Hacker News Reader

Comment by askmike | Hacker News Reader

I don't know the answers to this strange question. What's the most you can send to another bank account without compliance issues?

View on HN

Lightning network is limited to the liquidity offered by channel operators. What is the current situation like?

Situation is great, note that I operate my own channels and I'm not sending millions around every day.

What do you mean by "compliance" issues? If you meant that the sum of money you send cannot trigger someone, somewhere to check to make sure the transaction is legit, and we're assuming a transfer from a "normal" bank to another, then I would guess on the order of $10,000. But companies and organizations routinely transfer millions and billions between normal banks. Yes, the transactions may cause someone or many someones to investigate, but the transfers still succeed.

What does OP mean with "liquidity issues"? Lightning is a routing network, and you can connect directly to your counterparty, circumventing all potential liquidity issues.

> But companies and organizations routinely transfer millions and billions between normal banks

Just like companies have direct lightning channels between each other, they can send billions of they please.

You're being disingenuous. A channel needs to be already funded before a transaction can happen, with an amount at least the size of the transaction. So, to transfer billions, you need billions more to first fund the channel. A quick search shows that most channels currently have less than $100 in them, limiting how much you can send without prior arrangement.

> A quick search shows that most channels currently have less than $100 in them, limiting how much you can send without prior arrangement.

Note that not all channels are public, so you won't find all in searches. I'm only saying that you shouldn't be worried about lightning liquidity if you can directly connect to your counterparty - as you can directly transact with that party without relying on any liquidity from anyone else.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com