BTC India
Hi guys! I have been in bitcoin through the bear market but never really got into lightning. Today, I got into it by accident because I did a trade with strike and received sats instead of cash, which I don’t mind, but has me wondering something. If I want to send these sats I got to lightning wallet what are all of the associated risks of doing so?
I understand that hot wallets are generally unsafe so I know not to keep too much in lightning at any given time. But what are the risks of keeping my btc in lightning? If I use muun or phoenix or zeus or bluewallet or wallet of satoshi or any lightning wallet, is there a risk my lightning sats can be lost like in a forced channel closure? I plan to hodl the vast majority of my bitcoin in cold storage but I now would like to learn more about lightning. If you know the risks and can explain them to me, I would be super grateful. I tried googling this but I’m scared that I’ll miss an important detail, so if you have experience please ELI5 the risks associated with lightning.
Thanks.
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There’s two different types of lightning wallets: custodial and non-custodial.
Wallet of Satoshi is custodial, Phoenix is non-custodial.
Non custodial wallets are still pretty “techy” and difficult for the average pleb to use.
Custodial wallets don’t have a risk of having your channel force closed because all of the channels are managed by the custodian but the typical custodial risks apply.
Muun isn’t really a lightning wallet, it does on chain transactions with on chain fees they just send a lightning transaction quickly first on your behalf.
So I’m short, each ones different with its own risks lol
Think of lightning as the cash in your wallet. Don’t keep more than you plan on spending in the near term.
I’ve found custodial lightning wallets are best for this purpose. I use wallet of Satoshi and coinos (web based lighting wallet).
I fill them with Muun. I use Muun to move my btc between layer 1 and lightning.
How I think of it and use is:
Keep the main stack in cold storage. Use it to fill up Muun a few hundred at a time. Use lightning to send $100 to wallet of Satoshi or Coinos from Muun. Spend at vendors with wallet of Satoshi or coinos.
When they’re depleted refill with Muun. When Muun is depleted refill from cold storage.
Lightning is supposed to be for small amounts. So the idea that yes it’s hot, but you mitigate the risk with only keeping a small amount.
>I did a trade with strike and received sats instead of cash, which I don’t mind, but has me wondering something. If I want to send these sats I got to lightning wallet
You don’t need a lightning wallet. Strike allows you to withdraw your bitcoin on-chain or over the lightning network.