2023-10-22 14:04:50
One of the most dynamically developing sectors in the Bitcoin world is the second-layer Lightning Network solution. We have been able to announce quite a few new developments and expansions in relation to it recently. Its goal is to improve the scalability and efficiency of Bitcoin transactions by enabling off-chain transactions. Through this, users can open channels, perform transactions outside the main chain, and then settle the final result on the Bitcoin blockchain. Challenges await both the Lightning and Bitcoin networks Recently, unexpected news came when one of the security experts and developers, Antoine Riard, announced that he would no longer work on the development of Lightning. His reason is also unexpected, he claims that he is doing this because of security issues and fundamental challenges. According to posts on the Linux Foundation mailing list and on Github, a new type of substitution loop attack might put the Lightning network in a dangerous situation. This type of attack can attack payment channels open on Lightning. Specifically, it exploits the differences between individuals’ mempools to steal capital from one channel participant. Let’s add that, according to what I read on Github, this requires a particularly experienced person with quite a lot of capital. In addition, the vulnerability has been known since 2022, and since then quite a lot of security improvements have been made to Lightning, which reduce the chance of such an attack. And what is most important, such an attack has never happened live and might only happen between the participants of a channel. In any case, Antoine Riard is very concerned regarding the possibilities, despite the fact that he also acknowledges the existence of some level of security protections. According to Riard, the only solution is to make some changes to the underlying Bitcoin network. And as we know, this requires the support of the entire community in addition to transparency. In any case, the developer will not leave the network, he will continue to work on the Bitcoin network, which also faces serious challenges.
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