Re: Wall Observer BTC/USD - Bitcoin price movement tracking & discussion

I'm checking out Sphynx.chat which @jack just tweeted about.

It appears to be a way to chat over LN. I know they were working on that technology but I did not realise that it was implemented.

Does anyone know much about the tech behind it? Is it truly all living on the LN or is it reliant upon the Sphynx server?

It is truly LN native. But there are "custodial" plans that the Sphinx folks sell. You can run your own server. Most of the Lightning node in a box distros offer it.

I am doing HUGE transaction volume based on this tech through my node since i have set my fees to zero when going to the podcastindex node (Adam Curry).

Breez has also implemented some crossover stuff... not the chatting, but the podcast/streaming stuff.

Very cool. Which would mean it's an uncensorable chat system...

I think it's time I set up a Lightning Node. I've just been using custodial stuff but the time has come.

My former maid just asked my wife about Bitcoin since she's from El Salvador. I need to figure out the best way for her to get paid over the LN and send it to her family without being too complicated. Strike is not available here in Panama yet.

I would be delighted to help with this. And I have some simple suggestions. Forgive me if you do not want them. Wink

Wallets:
Non-Custodial: Breez, Phoenix
Custodial: Wallet of Satoshi, Bluewallet

The reason to even consider a custodial wallet (for the receiving family) is for simplicity and security. It ties your account to an email address so a lost phone is not the end of the world. Breez backs up to google drive (I do not find this acceptable for a "grandma" level user). Phoenix backs up to a 12 word seed. Maybe better than Breez, but still not grandma level. The security tradeoffs are the question here.

It's too bad strike does not work in Panama yet because it offers several advantages. It is tax free. You pay in USD which avoids tax implications, and it is drop dead simple. But since it is not an option, I would look at coinos.io. It can be custodial, or you can point it at your own node(s). You send it some BTC (or L-BTC) and you can just send that out over lightning to whatever wallet they choose.

Anyway, You might already have this all under your belt... but I have done a LOT of work with lightning and I know my way around it by now.

My tolerance for trade offs may also be higher than yours. I would think sending lightning size amounts of money do not need base layer type security guarantees. I would suggest WoS for the recipient just because there is the most chance they know someone who uses it...

Anyway feel free to reach out if I can help!

I started my deep dive into Lightning Network so I will definitely have questions. I've used WoS already to at least play around with sending LN transactions as a hot wallet.
I just started looking at running a node. I watched a video on Umbrel and it seems pretty well set up. My question would be, would I be able to do some sort of custodial wallet for my friends and family that I want to help out? Like let them point to my server and they have some sort of channel on their phone wallet. In a way that they don't have access to my funds but they can use my node at no cost.

Yes. You can do that. You can let them use your node. I think this model is going to be common as people start doing this before the whole thing becomes more commercialized (BANKS!!?!

) Trusting someone in your life that you can... well, trust.

The only tricky bit is you need either a static IP or use a dynamic DNS service and open up some ports on your router.

You should know it is not without risks. Anytime you offer an internet service it is a vulnerability etc...

Something else to consider is whether or not you want to run the node behind TOR. If you do you want to START that way, because once you have run the node attached to a real IP, then a switch to TOR will be less beneficial as that IP will stay historically associated with your node.

Tor vs. Clearnet is another whole topic really... I have run both kinds.