would anyone bother using Lightning when a Layer 1 Bitcoin transaction would accomplish the same thing?

However, the vision for Lightning is to expand Bitcoin as a financial system for the entire world’s population. Because lightning routing fees are so much cheaper than Bitcoin’s base layer, the network can meet daily needs for any amount of money, no matter how small or large.

From nearly $0 as recently as 2019, Lightning now has over 17,000 nodes, 79,000 payment channels and $150 million in capacity.

If this growth trend continues, Lightning will need a secure solution to route large payments. Hence Ojuolape’s AMP proposal.

Read more: Bitcoin Core developer proposes new type of pruned node

Bitcoin atomic multipath payments (AMP)

LND v0.13.0-beta has introduced support for Atomic Multipath Payments. LND is one of the three most popular implementations of Lightning along with Éclair and Core Lightning. Developers have previously proposed and developed other protocols for multiway payments, but AMP is the first to include atomicity.

AMPs add a new feature that requires atomicity. In other words, either all or zero payments must be transferred; no partial execution of the transaction is allowed. If a payment as specified by the AMP sender is not settled, nothing is settled.

Atomity avoids the risk of partial payments. While not a big deal when you’re paying for a cup of coffee and losing a few cents, atomicity is critical when you’re sending millions of dollars when that change can be worth many thousands of dollars.

Multipath payments eliminating the need to find a single channel with large enough capacity to route the entire transaction. On an atomic basis, AMPs will raise the maximum size of a Lightning transaction from 14 bitcoin today to thousands.

Read more: Bitcoin developer has solution to Lightning’s existential problem – offline payments

Atomic multipath ensures that the entire payment gets through

Without multipath payments, sending bitcoin over the Lightning Network requires finding a single channel with sufficient capacity to route the entire payment if the sender does not want to rely on multiple node operators.

Adds atomicity to multi-way payments increases the security of this transaction by guaranteeing that the entire transaction goes welleverything at once.

Like all Lightning transactions, nodes that support AMP will determine the best route for each data packet, ensuring that the entire amount reached its intended destination. This feature reduces the risk of network congestion. Through AMP, senders can feel more confident about sending large payments without relying on too many node operators.

Tobi Ojuolape has described AMP as a method to make large Lightning Network payments without having to find a single channel with sufficient capacity. Unlike other methods of multipath payments, atomic multipath payments ensure that the entire payment goes through without the risk of lost change or partial payment.

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