LNGate

Kurt, Ahmet; Mercan, Suat; Shlomovits, Omer; Erdin, Enes; Akkaya, Kemal

doi:10.1145/3448300.3467833

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 16 publications

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“…For instance, Tang et al [30] used noise addition to increase privacy, albeit at efficiency's expense. Integrating blockchain and LN technology with the Internet of Things (IoT) for instant payment applications is another research focus [31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. Furthermore, a solution based on a game-theoretic model to analyze griefing attacks in Hash Time-Locked Contracts (HTLCs) called HTLC-GPZ was presnted to provides improved protection against such attacks [38].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Invitation Model Protocol (IMP) for the Bitcoin Asymmetric Lightning Network

Abdullah

Mutawa

2023

Symmetry

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The Lightning Network (LN), a second-layer protocol built atop Bitcoin, promises swift, low-cost transactions, thereby addressing blockchain scalability and enhancing user privacy. As the global financial technology landscape evolves, the LN’s importance in the future of fintech and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) becomes increasingly pivotal. The anticipated rise of blockchain-based payments and smart contracts in businesses demands a more agile and secure payment system. However, the LN’s early stage raises valid concerns about security and reliability, especially when implemented on a huge asymmetric network such as the Internet, potentially hindering its broader adoption. Malicious nodes could intentionally cause payment failures or initiate attacks, such as DDoS attacks, by overwhelming other nodes in the network with channel-opening requests. As a result, users will be discouraged from using the LN; hence, the technology will become obsolete as individuals will not waste the time and power investment required for using this technology. Addressing these issues, this paper proposes an innovative invitation model protocol (IMP) to reinforce the LN’s security and reliability. The IMP creates an exclusive ‘Club’ within the LN, admitting only nodes verified as honest, thereby bolstering network security and reliability. The protocol empowers Club Founders to expel members exhibiting malicious activities, thereby preserving the invested time, energy, and funds of the network’s users. The IMP was rigorously tested using Amazon Web Services Virtual Machines within the Bitcoin and Lightning Network’s Testnet environment, which is a highly asymmetric network. The results demonstrated the protocol’s efficacy in fulfilling its objectives, marking a significant step towards a safer and more efficient blockchain transaction network. As the blockchain continues to revolutionize the financial sector, implementing robust security measures such as the IMP becomes essential. This research paper introduces a novel approach to enhancing the reliability and security of a Lightning Network (LN), and thus distinguishes itself from the existing literature, by introducing an additional step before establishing or joining such a network. The research underscores the critical role of such protocols in realizing the potential of the LN in powering the next wave of fintech and industrial innovation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Invitation Model Protocol (IMP) for the Bitcoin Asymmetric Lightning Network

Abdullah

Mutawa

2023

Symmetry

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An Innovative Method for IoT Payments Based on BeiDou Free-flow Service Platform

Qin

Yang

et al. 2022

2022 China Automation Congress (CAC)

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Securing Wireless Payment-Channel Networks With Minimum Lock Time Windows

Rebello

Potop-Butucaru²,

Amorim³

et al. 2022

ICC 2022 - IEEE International Conference on Communications

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Payment-channel networks (PCN) enhance the impact of cryptocurrencies by providing a fast and consensus-free solution to the scalability problems of traditional blockchain protocols. However, PCNs often rely on powerful nodes with high availability, large storage capacity, and strong computational power, which hinders their adoption in mobile environments. In this paper, we consider a PCN architecture that extends the functionalities of traditional PCNs to wireless resource-constrained devices. We address the token theft problem, a vulnerability that is critical on wireless PCNs, and propose a countermeasure based on minimum time windows that lock tokens whenever a user disconnects. We evaluate our proposal with real data from Bitcoin's Lightning Network and 3G/4G mobile broadband networks. The results show that the countermeasure is most effective when devices present high availability and that there is a security-efficiency trade-off when connectivity is low. I. INTRODUCTIONPayment channels and payment-channel networks offer a scalable and efficient off-chain solution to improve the performance of blockchain-based systems. To open a payment channel, two users sign and publish a funding transaction that transfers a fixed amount of tokens to a joint address in the blockchain. The users can then continuously rebalance the funds of the address by sending private signed commitment transactions, as shown in Figure 1. This way, both parties transact with each other without paying the blockchain fees and waiting for the system to approve the transactions through consensus. To close the channel, either user publishes the last commitment transaction into the blockchain and waits for the lock time window 1 to recover their tokens. The lock time window serves as a security mechanism to prevent a user from stealing tokens when the other party disconnects. We explain this process in detail in Section III.A payment-channel network (PCN) is the collection of payment channels that form a peer-to-peer network for token transfers. In PCNs, nodes can issue payments to destinations even if they do not share a payment channel. For example, in Figure 2, if Alice wants to send one token to Charlie, she can send the token to Bob, and Bob relays it to Charlie. Bob receives the token from Alice once he sends one token of his own to Charlie through Hashed Timelock Contracts 1 The lock time window is often referred to as "to self delay" or "return delay" in the literature [1], [2]. We consider the terms equivalent.

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LNGate

Cited by 6 publications

References 16 publications

An Invitation Model Protocol (IMP) for the Bitcoin Asymmetric Lightning Network

An Invitation Model Protocol (IMP) for the Bitcoin Asymmetric Lightning Network

An Innovative Method for IoT Payments Based on BeiDou Free-flow Service Platform

Securing Wireless Payment-Channel Networks With Minimum Lock Time Windows

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